Lindsay Lohan and Norton Warn Fans of Online Threats

WHAT/WHY:

Lindsay Lohan and Norton are warning fans and gossip-hounds alike, that searching for details of her latest predicament could result in their computers being infected by cyber criminals.

"I know I am very newsworthy, especially with everything going on and I'd hate to see my current situation cause frustration or damage to my fans," says Lohan. "If my friends and fans want to know what's going on with me, they need to stick to reliable news media outlets and not click on just any link in a search result. Better yet, please follow my Twitter feed and get the news straight from me!"

Norton knows that cyber criminals simply monitor newsworthy, trending news topics, then infect dozens of legitimate and fake webpages with viruses, spyware, keylogging programs (where criminals can monitor everything you type), and other malicious software ("Malware") hoping to gain access to people's computers and steal their personal information.

Often within hours of major news and pop culture events, as many as 50 percent of search results can be "poisoned" – meaning that it's more likely than not that you will click on a bad link!

Some common search terms likely to return malicious results may include:

• "Lindsay Lohan Jail"

• "Lilo in Prison"

• "Lohan Sentence"

Norton expects to see a spike in these poisoned search results over the next week as the news of Lohan's prison sentence continues to gain momentum.

EXPERTS:

Norton experts are on hand to share tips with users on how they can protect themselves from Lindsay Lohan-related threats online, including:

• Pictures from inside the jail cell? Lindsay's jailhouse diary?! Don't believe everything you read. – Cybercriminals use sensational headlines to get you to click on their poisoned links. Delete e-mails and ignore search results from people and sites you don't know – no matter what they're promising.

• Tell those crooks to "SCRAM" - Use a safe search tool, like the free Norton Safe Web Lite, which can identify poisoned search results.  

• Take it from Lindsay: Sometimes your closest friends can be your worst enemies - Don't assume links and videos posted by friends on social networking sites are safe – use a free tool such as Norton Safe Web for Facebook to make sure sites don't contain any malicious elements before you click on them.

WHEN:

Interviews with Norton experts available upon request

CONTACT:

Gerritt Hoekman

Edelman for Norton

323-202-1895

[email protected]