Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie‘ is all the rage right now. The movie has set cash registers ringing at ticket windows across the world, including in India. Barbie has shattered numerous box office records, and set new, exciting ones. The Margot Robbie starrer is a blockbuster hit in India too, where it is running head to head with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in theatres.
Amidst all the euphoria for ‘Barbie’, comes a grave, sobering thought. Barbie has set another new record in India, albeit, not a good one by any means. According to a report published by leading online protection, cyber security and anti-virus company McAfee, ‘Barbie’ is the leading bait for cyber-criminals to trap unsuspecting users in online scams. McAfee has discovered a slew of instances of malware worldwide that have Barbie-related filenames.
Cyber-criminals lure people with links that promise free downloads of Barbie or free tickets to Barbie Movie or bogus dubbed downloads of the film. As soon as unaware people clink on the links, the files install data-stealing malware and viruses on their devices. The malware then siphons personal information, financial information, login details, and more from devices.
While the malware scenario is quite scary, what makes it scarier still is that India is amongst the top three countries that is witnessing a spate of scam and malware instances. The USA leads with the most number of virus-related scams, followed by Australia at second place, and India at third place.
The best way to avoid getting duped by online scamsters and their malware-installing links is to avoid clicking on any links that look remotely suspicious or offer benefits that look too good to be true. One can also install anti-virus protection in devices. And yes, watch Barbie only in theatres!
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