IT Security: "Twihards" targeted by internet crooks

Norton has already found that many common searches related to the movie are returning malicious results. When clicked, these "poisoned" links can automatically put viruses, keylogging programs (where criminals can monitor everything you type), and other nasty infected software on your smartphone, computer or tablet that can cause endless days of trouble; not to mention leaving your bank account as drained as a vampire's victim.

Common searches that are turning up poisoned results tend to be for photos, trailers, clips, casting information and plot details on the series.

Top search terms that we've already seen returning poisoned results include:

"Nude pictures of Taylor Lautner""Robert and Kristin kissing""Twilight true love"

Norton has seen a spike in these poisoned search results with the impending release of the movie, and expects even more "Twilight"-related poison search results, scams and spam as the curiosity continues to peak.

Norton, which has issued a light hearted media release about a serious subject - and in doing so hopes to reach the same targets as the criminals - has the following advice:

+ Stay away from sensational strangers – Cybercriminals use sensational wording to get you to click on their poisoned links. Don't assume the best of a stranger - better to delete emails and ignore search results from people and sites you've never heard of.

+ Don't leave your neck exposed - Reputable online security software will identify malicious links and protect against other unseen threats. Use Norton 360 to surf online without interruption and to make sure sites don't contain any malicious elements before you click on them.

+ Watch out for (were)wolves in sheep's clothing – When it comes to search term results, it can be hard to tell friend from foe. Use a tool such as Norton Safe Web Lite to make sure sites aren't poisoned before clicking on them.

Of course, there are other products that aim to identify unsafe sites and there are features in, e.g., the Firefox browser to help steer users away from known rogue sites. Some search engines also try to identify suspect sites.

As always, though, the best control is the mind of the user: think before you click is the best thing to do.