Submitted by: kirkland on Monday November 06th, 2006 at 08:06 PM EST

Malware writers have used a Wikipedia article to lead users to a booby-trapped page that contained malicious code designed to plant viruses on the computers of unsuspecting users.

The hackers created a Wikipedia page that offered a Windows security update for a version of the Lovesan/W32.Blaster worm, and included a link to an external site that was labeled with the name "wikipedia-download.org."

The malware writers reportedly used the archive storage function on Wikipedia to plant the malicious code on multiple pages. The attackers directed users to those archived pages through e-mails that used the Wikipedia logo, and claimed that the encyclopedia site had been asked by Microsoft to help with worm patches.

As malware continues to be a concern, it is likely that Wikipedia and other sites will have to change their policies -- or at least their practices -- when it comes to content uploads.

» Full story @ Sci-Tech Today