Panda Software (the makers of Panda Antivirus) reported last week of a new type of adware/trojan combination. zCodec claims to be a video codec (such as divx, xvid etc.) but claims to offer “40% better video quality” than other codecs. Once installed it becomes an adware program and can install trojans, rootkits and other malicious software.

Zcodec is easy to find as well and has a fairly professional looking website located at www.zcodec.com (warning: dont download anything from the site or you will get infected).

When run, Zcodec alters the computers DNS settings to divert traffic to DNS servers of its choice. This technique is typically used for phishing scams such as the Paypal and Internet banking emails.