Fake Emma Watson Nude Video Infecting Computers With Malware
Emma Watson doesn’t have a leaked nude video on the web, so don’t click on any links claiming to show footage of the Harry Potter star in her birthday suit.
Internet hoaxers are using Watson’s famous name to infect computers with malware. A link purporting to show a nude video of Emma Watson has gone viral on Facebook, but the link doesn’t lead to a nude video at all — it just infects computers with multiple Trojans. Hot for Security explains how clicking on these misleading links can harm computers.
“They harbor several harmful Trojans, which scrounge for personal data such as phone numbers, steal tokens of legitimate apps and hijack Facebook sessions. To monetize their efforts, malware writers also subscribe victims to premium SMS scams.”
Users who are infected with the malware automatically post the Emma Watson links on their Facebook pages, unwittingly spreading the Trojans to any of their friends who click on the links.
“When users click on the malicious links, they are redirected to a salacious YouTube copycat. Future victims are then asked to update their Flash Player, as an error allegedly prevents them from watching the leaked videos of Emma Watson.”
Once a victim’s computer is infected, scammers can perform numerous unwanted actions on a user’s behalf, and they can redirect a user to a survey that can be used to obtain their telephone number. Hot for Security reports that “Bitdefender detects the browser malware as Trojan.JS.Facebook.A, and the executable as Trojan.Agent.BFQZ.”
The scammers are likely taking advantage of the celebrity nude photo hacking known as “The Fappening,” and this wouldn’t be the first time the promise a nude Watson has been used to fool internet users. As The Inquisitr previously reported, hoaxers recently claimed that they were going to leak nude photos of Emma Watson on a website titled “Emma You’re Next.” However, the website turned out to be a PR stunt by a company called Rantic Marketing. Rantic was reportedly trying to take down 4chan, one of the websites where celebrity nude photos continue to be leaked.
No photos of Emma Watson have been leaked by the celebrity nude photo hackers, but the actress decided to speak out about The Fappening and the reaction to it on Twitter.
Even worse than seeing women’s privacy violated on social media is reading the accompanying comments that show such a lack of empathy.
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) September 1, 2014
Emma Watson’s name was also associated with malware in 2012. According to The Telegraph, McAfee named the Harry Potter star the “most dangerous” celebrity to search for online. This year Jimmy Kimmel topped McAfee’s list while Emma didn’t even crack the top ten.
[Image via Hot for Security, Dating the Web]
