“The Walking Dead Season 3” Streaming Offers Hide Malware and Other Threats

Movies about zombies are highly popular these days. That’s why cybercriminals are leveraging the topic to ensure the success of their campaigns.

Experts from GFI Labs have come across a number of malicious elements, all masqueraded by advertisements for streaming sites that allegedly host season 3 of The Walking Dead TV show.

The more innocent threats that hide behind fake The Walking Dead sites are classic surveys which earn spammers a commission for each user they trick into handing over some information.

On the other hand, some executable files named “the-walking-dead.exe” (or something similar) have been spotted. As expected, .exe files are much more dangerous than a survey scam.

Researchers have found that some of these malicious elements are trying to dupe victims into installing various applications, including shady browser extensions and toolbars.

Many of the links point to torrent sites and a spam run advertising The Walking Dead has even been seen on social media site Last.fm.

It goes without saying that you should be careful what sites you access and what applications you install in case you’re searching for your favorite zombie movie.