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Crooks exploit girl's death to serve up malware

The depths that cyber crooks are prepared to sink down to in order to expose consumers to online threats has been brought to light by a US case surrounding the death of a young woman named Nikki Catsouras.

Ms Catsouras died in a grisly road accident and images of the mangled wreck that claimed her life were allegedly leaked by the California Highway Patrol, according to a Newsweek article, which claims the family is suing for this.

Not to let an opportunity pass, Russian cyber crooks have launched a site aimed at infecting the computers of curious minds with malware by offering a 'video' of the wreckage, online security firm Trend Micro has said.

According to the firm, the crooks have used search engine optimisation and now the search term 'Nikki Catsouras' ensures the malicious site appears "at the number one spot" on search engines.

The security specialist said it has found "several different variants of malware" on the said website, "which is serving up everything from Rogue AV to the AutorunWorm and the new Zlob malware.

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