Ann Marie McNally

When relatives looked for information on the deceased Ann Marie McNally on Google, they were taken to a Web site that contained a video of her memorial.

"The friend, Markus Diersbock, visited the site. It notified him that he did not have the appropriate software for viewing the video and asked him to download new software, he recalled. He clicked on the link and noticed that it took him to a URL that was strikingly similar to the one used in the hacking of Alicia Keys’s MySpace page last month. In that case, the link on Ms. Keys’s page was one that passed users on to a page where their computers were infected with spyware. Spyware can steal private information from people’s computers like credit card numbers and passwords."

The article said that Diersbock suspects that they are making fake memorial sites by scanning newspapers for articles about deaths.

Look what else...

"Ms. McNally’s death is also being used by some people who set up sponsored link pages to make money. A search for “Ann Marie McNally” today brings up a link labeled “Shocking Pictures of Ann Marie McNally Fatal Crash” as the third listing. That link took people to a page on a site called Xomba that is plastered with pay-per-click ads. There were no photos of Ms. McNally there, only a link to the Boston Herald article about her death. "

It's sad that these hackers are taking advantage of vulnerable situations like this as a chance to spread viruses through people's computers.

By Lauren Darmody