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Crooks use search engines to position malware-laden swine flu sites

An internet security expert has warned consumers to be careful about what sites they go to when looking for information on the swine flu infection.

Some of the sites appearing high up on search engine rankings have been set up by cyber crooks, who have designed the rogue websites to infect users with malware, according to Panda Security.

The company has reported spotting links to bogus websites on search engine Google offering information on the infection, which started in Mexico and has already resulted in some deaths.

Searches for 'flu statistics' lead users to a rogue site containing video, which potential victims can only view after downloading a new version of a video player.

"Actually, the file is not a player but an adware program which has been detected as Adware/WebMediaPlayer," said the security vendor.
Online security firm F-Secure last month warned that a surge in swine flu-related domain names had been noted and some of them could be used to steal financial information from consumers.

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