McAfee Research: India Ranks Among Top Five Nations Battling Barbie Malware Attacks

According to a study by the internet security firm McAfee, India is one of the top three nations in the world that have seen significant malware campaigns masquerading as sales of Barbie items. The Hollywood movie has generated a lot of talk and had an amazing weekend debut.

“A rash of scams have emerged online,” said Steve Grobman, CTO of McAfee, “including fake downloads of the movie that install malware, viruses related to Barbie, and fake videos that direct people to free tickets-but instead lead to links that steal personal information with spyware.”

Cybercriminals are always looking for methods to make phishing and other schemes more alluring and credible, he continued. They frequently utilize well-attended and well-known events like concerts, athletic events, or movie premieres to lure consumers into clicking on harmful links.

According to a notice on the business’ website, 100 new cases of malware with filenames referencing Barbie have been seen in the last three weeks. “Once again, this demonstrates how attackers have seized onto the hoopla around the film in the hopes that people will click the infected files since the name Barbie is popular. Although the file formats varied, they contained common ones like.html and.exe. Attackers mostly targeted the US, although other nations have also come under assault.

McAfee advised caution as people searched for products associated to Barbie online, making them more susceptible to falling for a hoax. The business provided instances of the frauds as well. These contain haphazard download links for the film in languages like Tamil and Hindi.

“McAfee has seen several examples of malicious campaigns that try to trick victims into downloading the “Barbie” movie in various languages in India,” the report’s conclusion said. The URL directs users to download a.zip file that is loaded with malware by clicking it.