If you’re one of the many searching for footage of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau (who was killed by Tilikum the whale during a show), be warned: You could be vulnerable to viral attack, or, at the very least, a Rickroll.
Ever since the tragic incident at SeaWorld on Thursday, the top Google search term has invariably been “killer whale kills trainer footage” — meaning that many Internet surfers have been keen on getting a morbid glimpse of Brancheau’s death. Hackers have lunged at this surge in attention, in much the same way that they did following Nodar Kumaritashvili’s fatal luge accident at the Winter Olympics.
According to IT security and control firm Sophos, hackers are creating webpages that seem to contain imagery of the gruesome death, but, in actuality, merely infest a user’s computer with malware. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, told Info Zine:
“It’s hard to believe that anyone would want to watch video footage of this horrible death, but it’s currently one of the very hottest search terms on the internet.. These poisoned pages can appear on the very first page of your search engine’s results, and if you visit the links you may see pop-up warnings telling you about security issues with your computer. These warnings are fake and designed to trick you into downloading dangerous software or handing over your credit card details.”
At least one prankster has taken a less wantonly cruel approach to the heightened interest in the tragedy. Currently, one of the most-viewed videos on YouTube (with 179,449 views), the below vid purports to be tourist footage of the accident, when, in reality, it’s a Rickroll. The video begins with a speech bubble reading “Hey you morbid person!” The whole thing would have been interesting commentary on our rubber-necking society, if the video didn’t go on to pump some unknown band.
Tags: hackers, News, viral video
