Hackers Pumping Out Olympics Spam

It comes as no surprise that scammers have been quick to exploit the 2010 Winter Olympic Games for their own benefit. Spam claiming to have exclusive videos of events like the tragic death of Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili have been spreading. The links lead to malicious sites pushing fake anti-virus software or dropping Trojans.

In addition scammers have set up a fake Twitter account that sends out tweets disguised to look like Olympic updates. The URL has a subtle typo but at first glance looks like the official Olympics site, Vancouver2010.com  When users visit the site they are prompted to download a codec or Flash update. The fake update is actually a Trojan.

“Given the popularity of the Winter Olympics, it is not surprising that attackers are taking advantage of the event to spread malware,” said Michael Sutton, vice president of research at Zscaler. “Given the authentic nature of the attack site, lack of anti-virus signatures, use of Twitter to advertise the campaign and timing of the attack, it is reasonable to assume that it will succeed.”

Other Olympic themed spam campaigns include messages offering travel tips for those going to Vancouver or offering bus tickets and transit passes. Scammers have also used Black Hat SEO techniques to poison search results for top Olympic athletes like Bodie Miller, Sasha Cohen, and Jennifer Rodriquez.