Erin Andrews malware warning
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
The temptation to snoop online might be strong for some but it comes with a price. John Hillman on the latest celebrity malware vector
The internet provides opportunities to indulge our curiosity like never before; unfortunately this includes our capacity for snooping around in other people’s private lives, a less than admirable human trait.
Cyber criminals, never slow to recognise an opportunity, are more than aware of this fact and happily use our inherent nosiness to exploit gullible people into downloading malware with the simple promise of a video containing a naked celebrity.
It beggars belief that such a crude system actually works but even in 2009 it seems that there are still thousands of you out there who just can’t resist a click, no matter how unlikely the promise sounds to a rational mind.
Over in the US this has been emphasised by the recent appearance of a video reportedly showing an ESPN reporter called Erin Andrews cavorting around in her hotel room with no clothes on. Erin Andrews is apparently quite attractive – a sort of Hollywood version of Gabby Logan.
As you can imagine this caused quite a stir with US “sports” fans, so much excitement in fact that some of them actually awoke from their beef-and-cola comas long enough to start trawling the internet looking for said video.
What happened next? Malware, lots and lots of malware, downloaded via a link that promises the content once you have installed a video player. Many people (well, men probably) have been fooled by the use of a web page that looks like it belongs to CNN, lulling them into a false sense of security.
The lesson here is a very simple one: promise of naked celebrity + free video download = broken computer. You have been warned.
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Image Credit: Robert.Montalvo
Tags: Hacking, holiday security, malware, snooping