Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Osama bin Laden spam floods Web, promises gory video

By
Osama Bin Laden Dead Killed
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Combine viral news with gullible people and you’ve got the makings of a Facebook scam right in front of you. A post is running rampant on the social networking site advertising a video of Osama bin Laden’s killing: “Osama is dead, watch this exclusive CNN video which was censored by Obama administration due to level of violence, a must watch. Leaked by Wikileaks,” the description reads. Another, less sordid spam post promises free Subway to celebrate the event.

scamThe death of bin Laden has become an Internet sensation, the likes of which we’ve never seen. The news managed to become the most tweeted topic in history (albeit that’s a fairly short history), and the intrigue surrounding the real-time announcement of his death has only made it more viral.

Recommended Videos

And Internet scammers know it. Curiosity surrounding bin Laden’s demise has made his death an ideal platform for viruses. While it’s becoming easier and easier to spot faux-posts on Facebook, the virus attacks are getting more sophisticated. Security firm Websense revealed that the blog of the man responsible for live-tweeting bin Laden’s death was hacked and embedded with malware. According to the report, a message reading “Windows Recover” pops up, trying to con visitors into providing credit card information for the nonexistent software. Luckily the virus was disabled as of 8 a.m. PST.

Searching for various bin Laden topics can also land your system into dangerous territory. Image and videos are proving specifically prone to viruses.
Be on the lookout for:

  • Results from image or video searches regarding bin Laden.
  • Any links advertising an image or video of a dead bin Laden, or the shootout. Be assured that this footage does not exist – at least not in a form you can get your hands on.
  • As always, don’t provide credit card information to anything advertising virus protection.
  • Be careful when searching for any information about bin Laden. You don’t have to be an SEO expert to figure out that searches about the former al-Qaeda leader have spiked in the last few days, and spammers know this. Be assured they are taking advantage.
Topics
Molly McHugh
Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
Intel Battlemage GPU: everything we know so far
Intel Arc A770 GPU installed in a test bench.

Despite a rocky start, Intel's Arc GPUs are now among the best graphics cards you can buy. Targeting budget PC gamers, Intel has established itself as a major player in gaming graphics cards, and all eyes are on Team Blue with its next generation of GPUs, codenamed Battlemage.

We know Battlemage GPUs are coming, and Intel has slowly been dropping hints about the graphics cards over the past year. Although we're still waiting on an official release date, specs, and pricing details for Battlemage GPUs, there's a lot we can piece together already.
Intel Battlemage: specs

Read more
Spotify vs. Pandora: which streaming service should you choose?
spotify vs pandora on iphone

Let's settle a musical debate: which music streaming platform should you use: Spotify or Pandora?

Both services have their unique strengths and weaknesses. Spotify boasts a more extensive music catalog, robust social features for sharing and discovering music with friends, and a more polished user experience across devices.

Read more
Ryzen AI nearly hits 60 fps in Black Myth: Wukong, but it’s not that simple
OneXFly F1 Pro gamig handheld.

Although AMD APUs appear in some of the best gaming handhelds, the latest Strix Point chips are still hard to find in new releases. However, the new OneXFly F1 Pro gamin handheld is making its debut with the Ryzen AI HX 370 chip in tow, and according to a benchmark in Black Myth: Wukong, it managed to average an impressive 58 frames per second (fps) at a 15-watt thermal design power (TDP). That's an impressive result, but digging deeper reveals that AAA gaming on the go is still not without any sacrifice.

The OneXFly F1 Pro comes with the Ryzen AI HX 370, which sports a total of 12 cores -- four Zen 5 and eight Zen 5c -- as well as 24 threads. The maximum boost clock on the Zen 5 cores reaches 5.1GHz, but the smaller Zen 5c maxes out at 3.3GHz. The default TDP was rated at 28 watts, but it can be configured between 15W and 54W. For an APU, the AI HX 370 delivers solid graphics capabilities, as it's equipped with the AMD Radeon 890M. It also sports a 7-inch OLED screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz.

Read more