(Porn) Dialers ― Another Class of Malware?

摘要

When making small payments (of a few pennies or cents only) it does not make sense to use a credit card, bank transfer or other expensive transaction method, because the bank fees would exceed the payment. An alternative solution is to make payments by telephone. For example, the customer can call a chargeable number and get a key code which can then be entered into a web front-end to finalise a transaction. Later, the telephone company will charge the amount to the customer's telephone bill. But another method of payment makes it easier still for the customer (or, perhaps, tricks him more effectively). Web dialer applications are very common now, especially associated with 'pay per view' websites. Dialers are small programs (usually only 50-80 kb in size) which are able to disconnect the current telephone line and dial a cost-intensive number automatically, allowing the user to access the web pages he has requested.