Cybercriminals exploit actress' death in scareware attack

Monday, March 23, 2009

Cybercriminals exploited a breaking news story about the death of a British actress to scam users searching for websites with information about the tragedy. The day after news stories reported the death of 45-year-old Natasha Richardson in a skiing accident, malicious websites were reported by security researchers.

One web security expert said researchers had detected malicious websites in Germany hosting keyword-rich content about Richardson, reportedly scraped from legitimate news sites.

Visitors who click on these tainted websites download a malicious script on their PCs that produces scareware ads, experts said. Scareware or rogueware attacks are among the fastest-growing internet scams used by cybercriminals.

In exploiting a popular topic of internet searches, the scammers can hope to catch many more unsuspecting people in their trap, experts said. Cybercriminals latched onto surging interest in Hurricane Katrina to launch similar attacks.

College basketball fans are also reportedly a target due to heightened interest in this week's NCAA tournament.

Security experts said the only way to effectively limit these attacks is to educate users and owners of websites to protect against viruses through network security and email security measures.

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