Fake news of Hugo Chavez’s death leads to malware

Internet users in Latin America were the intended victims of a malware campaign last week, when an email was spammed out claiming to contain breaking news of the death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

The email claimed that government officials had confirmed the death of 57-year-old Chavez, after a struggle against cancer.

The news of the Venezuelan president’s death had, claimed the email, shocked world leaders who were said to have expressed their condolences via the media.

The truth is that although Hugo Chavez has chemotherapy treatment for cancer this year, he claims that he is in a fit condition to fight in an election next year…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.