McAfee has warned Internet users of malware and phishing attacks bearing an Olympic theme.
The company says spammers, phishers and malware authors have become increasingly sophisticated in engineering their attacks to take advantage of various social, cultural and economic events.
McAfee Avert Labs, McAfee's security research organisation, says it has seen several different Olympic-themed attacks and warns users to be cautious when surfing the Net for any Olympic related news, applications or widgets.
"Cybercrooks have already taken advantage of the world's attention on the Beijing games with malware and data-thieving phishing attacks," says Dave Marcus, research and communications director at McAfee Avert Labs.
He offers five tips to prevent falling into an Olympics malware or phishing trap. Firstly, he advises people not to open email messages from an unknown source, or suspicious email attachments.
Marcus says to be wary of free downloadable software, and also advises not to click on links in email messages.
Finally he says, "Keep your operating system, Web browser and security software up to date."
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