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Death Rumors: The New Tool for Cybercriminals

Cybercriminals today are not confined only to hack websites and spread malware and spam ware, they have now become equally proficient in spreading death rumors of celebrities on the internet. In a recent event of 13th July 2011, these cybercriminals targeted Charlie Sheen, an American film and television actor, by spreading his death rumors.

On 13th July 2011, Facebook and Twitter was flashed with the breaking news that Charlie Sheen died in his own house due to heart failure. However, as soon as the users start clicking on the link, they were lead to a fake web link similar to the You-tube. The users found that any click on that page led to the users asking to fill up a form before viewing the video. But very seldom knew that this was actually a malware attack. After visiting the website the users came to know that they got infected with the malware. The truth reveals that Sheen is still alive and he was taking a long nap.

Yahoo News claimed Charlie Sheen to be the number one Google trend setter for his tweets Wednesday morning. Sheen reposted tweets on his Twitter account "(warlock: long nap...very much alive)," in an effort to dismiss the rumors of his death.

Charlie Sheen is not the only celebrity who was targeted by the cybercriminals. On 12th July 2011 similar death news flashed on Facebook and Twitter about the sudden death of Father of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, after he got a heart break when his girlfriend called off the wedding.

As per the security experts that the users who have fallen prey to this heinous malware should first go to the Account settings and then click on the Privacy settings. After that the users should click on the option "Edit your settings". This link would lead the users to the application settings, and from there they can get rid of the malware by deleting any application which looks fishy.

The most important is to always protect your computer with an anti-virus and make it updated from time to time. The security experts advice all the internet users to be aware of the latest malware and spyware scam.

Related article: Data Theft Incidents Influence Consumers Adversely

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