<p>Spammers have been using interest around the Olympic Games to scam internet users into spreading and downloading malicious content, online security company Symantec has found.<br /><br />Symantec's July Intelligence Report found that attackers had been using Olympic-themed "hashtags" on Twitter to spread malicious code. Attackers are also attempting to compromise mobile devices by taking Olympic mobile apps and rebundling them with threats.<br /><br />This is not a new phenomenon, however. Similar sporting-themed attacks took place during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. <br /><br />Some of the Olympic-related threats and scams are:<br /><br /><strong>Twitter Bots</strong><br />Attackers have been actively using Olympic-related trending topics on Twitter recently in order to entice people to click on malicious links. The Tweets appear to be generated by bots, with poorly constructed, ambiguous sentences.<br /><br />The shortened URLs lead to fake pages that appear to cover a variety of topics, including business strategy tips and health-related themes. However, the real purpose of these sites is to spread malware. An attack toolkit is set up on the back end of the pages and will attempt to install trojan back doors or fake security software on vulnerable computers that visit these Web sites. For instance, the attack might play out similar to this video.<br /><br />The accounts themselves are generally created the day the tweets are sent, rarely have any followers, and rapidly post a few Tweets each minute using a wide variety of hash tags linked to trending topics. Twitter has been quick to identify these accounts and suspend them, generally within a few hours of their creation.<br /><br /><strong>Fake Olympic Scandals<br /></strong>There also have been a few instances of spammers attempting to trick users into downloading malware. For example, one spam email hints at a doping scandal, and includes a link to a website that mimics YouTube. The video in question is meant to be about the supposed scandal, but instead of playing the video, it tells the user to install a new version of Flash player. If the user clicks OK and runs the executable, they will infect the computer with a trojan. <br /><br /><br /><strong>Android.Opfake<br /></strong>The attackers behind Android.Opfake are going after apps related to the London 2012 Olympics. They are bundling their threat with a copy of a legitimate Olympics application. The legitimate app, a game promoting some of the more popular Olympic sports, was copied and repackaged with the trojan and then distributed on a Russian Android app marketplace.<br /><br /><strong>Olympic-themed Spam And Scams<br /></strong>The spam rate has increased steadily for the most part, effectively doubling from late May to late July, when the Games began.<br /><br />The scams behind these spam runs are generally focused on gathering personal information from the user. <br /><br /><strong>Phishing Attack<br /></strong>Even before the Summer Olympic Games began on 27 July 2012, online scammers had already taken the opportunity to target users. Phishers masquerading as a MasterCard promotion, created an eye-catching phishing site. The phishing pages, hosted in Brazil, included several fake offers such as “Win Free Trips to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London!”, “Participate and win laptops, cameras and many great prizes.” etc . On clicking a button, customers are redirected to the next phishing page that asks for the user’s confidential information. <br /><br /><strong>Fake Visa Gift Cards<br /></strong>Spammers have also been targeting customers by using fake gift cards from Visa, reportedly worth $1,000. By clicking a link provided in the spam mail, the user would be redirected to a fake survey page where the user is required to answer questions related to the London Olympics. After the survey is complete, users are prompted to enter their email address to win the exciting gifts.<br /><br /><br /> </p>
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