PRC Web site tagged vulnerable to malware

MANILA, Philippines - The Web site of the government's Professional Regulation Commission ( www.prc.gov.ph) has been tagged as vulnerable to malware. Visitors to the site who use the latest version of the Mozilla Firefox browser (version 3 and up) were redirected to an advisory from Google that the site is a "reported attack site." "This Web site at www.prc.gov.ph has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences. ... Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system," the advisory said. "Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners," it added. A diagnostic page for the site said part of the PRC Web site was listed for suspicious activity three times over the past 90 days. PRC lists the successful examinees in licensure exams, including architecture and nursing. "Of the 188 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 70 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 07/24/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 07/24/2008," the advisory said. It added malicious software included 73 trojans, 51 exploits, and 38 scripting exploits. Successful infection resulted in an average of 4 new processes on the target machine, it added. The advisory said the malicious software was hosted on 11 domains, including o7o8gm.cn, heiheinn.cn, and hiwowpp.cn. It added seven domains appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of the PRC site, including hiwowpp.cn, heihei117.cn, and loveqianlai.cn. However, it said that over the past 90 days, the PRC website "did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites." "This site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days," it added. - GMANews.TV