An Internet security specialist says a new threat forces computers to install faked Google software, which then goes phishing. Phishing is where e-mails, IM (instant messages) or Web sites parody a legitimate company, and try to get users to provide personal information or financial account numbers and passwords.

The latest cases involve bogus Google software spread via IM, and appear to be a variety of the infamous CoolWebSearch phishing scheme, according to Foster City-Calif.-based FaceTime Security Labs. CoolWebSearch has never been spread via IM before.

In the recent cases, IM users unwittingly download a rogue tool bar, which is installed on a Web browser and provides easier access to an Internet search provider.

The only working feature on the fake Google Toolbar saves credit card details, according to Christopher Boyd, the security research manager of Foster City, Calif.-based FaceTime Security Labs. A bevy of others, including one to "enable pornographic ads," do not work.

IM is increasingly a target of phishers, as the latest attacks show. "Full Article"