Experts at SophosLabs have issued a public warning stating that the company has discovered a Trojan horse program that is being spammed through e-mails masqueraded as a digital photo. The spam message means to offer sufficient incentive for the user to execute the archive attachment that apparently contains the highly lauded picture. The subject line reads "My best photos!", "The best pictures of us. Just take a look, I'm excited!", "Wanna see?" or "You've asked for pictures. See this."

Sophos warns users to steer clear of the attachment as it contains the Troj/Dloadr-AKX Trojan horse disguised as a file DSC00342.jpg .exe. The multiple spaces comprised in the filename and the use of a double extension gives the file the appearance of a JPEG. Although ranked as a limited threat, the malware still compromises the machine to the extent where it enables download of additional malicious software.

"Opening the file will not show you a digital picture, but instead blast open a hole in your PC's security," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Anyone unfortunate enough to run this program is running the risk of allowing hackers to gain access to their computer to spy, steal and cause havoc. This Trojan horse reminds computer users that keeping anti-virus software up-to-date is essential. Regular anti-malware updates combined with sensible safe computing policies and strong email policy at the gateway reduces the risk of threats like this."