Risk: Informational
The Olympics proved irresistible to cyber criminals, say security firms.
The Olympics is one of the biggest events of the year and hackers and spammers have seen it as a massive opportunity. People are tricked into visiting fake sites or opening malicious email attachments.
"Members of the public have to remember that they should not open e-mails or click on links from unknown sources, no matter how many gold medals they are offering," said Con Mallom, a spokesman for Symantec.
The latest batch of Rustock emails appear to be about headline stories on CNN and many concern the Olympics. Those clicking on headlines are taken to a fake CNN video report where they are asked to install a codec to watch the film. Those installing the codec become part of the Rustock botnet.
Security firm Marshal said many of the malicious and junk messages emerging from the Rustock botnet were about the games. It is not just members of the public that are at risk, businesses are also warned to be wary of e-mails regarding the Olympics. Some fake messages include a booby-trapped Adobe PDF that if installed steals data from a compromised PC.
It is recommended that users keep the anti-virus software up to date, use a firewall and install updates to Windows as they become available.