Curiosity Killed the Computer

You can never be too careful about what you click on while browsing the internet. One minute you could be checking out celebrity news stories and the next you could be facing a huge problem for your PC. Internet hackers have recently turned to the popularity of celebrity gossip and news as an easy way to steal money from unsuspecting web surfers through fake antivirus software.

Recently there was a bogus news story floating around the web claiming that rapper Kanye West died in a massive car crash in Los Angeles. The original rumor is being attributed to the denizens of 4chan.org, who forwarded it to many people through e-mail to create a buzz. It then became very popular in the search engines because when news starts going around that a celebrity has died, there is naturally going to be curiosity about it.

While fake celebrity death reports are nothing new to the internet, the rapid reproduction of spyware can give them new life if hackers pick up on the trend. In this case, hackers wasted no time jumping on the opportunity to use this story as a means to prompt those who clicked on it to download bogus software after alerting them of a virus. Using the familiar trick of infecting search results, hackers are directing users to vindictive web pages created to show fake antivirus warnings and scare users into making misguided purchases.

Kanye West now joins the rankings of other celebrity names that when searched for online, are likely to lead to threats such as spyware and viruses. In August 2009, it was reported that Jessica Biel was the most dangerous celebrity on the internet because searches for the actress were the most likely to lead to spyware links. Other celebrities that made the report included Beyonce, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Brady, and Jessica Simpson.

In July 2009, ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews was exploited on the internet when hackers shot an inappropriate video of her through the peephole of her hotel room. The video was then placed online which sparked a wave of users searching to download the video. That kind of drive is what hackers feed off of.

It seems that the only thing different about this Kanye story is that it originated as a non malicious hoax that rapidly turned into a security risk. The best thing to do to protect yourself is to keep your machine up-to-date with spyware blocking software and avoid clicking on unfamiliar websites to get your daily dose of celebrity gossip.

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