Yes, you have read right. Download Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 right this minute. Sounds like a deja vu, doesn't it. Following October 18, 2006 when the Redmond Company made available the final version of IE7, phrases like the one that marked the introduction became a thing of the past. Well, no more. The second beta of Internet Explorer 7 is yet again coming into focus, but for all the wrong reasons.

A new wave of spam has Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 at its centerstage. SunBelt has warned that an aggressive spam campaign aims to convince users to download what appears to be Internet Explorer 7. The attackers are using IE7 as an incentive to convince users to download a Trojan horse. Users should exercise extreme caution when receiving emails that advertise IE7 Beta 2. The messages appear to be sent from admin@microsoft.com and, in this context, users might be tricked into clicking on the image contained and installing the Trojan horse.

Users that are really interested in downloading Internet Explorer 7 should make their way to a Microsoft official website, or wait for the browser to be delivered via Windows Updates. "There is spam out there that tries to get you to download IE 7. It's fake, of course. When you click on the image, you are then offered to download a trojan. Antivirus coverage is mediocre," revealed SunBelt.

Antivirus coverage is mediocre because, out of a range of security solutions tested, only 10 managed to identify the Trojan as a malicious or a suspicious file. Anti-virus from Symantec, Sophos Microsoft and McAfee are not at this time detecting anything suspicious with the download offered as Internet Explorer 7.