Reports say hackers are using the story of the killer whale that killed Dawn Brancheau, a US SeaWorld trainer, to try to infect computers and steal people’s credit card information. Hackers have taken the opportunity to use our internet curiosity against us. They have created webpages that supposedly contain video footage of the tragedy showing the killer whale Tilikum. Searching for terms such as “killer whale video pictures” and “Dawn Brancheau video” will lead to malicious search results. After clicking on a link, website visitors get a fake antivirus alert. They are told there is a security problem on their computer, and are urged to download the antimalware program. The visitor is then prompted for their credit card details, and this alert is hard to remove and will often freeze up a computer.

It is horrible that hackers would try to profit from the death of an innocent woman. She definitely didn’t deserve this, but why are so many people drawn to see such horrible footage? Perhaps the malicious hackers thought they were targeting people who wanted to see a gruesome video and deserved something to happen to them. Be sure to go to established news sites if you want to get information on events.