Shrek Virus hits a Dating Website
Sophos is alerting people aboutBeautifulPeople.com, the dating website that only accepts members who pass an attractiveness rating is claiming that it has been hit by a computer virus. Sophos has questioned these claiming that a "Shrek" virus made it possible for "30,000 ugly people" to join the site, without going through the usual attractiveness approval process.
Greg Hodge, MD of Beautiful People, said, "We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period. We responded immediately, repairing the damage from the 'Shrek Virus' and putting every new member back into the rating module for a legitimate and democratic vote. Resulting in a loss of over 30,000 recent members, we have sincere regretted for the unfortunate people who were wrongly admitted to the site."
Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos, questions, "Why the website hasn't needed to inform any security firms about the malware, and raises an eyebrow at the reassurances that members' privacy and security was never breached. Beautiful People announced that a former employee placed the malware before leaving the team. It just all seems a little too convenient that this 'malware' has generated a huge amount of publicity for the site, without causing any trouble for the current or future members."
"If Beautiful People's story about a Shrek virus is true, I am the spitting image of Brad Pitt. The firm has conducted impressive publicity stunts in the past, and this is just the latest - dreamt up against a backdrop of newspaper headlines about big companies facing genuine security breaches," commented Cluley.
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