Virus stowed away in spam email

Sophos warns people not to open spam about Priates of the Caribbean film
Dinah Greek, Computeract!ve 25 May 2007
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Spam email promising a trailer of the forthcoming film Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End and free tickets contains the Troj /Yar-A Trojan horse, warned Sophos.

The security company said this Trojan not only downloads malicious code from the internet which can steal personal information, it also disables anti-virus software.

"There is no film preview and there are no free tickets," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"The only thing that this email is trailing is an attack wave of malicious code against your PC. Once your computer is compromised, hackers will be able to steal information from you with the aim of identity theft and other crimes."

The email, which contains the familiar skull-and-crossbones logo of the popular film franchise which opens today, appears to have been targeted at movie-goers in Europe and North America.

Sophos notes that this is not the first time that hackers and spammers have used Hollywood movies to try and fool internet users. In the past viruses have been disguised as Harry Potter movies or the latest chick-flick from Julia Roberts.

"Computer users who don't take care about what they run on their PC, and believe every email they are sent, could be heading for stormy water," said Cluley. "If you want to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster book your ticket at the local cinema rather than clicking on a file sent to you out of the blue."