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Heartless Scammers Exploiting Chilean Tragedy

by Terrence O'Brien on March 1, 2010 at 02:15 PM

Heartless Scammers Exploit Chilean Tragedy
As should be expected, the scammers and malware distributors have already latched onto the tragic earthquake in Chile. Security firm Sophos has found countless sites looking to exploit searches for information about the Chilean disaster. The company has identified several Google search results for "tsunami," "earthquake," and "Chile" that automatically redirect users to sites that are known to host malware and viruses.

Sophos offers some valuable advice for avoiding scams that prey on breaking news. Instead of googling information, go directly to a dedicated news service like Yahoo! News or Google News, since only trusted sources are included in those results. You can also go straight to the source, and get the latest from the New York Times, CNN, or other trusted news outlets' Web pages. [From: Sophos, via: Geekosystem]

Tags: Chile, chile earthquake, ChileEarthquake, malware, scam, security, Sophos, tsunami

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