Wordpress sites are being targeted by a Pirate Bay clone set up by hackers to distribute malware and a banking trojan, reports The Next Web.

WordPress sites are being targeted by a Pirate Bay clone set up by hackers to distribute malware and a banking trojan, reports The Next Web.

Researchers from Malwarebytes uncovered the attacks, which appear to come from a site claiming to be a Pirate Bay clone, set up under TheOpenBay initiative. TheOpenBay makes the software of the infamous peer-to-peer file sharing site available to anyone to create their own version, after multiple countries’ ISPs banned the site for copyright infringement.

However a “substantial” number of WordPress sites were compromised by iFrames embedded into them using a vulnerability in an outdated version of Flash Player, according to International Business Times. The iFrames redirect visitors to the cloned Pirate Bay site which in turn pushes the Nuclear exploit kit packing a banking trojan that targets Windows PCs, which is automatically downloaded to the computers of those running an outdated version of Flash Player.

According to The Register, researchers say that the way to stay safe is pretty simple: WordPress owners need to ensure they’re running the latest version of the WP install, and ensure all their plugins are up to date. Visitors should also make sure their Flash Player is up to date. A We Live Security guide on updating Flash is available here.

It is not the first time WordPress sites have been targeted by attackers, and the widespread nature of the software makes it an appealing target. In fact, ZDNet estimates that 23 percent of the top 10 million websites use it in some form or other. Earlier this year a popular plugin was hit by a zero-day exploit which also injected an unauthorized iFrame, and last year it was discovered that pirated themes and plugins contained a CryptoPHP backdoor.

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