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Screenshot of Google top matches on ‘Brittany Murphy death’ - Courtesy of Websense
Screenshot of a rogue anti-virus site - Courtesy of Websense

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‘Brittany Murphy death’ searches return rogue anti-virus

22 December 2009

Websense Security Labs’s ThreatSeeker Network has discovered that Google top searches on ‘Brittany Murphy death’ returns rogue anti-virus websites.

The Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy died suddenly during the weekend, causing many to search for more news on what happened.

However, when searching for ‘Brittany Murphy death’ on for example Google, users can be redirected to malicious domains offering rogue anti-virus software if they click the matches.

The malicious domains try to convince people that they are real anti-virus software websites, so that people will download and execute malware.

“There are now a lot of variants available, typically named install.exe, and at the moment it seems they haven't attracted much attention from AV companies”, Websense said in its security alert.

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