Adware may be lurking in video on MySpace

Several MySpace pages offer what appear to be YouTube videos that trigger the installation of adware when played, a security company has warned.

The sexually explicit videos can be found on a number of user pages on the MySpace social-networking Web site, Websense said in an alert Monday. They look like YouTube videos, but are in fact hosted on a copycat "Yootube.info" Web site, Websense said. That Web site was still online as of Tuesday evening.

"When users click on the video, they are directed to a copy of the video," Websense said. People are then redirected to the Windows Media Player, which will pop up a license agreement with installation of an adware program called Zango Cash, it said.

"Assuming that users have accepted the agreement, the video downloads and attempts to install setup.exe from Zango Cash," Websense said.

Word of the sneaky installations of Zango's software comes just days after the advertising software maker and the Federal Trade Commission announced a $3 million settlement in response to charges that Zango had breached federal law by deceptively installing its software on consumers' PCs without a clear means of removal.

Zango was formed in June through the merger of 180solutions and Hotbar.

In exchange for displaying ads, Zango gives access to content such as videos, games and tools. The company pays up to 45 cents per installation of the software, according to its Web site. Antispyware programs typically flag the Zango software as "risky."