Harry Potter magic whacked by hackers

David Swan
Thursday, 16 July 2009 18:40

Business IT - Security

Forget Voldemort, Harry Potter’s got a new, more human problem: cybercrime. Following the worldwide release of the new Harry Potter film yesterday, it has been discovered that cybercriminals are preying on those looking to download "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" online.

“It’s the most targeted film that we’ve seen”, said Michael Greene, VP of Product Strategy at Internet Security company PC Tools, “This is pretty scary stuff”.

Cybercriminals are pushing "blackhat" search engine optimisation tactics to target the most popular file sharing and P2P networks, including Digg, Blogspot and others, pursuing those interested in upcoming movie releases and in particular taking advantage of the substantial Harry Potter fan base wanting to download the movie in advance of its screening.
 
First, a user will most likely see optimised, phoney links within the blogosphere. Fans are baited with text such as 'Watch "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" online free'. Concurrently, comment posts are filled with related keywords to attract more search engines.
 
This link redirects to a blogspot post that contains more images from the movie itself, convincing the fan that the movie is only one click away. Yet clicking on any one of these links on the blog post redirects fans to the illegitimate video offer.
 
It is here that fans are prompted to download and install the additional "streamviewer" to view a sneak peek of the film. The streamviewer then proceeds to install malware onto the users' computer.
 
This "streamviewer" tactic is predicted to be used over popular P2P networks and other file sharing networks as a way of capitalising on major events, news stories or movie releases.
 
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is no stranger to leaks and controversy, with the final novel “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” leaked in its entirety before release. The film adaptation to that novel will be released in two parts, in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The Harry Potter film series is currently the second highest-grossing film series of all time.