Cyber crooks play on Bill Cosby death hoax

Bill Cosby is very much alive

An online hoax claiming that US comedian and actor Bill Cosby has died is being used to push a malware attack.

Researchers at security vendor Sophos reported seeing a new round of web sites claiming to offer news of Cosby's death.

The pages attempt to mimic CNN's web site and presents surfers with phoney error messages attempting to push fake anti-virus packages.

"Hunting for information about the story can lead your computer into a nasty malware infection," wrote Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley in a blog posting.

"These poisoned web pages are appearing high in search engine results, bringing the hackers a steady stream of traffic in the form of unsuspecting computer users searching for information about Bill Cosby."

The attacks follow a recent hoax which has spread through the web, particularly on Twitter, reporting that Cosby had died. The rumours spread so far that Cosby himself issued a statement on his web site.

"As you well know, a dead person cannot rebuttal," he wrote. "Therefore, I am rebuttaling to tell you that when I heard the news I immediately began rebuttaling and went into denial."