Rape

You may know who Erin Andrews is. I don’t. Or at least I didn’t until the news hit the wire that she was secretly videoed through the peephole of a hotel room, and the video was posted (of course) on the Internet. This apparently happened a few days ago, but I’m just hearing about it today.

Several emotions come to mind as I read and listen to the tales. Curiosity firstly, because I’ve learned that Ms. Andrews is supposed to be a looker; something I've confirmed by locating the photo below. To be honest, after seeing the photo I was tempted to surf for the video.

Then curiosity yet again because I wondered how anyone could actually video through a peephole from the outside looking in. I thought those things were meant to be secure.

Then came the revulsion and anger, because this woman was raped. You can call it voyeurism or something else if you please… I call it rape.

Now, finally, I feel satisfaction to learn that hackers are using the video as a Trojan to infect the PC’s of the curious, and relief that I didn’t succumb to my own curiosity.

From CBS:

Naked Video Of ESPN Star Used To Hack PCs

Hackers are using an illegally-taped peephole video that has naked shots of glamorous ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews as a lure to get click-happy web surfers to download dangerous malware to their computers, according to a computer security website.

Andrews has become a popular fixture on ESPN and the web as a vivacious and beautiful reporter. So much so, that someone used a peephole camera to record video of Andrews as she disrobed.

Naturally, the video went viral online and ESPN lawyers have been scrambling to shut down websites that post links to the material.

That means it's getting increasingly hard to find on the web, but that hasn't stopped the growing demand for it.

And it's that drive that hackers are plugging into, according to sophos.com, a website that sells security software, but also provides security news.

One version of the hack, fools surfers into clicking on what appears to be a CNN version of the video, according to Sophos. When users hit the play button they are presented with a pop up window warning them that their popup blocker has blocked the video player window and they must launch another player. Doing so doesn't play the video, but it does install a Trojan horse with which hackers can later attack the computer, says the site.

Both Apple and Windows computers are vulnerable, according to Sophos. It is not yet clear what effect the virus will have on computers or how widely it will spread.

Since the whole thing is kind of amateurish, the person or persons who actually shot the video may yet be caught. If that happens, I certainly hope they face the music. This was not just some childish prank.
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