“New” Madonna video comes with a trojan horse

Sophos is warning music fans to be wary of opening unsolicited emails claiming to reveal the latest news about their favourite pop stars. The warning follows the discovery of a new wave of malware attacks which arrive in the unsuspecting computer users’ inbox and claim to contain a link to a scandalous video of Madonna.

Sophos experts note that the cybercriminals have timed the attack to coincide with the start of Madonna’s new world tour on Saturday – it is a common tactic for hackers to try to exploit excitement around upcoming events.

However, users that click on the URL will not see a video of Madonna but will instead download a Trojan horse called Troj/FakeVir-EW that displays a bogus security warning encouraging them to purchase a piece of fake anti-virus software.