Beware of Tilikum Killer Whale Search Results

Security researchers warn that scareware distributors are exploiting yet another tragedy in order to earn some money. People searching the Web for news of Tilikum, an orca that killed a trainer during a live show two days ago, are likely to encounter malicious URLs.

On February 24, at the end of a show at SeaWorld Orlando, 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed in front of the audience by a male orca. The killer whale named Tilikum unexpectedly grabbed the experienced trainer off a platform and pulled her under the water, where he swam around until she drowned.

News of the sad incident quickly spread across the globe and people rushed on the Internet to search for more information about Tilikum, the orca, which has been involved in three human deaths so far. Inevitably, keywords such as "Tilikum killer whale," "killer whale pictures" or "dawn brancheau video" rose at the top of Google Hot Trends, leading to the all-too-common black hat search engine optimization (BHSEO) campaigns.

"The heartless hackers are taking advantage of the hot news story by popping up fake anti-virus (also known as scareware or rogue anti-virus) alerts. The alerts are designed to frighten unsuspecting users into believing there is a security problem with their computer, which could lead them into downloading dangerous software or handing over their credit card details," warns Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at antivirus vendor Sophos.

The sad truth is that cyber-crooks will not back down from any chance to infect more users and make a profit, regardless of how morally wrong their actions might be. Similar search results poisoning campaigns have targeted the untimely deaths of celebrities such as Brittany Murphy, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett or Natasha Richardson, and tragedies like the Air France Flight 447 crash or the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

As always, Internet users are advised to surfing the web while having an up-to-date and reliable antivirus solution installed on their computers. Security experts also recommend getting news reports only from reputable and trusted sources.