Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/31/halloween_themed_threats/

Don't let Halloween malware haunt your PC

Trick or tweet

By John Leyden

Posted in Security, 31st October 2011 12:29 GMT

Halloween celebrations on Monday are likely to be haunted by rampant malware infections and an onslaught of internet scams, security watchers warn.

Wicked writers of devilish code are likely to take advantage of the festivities to spook surfers with search engine poisoning attacks that point browsers towards websites infected with malware or peddling scareware.

"The combination of things that people will search for online at this time of year presents multiple opportunities for scammers to try to compromise personal data and corrupt computers," said Jovi Umawing, a research analyst at GFI Software. “It is paramount that people are vigilant and approach anything with a Halloween theme with caution."

Halloween has repeatedly been exploited via various scams, the most noteworthy of which are listed below.

Links distributed via social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, from compromised accounts also pose a risk. Scammers may disguise the true destination of a web address in these cases using URL shortening services.

GFI's warning is repeated by Trend Micro, which has published an infographic on seasonal threats here. ®