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Checking out Britney online can leave you tangled up in a dangerous web

As internet scams get more sophisticated, celebrity websites are the latest target, writes Joe O'Shea

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By Joe O'Shea
Tuesday Oct 6 2009

Internet users are facing a new generation of sophisticated web scams. And Jennifer Aniston is to blame. Conventional wisdom says that as long as you don't frequent the naughtier side of the net, such as surfing on porn sites, or ignore requests for your bank details from the widowed wife of the ex-president of Nigeria, you are relatively safe from nasty viruses or spyware.

Many past phishing scams (where conmen try to trick you into sending them bank and credit-card details) have been so obviously clumsy as to be almost laughable.

But a new generation of more sophisticated cyber-pirates is now spreading the net wider and using more subtle and targeted techniques to snare unsuspecting surfers. And their latest ruse involves piggy-backing on glamorous celebs, using our obsession with fame, gossip and glamour to lure us into potentially dangerous stings.

McAfee, one of the world's leaders in anti-virus software, has just reported a new threat for fans searching for Hollywood gossip or pictures of famous stars. The threats are known as "drive-by downloads". Surfers download, say, a Jennifer Aniston screensaver or click on the latest Britney Spears gossip and a hidden virus comes along for the ride.

Viruses known as spyware and malware secretly download themselves to your PC when you visit a seemingly innocent site. These programmes can collect personal information such as credit-card numbers and forward it on to third parties. They can also seriously affect the performance of your PC and leave it vulnerable to unsolicited advertising and pop-ups, such as a the viral advertising emails for a discount TV warehouse in Hong Kong which have plagued many Irish users of Gmail recently.

McAfee has now compiled a list of the celebs most associated with the latest generation of scams. And while the hitlist does include some globally famous stars, you may not even have heard of public enemy number one.

The cyber cops have fingered B-movie actress Jessica Biel, star of the recent remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as the most dangerous celeb on the net.

But the actress, who was ranked third in Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list last year, is a hot item on the web (especially amongst teenage boys).

And McAfee reports that a search for "Jessica Biel" carries a one in five chance of landing on a website that has tested positive for spyware, adware, spam, phishing or viruses.

Searches for Beyonce, Britney and sports stars like Ronaldo also carry a high risk. More than 40pc of Google search results for "Jennifer Aniston screen savers" also brought investigators to sites that contained viruses.

Irish security specialists believe that internet users here may be more at risk than those in other territories because of our "general naivety".

Conor Flynn, technical director with Dublin based Rits Information Security, believes Irish people are "far too trusting" when it comes to using the web.

"If we come across, say, a site offering free Jennifer Aniston screensavers or free versions of Microsoft word, we don't tend to stop and ask ourselves why this is being offered for free. We have to realise that the internet can be dangerous.

"If you were walking down a dark street in a foreign city, you wouldn't have wedges of cash sticking out of your pockets and a shiny camera hanging around your neck. So why would you do what's essentially the same thing when using your credit card or banking on the internet?"

Mr Flynn says the banks in Ireland are also failing to protect their online customers. "They are not doing enough. They say they have warnings on their own sites but by the time many people get to see those, it's already too late.

"What we really need is for the banks to organise a major, well-funded national awareness campaign and to start getting serious about protecting their customers.

"There are now organised crime gangs who are paying software designers to come up with very sophisticated, highly targeted phishing scams."

With organised criminal gangs like elements of the Russian and Chinese mafias now targeting the internet, risk levels have risen dramatically. Two years ago, engineers at Google reported that about 10pc of the millions of web pages they analysed engaged in "drive-by downloads" of malware.

Google today has about 330,000 websites listed as malicious, up from about 150,000 a year ago.

With more and more information about people's credit cards, browsing histories and identities now online, the risks and the rewards for web citizens and pirates alike are growing exponentially.

If a hacker in St Petersburg or the Philippines can access a cache of credit-card details and scam just 10 cents off every customer, he can become a millionaire at the click of a key.

So when you are booking that flight or paying for a hard-to-find DVD, you should have security on your mind.

There could be a 22-year-old evil genius somewhere, logging your every keystroke and sending your money to a Caribbean bank that won't ask too many questions.

- Joe O'Shea

Irish Independent