Beware Bhutto Scams and Malware

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, and leader of the Pakistan People's Party, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated at a political rally in Rawalpindi. Having lived in exile for the past decade, Bhutto had just recently returned to Pakistan to run in the upcoming democratic elections, which are severely crippled and could be canceled as a result of the assassination. None of that is really related to information security though. Why should you care? Well, whether or not you have an interest in international politics or the state of affairs in Pakistan, you should be on the lookout for viruses, worms, Trojans, and other malware arriving in your email Inbox disguised as breaking news alerts about Bhutto's assassination. Malware authors tend to use hot headlines as bait to compromise systems. In recent years the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina, and the Tsunami were both used to perpetrate scams or malware attacks. If you really want to know what is going on, visit About.com's World News site, or CNN.com. Do not click on links or open email attachments claiming to have inside information or shocking updates about the assassination.