IT security monitors are warning that cybercriminals are
using search engine results for news around film director Roman
Polanski.
Within 30 minutes of the first news reports that Polanski had
been arrested in connection with a 1978 arrest warrant,
cybercriminals struck.
Fake search results linked to Polanski began appearing that
directed victims to a bogus virus scan page, said security firm
Webroot.
The fake application, called Windows PC Defender, will prevent
nearly all legitimate anti-malware tools from running, the firm
said in a
blog post.
The malware also hijacks all Google, Yahoo, MSN and Bing search
results and redirects them through a server belonging to
search-gala.com.
Web users should avoid links to unfamiliar sites, especially
those promising revealing or "previously undisclosed" pictures, or
videos, the blog post said.
Earlier this month cybercriminals used a
similar tactic by creating fake malicious websites associated
with searches for news of the death of actor Patrick Swayze.