Hoax emails of naked Angelina Jolie cause 80% of computer viruses

[snopes]

Fake emails claiming to offer nude photographs of Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Milla Jovovich and pixelated videogame babe Lara Croft are behind 80 per cent of computer viruses, according to experts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1965

[TuFurg]

Originally Posted by snopes

Fake emails claiming to offer nude photographs of Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Milla Jovovich and pixelated videogame babe Lara Croft are behind 80 per cent of computer viruses, according to experts.

I wonder what exactly makes one an "expert" on the subject.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

I would say e-mails with claim to have naked picture of some body famous and all you need to do is clink on this file, would be how the majority of viruse are loaded. I would think 80% is rather high.

[RealityChuck]

Today's current top viruses, from Postini:

Netsky 86,241
spyagent BV 63,048
mime 40,771
Generic malware 34,632
downloadr2 24,740
mydoom 23,615
mytob 23,261
html/iframe 17,016

A quick look shows that Netsky, spyagent, downloadr2, mydoom, and mytob do not use the promise of nude pictures in order to infect (at least, not exclusively -- it may be one of the subject lines used, but they use multiple ones, chosen randomly).

[BluesScale]

Good old Daily Mail. They can twist any story.

I think that they are referring to some research by F-secure which said that around 80% of malware was introduced to systems by means of social engineering - some of which was in the form of executables claiming to contain pornographic images of celebrities.

So, a bit sensational but essentially a valid warning

Blues

Milla Jovovich? She's gorgeous for sure, but has she done anything worth drooling over since Fifth Element?

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by BluesScale

Good old Daily Mail. They can twist any story.

I'm quite disappointed with the comments though, they seem almost reasonable.