Osama Bin Laden Virus

Spreading malware
Bin Laden's death has been such a hot topic online that, naturally, cybercriminals started to exploit its sudden surge of online activity, feeding into vulnerable users' curiosity.

Internet security firm Kaspersky Lab confirmed that cybercriminals have already spread rogueware via Blackhat SEO and Google Images, due to the increased seach activity on bin Laden's death.

A worm has likewise spread on Facebook, posting a video on users' walls titled "See picture of bin laden dead!" and described as "This will leave you speechless."

The security firm had also seen versions of the malware on Facebook's sidebar advertisements, enticing users to click on a link that leeds to free items "to celebrate Osama's death."

- gmanews.tv

Bin Laden death spawns online scams, malware
As with other global news events, like the Royal Wedding and the recent Japan earthquake, cybercriminals are already coming out in full force to capitalize on news related to Osama bin Laden’s death, an Internet security firm said on Tuesday.

Anti-virus maker Norton said the cybercriminals are armed with poisoned spam samples, scams, and emails advertising “unseen footage” from bin Laden’s last moments.

With news of bin Laden’s death receiving more than four million page views per second on major news websites, the security firm advised Internet users to use best practices when searching for information online, including:

~ Use a trusted security suite – Make sure you are protecting your computer against unknown threats with a comprehensive security solution.

~ Put yourself on high alert – Don’t open emails or attachments from people you don’t know, even if it sounds too good to be true. Online criminals commonly use shocking or sensational headlines in emails to lure people into falling for online scams.

~ Don’t click on that link – Beware of shortened links found through social networking news feeds – they may be redirecting you to fake websites laden with malicious software. Manually enter website addresses into your browser to make sure you’re getting the news from trusted websites.

-newsbytes.ph