Online "swine flu" infects cyberspace
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
As they frequently do, purveyors of malware are using big news as a means to distribute their harmful programs. This time, it's the global swine flu crisis that opened the door.
Computer criminals have circulated an email message detailing an alleged conspiracy on the part of the pharmaceutical industry to infect the world with swine flu in order to profit from the outbreak. When opened, the message infects the user's computer with a virus capable of stealing personal and financial information.
While computer viruses spread in lockstep with physical ones, there are other, less sophisticated dangers in cyberspace associated with swine flu. Phishing scams promise critical information about the treatment and spread of the virus in exchange for personal information. Swindlers hawk bogus cures like "colloidal silver" as protection against swine flu.
Additionally, scammers skilled in search engine optimization (SEO) can catapult malware-installing websites to the top of search engine results for "swine flu" and other popular search terms. "Literally every current relevant news topic is actively targeted each day, including highly publicized speeches given by President Obama [last] week," wrote security expert Sean-Paul Correll at his blog on pandasecurity.com.
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