Malware attack poses as bloody photos of Gaddafi’s death

The death of Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi has almost inevitably resulted in cybercriminals taking advantage of the news story, and the general public’s seeming interest in viewing ghoulish photos and videos of his last moments.

Malicious hackers have spammed out an attack posing as pictures of Gaddafi’s death, tricking users into believing that they came from the AFP news agency and are being forwarded by a fellow internet user.

A typical message looks like this:

Subject: Fw: AFP Photo News: Bloody Photos: Libya dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s Death

Message body:

Libya dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s Death

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the most wanted man in the world, has been killed, the country’s rebel government claimed Oct. 20. The flamboyant tyrant who terrorized his country and much of the world during his 42 years of despotic rule was cornered by insurgents in the town of Sirte, where Gadhafi had been…

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, Bluesky, or drop him an email.