Only days after a hacker claimed to have revealed key details of the plot of the last Harry Potter novel, a worm purporting to be the manuscript of the book has been circulating.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is due to go on sale on 21 July but fans eager to get their hands on a copy of the book may well find themselves tempted by a USB drive that claims to contain the manuscript.
However, the file HarryPotter-TheDeathlyHallows.doc is actually the Hairy-A worm. If it is allowed to run on a PC it will create new user identities for some of the main characters in the book - Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter himself.
"There is a real danger that muggles will blindly allow their USB flash drives to auto-run and become infected by this worm," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
However, there is a more sinister twist - when you log in to an infected PC, you will be greeted with a message telling you to "repent from your evil ways lest ye burn in hell".
This message would seem to be in keeping with comments made by the hacker 'Gabriel' who posted a spoiler on a forum describing the ending of the book and railed against "neo-paganism".
"The fact that this worm has been inspired by the tales of a fictional schoolboy wizard doesn't make it a harmless prank," said Cluley.
"A worm like this, which infects and tampers with users' computers without their permission, is committing a criminal act."
www.sophos.com
Topic: Another Harry Potter hoax (Read 505 times)