'Twilight' Fever Brings Cybercriminals Out of the Woodwork

'Twilight' Fever Brings Cybercriminals Out of the Woodwork

Norton Reports 'Twilight' Search Results Are Being Poisoned

CULVER CITY, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire/ --
The third installment of the "Twilight" franchise is breaking
records for a midnight opening and legions of fans are
searching for any details about the film they can find
online. Cyber criminals know this and have already "poisoned"
common search results hoping to gain access to people's
computers and infect them with malicious software
WHAT/WHY: ("Malware").

Some common search results are already returning more than 50
percent malicious results - meaning that you've got more than
a 50/50 chance of clicking on a link that can put viruses,
keylogging programs (where criminals can monitor everything
you type), and other nasty things on your computer that can
cause no end of trouble!
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Top search terms that are likely to be poisoned include:
--"Twilight New Moon Eclipse Wikipedia" (53 percent
malicious)
-- "Twilight Eclipse Wiki" (39 percent malicious)
--"How Long Is Eclipse The Movie going to be" (28 percent
malicious)

Norton has seen a spike in these poisoned search results over
the last 24 hours, and experts expect even more
"Twilight"-related poison search results, scams and spam as
the movie gains momentum.

Response experts are on hand to share tips with users on how
they can protect themselves from "Twilight"-related threats
EXPERTS: online, including:

-- Nude pictures of Rob Pattinson sound too good to be true?
They are! - Cybercriminals use sensational headlines to get
you to click on their poisoned links. Better to delete e-
mails and ignore search results from people and sites you
don't know - no matter what they're promising.
--Don't let attacks take you by surprise -Use a reputable
online security software to let you know when you're about to
click on a link that's poisoned.
--Browsing social networking sites while standing in line? -
Don't assume links and videos posted by friends on social
networking sites are safe - use a site such as Norton Safe
Web to make sure sites don't contain any malicious elements
before you click on them.

Screenshots of search results, showing how many - and which -
IMAGES: results are infected.

WHEN: Interviews available upon request

CONTACT: Gerritt Hoekman
Edelman for Norton
323-202-1895
Gerritt.Hoekman@Edelman.com

Source: Norton

CONTACT: Gerritt Hoekman of Edelman, +1-323-202-1895,
Gerritt.Hoekman@Edelman.com, for Norton

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