Many soccer fans have found themselves away from the TV and looking for a live stream of big games in line with the current World Cup. However, looking for live broadcasts on the Internet can cost money or leave a malicious programme on your computer, warns Kaspersky Lab.
Says Dmitry Bestuzhev at Kaspersky Lab, “We have noticed that when a search is undertaken on the Internet for live World Cup broadcasts, you will sometimes find purchased advertisements that lead to fraudulent or malicious content, which users must be aware of.”
Kaspersky Lab has identified a few examples of this, whereby when a user goes to the Web site, it asks them to download a special ‘plugin’ available for all browsers. Internet users need to be aware of this, as instead of downloading the software needed to watch the on-line broadcast of the games, an Adware programme, which may not show anything at all, is downloaded and will drain a computer’s resources.
“The sites offer every football game, at any time. They promise high quality footage taken from the best cameras in the arenas. Of course, all credit cards are accepted. However, if you pay, you will just lose your money. Dubious and dishonest websites like these have no interest in playing by any rules,” continues Bestuzhev.
Additionally, Kaspersky Lab is seeing see a lot of new registered domain names containing words like “FIFA Live World Cup steaming 2014”. Kaspersky Lab believes most of them will be used for a malicious purpose.
Concludes Bestuzhev, “Cybercriminals, opportunists and other malicious individuals look for occasions like the World Cup, to exploit and catch people. They know this is the best time to cheat people, steal their money and infect their devices. We encourage avid fans to stay ahead of the game and do not fall into these social engineering traps. Use the best anti-malware protection and keep your wits about you when browsing and looking for the content.”
