High School Musical Attacks

I haven't verified this, but based on the media hype, the marketing, and the general buzz everywhere, I may be the last person on Earth who has not seen any of the High School Musical movies. Actually- I can vouch for my wife and kids as well. They have also managed to escape being assimiliated into the HSM 'Borg' machinery.

For those less fortunate though...those of you who have seen all three movies (multiple times). Those of you who have the soundtracks, the Wii video game, the HSM dollhouse, and the HSM messenger bag- you may fall victim to a recent computer security threat.

According to a recent press release from Panda Security, their "malware analysis and detection laboratory, has reported that numerous downloadable songs and videos related to the hit movie “High School Musical” are being used by cyber-crooks to disguise malware (viruses, worms, Trojans, etc.). The infected files are distributed through popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks such as eMule, eDonkey, etc. and when users search for files related to “High School Musical” using these programs, some of the results include files infected with malware."

To protect your computer system and your data, use caution when downloading files (especially files of questionable ethical or legal standards) from anywhere. Pay particular attention to being safe while using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking sites, and make sure you are using an updated antimalware program, such as Norton Internet Security 2009, to identify and block malware threats.