Beware of Anna Nicole Smith Malware

Anna Nicole Smith died today and that means the scum of the internet will be out in force. History has taught us to expect a barrage of attacks coming in the form of email with attachments and/or links.

 

The likely attack scenarios will be email messages claiming to have pictures of Smith’s dead body, or nude pictures of Smith. These emails will generally contain attachments that have no pictures, but when executed will install malicious software on the victims PC. The other attack will involve similar emails with links instead of attachments. These emails will direct the recipient to web pages that allegedly contain similar photos or information. When the user clicks on the link the web page will use vulnerabilities to run malicious code, or simply provide links that unsophisticated users will click on and then run the malicious code in hopes of seeing pictures.

 

ESET will monitor reports of such scams and attempt to ensure that we detect any malicious attacks, however, users need to be responsible for their actions as well. If you are looking for bad news it will generally find you.

 

Never open unsolicited attachments without verifying that the sender intended to send them to you and what they are… even if it looks like they came from someone you know.

 

You’ve been warned!

 

Randy Abrams

Director of Technical Education