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'Virus' finds willing victims
23/05/2007 07:12 - (SA)
Helsinki - Computer specialist Didier
Stevens put up a simple text advertisement on the internet
offering downloads of a computer virus for people who did not
have any.
Surprisingly, he found as many as 409 people clicking on the
ad saying "Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!" during
a six-month advertising campaign on Google's Adword, said the IT
security expert.
"Some of them must have clicked on it by mistake. Some must
have been curious or stupid," said Mikko Hypponen, head of
research at data security firm F-Secure.
There was no virus involved, it was an experiment aiming to
show these kind of advertising systems can be used for malicious
intent, Stevens told Reuters.
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