document: LizaMoon attack infects millions of websites NEW YORK -LRB- CNNMoney -RRB- - Have you heard the scary news about '' `` LizaMoon , '' '' a malicious code attack that has already infected more than a million websites ? Do n't panic . This particular bit of hacker mischief is setting off alarms among online security watchdogs for its speed and scope , but built-in software safeguards mean few actual users will end up suffering . The exploit drew headlines because it 's affecting a surprisingly large number of websites - nearly 4 million so far - and because some of those sites feed into Apple 's iTunes platform . Websense , the security software vendor that first broke the news about LizaMoon in its blog , played up the iTunes connection in its first warning about the attack . But Apple -LRB- AAPL , Fortune 500 -RRB- has iTunes designed to automatically neutralize this kind of threat . That means there 's zero risk of an iTunes user 's computer actually getting infected by this bit of malware . Websense acknowledged that in its latest LizaMoon update . '' `` Every time there 's a mass-injection like this , and there really has n't been anything this big before , we try to identify larger systems and sites that have been affected , '' '' the company wrote in its blog . '' `` There are few systems out there bigger than iTunes , so when we saw that content on itunes.apple.com contained the injected link we wanted to make people aware of that , even if the script did n't work . '' '' LizaMoon is what 's called a SQL code injection attack , where a Web application vulnerability is exploited to inject malicious code into affected websites . If a Web surfer visits an affected site , they 'll be redirected to a rogue website that tries to install a '' `` scareware '' '' file . The file generates messages warning the user that their computer is infected with viruses , and offers to sell them antivirus software in defense . Most actual , legitimate antivirus programs will detect and eliminate the malicious file . And most websites have protections in place to prevent them from getting infected in the first place . While LizaMoon has infested million of websites , security experts say it 's a run-of-the-mill threat that is mostly hitting obscure , low-traffic sites . '' `` Defense against your sites getting infected is the standard things we ought to be doing anyway , '' '' the SANS Internet Storm Center , a security monitoring site , wrote in its LizaMoon analysis .
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