Even in death, the feared international terrorist Osama Bin Laden continues to cause trouble. Cybercriminals are using our curiosity about his capture and death to get us to click links, open emails and download files. All three of those activities can result in lost information, malware, or links sent to social network friends.
Check your own social network feed – I would bet you can find at least one link to see death photos or videos of Bin Laden. Or by now, your friends have realized their mistake and you see lots of apologies for their role in your exposure to malware. I’ve seen several among my own friends. If you are curious and do this carefully, you can go to the search box in your social network, type in the phrase “Osama Bin Laden video” and click “Posts by Everyone” and you will see what I’m talking about.
These posts have exactly the same features as “click jack” and other malware posts we’ve seen for the Japanese tsunami tragedy, Royal Wedding news and other big stories hit by cybercrime: an exciting or scary screenshot, a excited headline (lots of exclamation points) and no personal message or at least not one that sounds like your friend actually wrote it. What happens after you click the link can vary. You may be taken to another social network page where you are prompted to accept and application or download a video player. Or your browser may redirect or open to a new page where (unbeknownst to you) malware is silently installed on your computer. You may be asked to cut and paste code or do other suspicious actions. The end result is you’ve been hit by cybercrime and it may have spread to all your friends as well. Oops.
Take care, and be cool when big stories like this hit. Remember the three things that can keep your identity, reputation and computer safe when there’s breaking news: Keep your internet security software (like Norton) up-to-date; Avoid clicking links or downloading files from unknown sources; Turn to legitimate news outlets (TV, radio, or online) to get your news.
Watch my FoxLA news interview here
Details of the threats:
Symantec Connect: Osama Dead Is No Longer a Hoax
Symantec Connect: Malware and Phishing Attacks Flourish Following News of Osama's Death