A new Trojan horse program is said to be roping surfers unexpectedly to a hardcore porn site, according to British Internet security company Sophos.
Called Delf-IT, it is said to stay in the background on infected computers until the surfer visits any Website containing even one of a reported fifty trigger words or phrases – even inocuous words like “beauty” or “outdoor,” never mind “nympho” or “spank” – at which point the surfer gets herded to the porn page.
The Trojan is not yet considered to be widespread, Sophos said, but the company is urging surfers to update their anti-virus defenses regardless.
"It's possible that Delf is deliberately designed to drive traffic from other Adult Web pages to its own grubby Web site," Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said in a statement. "With so much money being made by Internet pornographers, it may be that some of them are using Trojan horses like this to generate more traffic and revenue."
That kind of practice and others like surreptitious dialer software redirecting Netizens to premium rate connections and Web sites is usually frowned upon by the majority of Adult Internet companies.
Only a small number of copies of the trojan have been spotted so far, added Cluley, but he recommended that users update their anti-virus defences to keep their browsers pointed in the right direction.
The trigger words and phrases that kick you onto the porn site if Delf-IT is in your computer include amateur, barely legal, beauty, bikini, closeup, domination, extreme, ladyboy, lesbian, lolita, nympho, outdoor, pornstars, and spanked. At least a few of them would be seen in content or message board discussions having nothing to do with sex or porn and everything to do with things like politics or current events.
"Because some of the trigger phrases chosen by the Trojan – particularly 'outdoor' and 'beauty' – can be used perfectly innocently, it's possible that surfers who wished to see nothing sordid will find themselves redirected to a hardcore pornography Web site," Cluley said. "People who have an interest in rambling and the great outdoors may find themselves far from the beaten track."
