Bin Laden death is magnet for scammers on Facebook, Google

The death of Osama bin Laden has been an unusual magnet for online scammers and spammers, with malicious links profferring pictures of a deceased Bin Laden popping up to fool Facebook and Google users.”The reported death of Osama Bin Laden is just too good a lure for cybercriminals and scammers to pass up,” McAffee Inc. security researcher David Marcus said in a blog post.No official photos or videos of Bin Laden’s body have been released. So if you’re in search of pictures or video: Be careful.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/05/bin-laden-death-scam-virus-facebook-google.htmlAlso see:Fake AV makers, scammers exploit Bin Laden news
Malware makers and scammers have quickly latched onto the news that U.S. military forces killed Osama Bin Laden, security researchers said today.Antivirus vendors have spotted multiple threats based on the news, including links that lead to fake security software — dubbed “rogueware” — attack code masquerading as plug-ins that users must supposedly download to view video, and attempts to harvest personal information.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9216330/Fake_AV_makers_scammers_exploit_Bin_Laden_news
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/385025/fake_av_makers_scammers_exploit_bin_laden_news/
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/050211-fake-av-makers-scammers-exploit.html
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/226842/.htmlMalware creators capitalizing on Osama bin Laden news
Creators of malware are using the death of Osama bin Laden to fool unsuspecting users to click on malware.The exploitation of big news on the internet is standard operating procedure for virus writers and other criminal hackers, who prey upon natural human curiosity in their attempts to get users to click on malware. The technique is called “social engineering,” where hackers trick people into falling for a scam.
http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/02/malware-creators-capitalizing-on-osama-bin-laden-news/Scammers Use Osama Bin Laden’s Death To Spread Malware On Facebook, Google
With the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death commanding the Web today, it’s no surprise that spammers have been exploiting the news for hours. It’s pretty much the standard scheme these days; scammers latch onto any big news events in order to get unsuspecting victims to fall for scams.VentureBeat reports that the Osama malware is already flourishing online. Cloud security firm Zscaler highlights a malicious site that shows a “purported photo of a murdered Osama bin Laden” with a call to download a copy of the VLC video player in order to view video of the video of his death. Of course, this downloads a malicious file called XvidSetup.exe.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-death-malware-on-facebook-google_n_856422.htmlOsama Bin Laden news spurs wave of scams, malware [CSO]
Malware creators are already using the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death as a opportunity to try and dupe people into clicking on malicious links. According to cloud-security firm Zscaler, researchers were already seeing malicious sites emerge to capitalize on the news within hours of the announcement.Zscaler uses the example of one Spanish language site that displays a purported photo of a murdered Osama Bin Laden and includes a story about the US led operation. The page includes a Flash Player window with a message indicating that the user must first update a VLC plugin, which is a popular media player, in order to view the video. The link is, unsurprisingly, a bad one, said researchers.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/050211-osama-bin-laden-news-spurs.html