Davey Winder
Sunday, 24 January 2010 18:12
Business IT -
Security
Is Johnny Depp dead? No. But that won't stop the malware merchants exploiting the confusion?
Johnny Depp is NOT dead no
matter what the trending topics list at Twitter, or the tweeting masses
for that matter, might be saying.
It's just an old hoax that has somehow been
resurrected and taken as Gospel courtesy of the fact that Twitter is
now regarded (sometimes correctly) as a breaking news source. That
Google includes such trending topics in search results just reinforces
that belief of course.
Let's leave behind the Chinese Whispers or Serious Source argument
though, shall we, and instead look at the security implications of
Johnny Depp not being dead. As strange as that might sound, it is very
serious indeed.
We've seen in the past how the
death of a celebrity can be hijacked by scammers
and spammers and bad guys alike. Most recently and most infamously in
the case of Michael Jackson.
Just because Depp is very much still alive does not mean that the same
malware merchants will not bother coming out to play, they will. In
fact, the being alive aspect of the story makes it even more appealing.
After all, the search engines are currently buzzing with folk
desperately trying to find out the truth. Leaving the bad guys ample
opportunity to attempt search engine poisoning scams, and the spammers
to get going with their malicious link campaigns.
Twitter will be ripe for the link picking, so I suggest you are very
careful indeed about which links you follow with regards to the Johnny
Depp story over the next few days.