Norton's malware watchdogs have noted a curious uptick in infective ".zip attachment spam" in recent weeks to the point of doubling.

The intention behind distributing such false news is to spread viruses using HTML links or zipped attachments suggesting more information or pictures are available, and it's a practice almost as old as the internet itself. Stories about celebrities dying in plane crashes or car accidents, after all, have a known (if morbid) appeal to the collective unconscious.

The recent surge is unexplained, and Symantec (and common sense) is suggesting email recipients follow the standard practice of not opening any suspicious links or attachments received in unsolicited email or from an unexpected source, which recently might include tantalizing subject lines such as:

Beyonce Knowles died
Brad Pitt died
Cameron Diaz died
David Beckham died
Jay-Z died
Jennifer Aniston died
Kanye West died
Miley Cyrus died
Tiger Woods died
Tom Cruise died

or even more enticing variations including:

Beyonce Knowles Fatal Car Crash
Brad Pitt Fatal Car Crash
Gwen Stefani Fatal Car Crash
Jay-Z Fatal Car Crash
Jennifer Aniston Fatal Car Crash
Kanye West Fatal Car Crash
Madonna Fatal Car Crash
Miley Cyrus Fatal Car Crash
Oprah Winfrey Fatal Car Crash
Ronaldinho Fatal Car Crash

All hoaxes, all dangerous, though merely receiving such an email will do no harm; opening attachments or clicking links within is how the damage is done.

According to Symantec, one of the threats attached to this particular batch of emails, known as "Trojan.Zbot," has primarily been designed to steal confidential information from the computers it infects. It specifically targets system information, online credentials, and banking details, but can be customized by the criminal to gather any sort of information on the infected computer.
 
 

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