CNN Spam Leads to Malware

How does this threat get into users' systems?

How does this threat affect users?

Users who are tricked into clicking the embedded link are redirected to a bogus CNN Web page that contains a supposed video on the said event. Clicking Play, however, led them to download a bogus Adobe Flash Player update (detected by Trend Micro as TROJ_DLOAD.QK). This connects to a URL to download TROJ_INJECT.ZZ, which dropped TROJ_ROOTKIT.FX.

How does this threat make money for its perpetrators?

TROJ_INJECT.ZZ logged users' keystrokes and stole data, which is then sold to the highest bidders in underground forums.

What is the driving force behind this threat?

As with any data-stealing malware, this attack was instigated by the lure of gaining profit from stolen personal credentials.