This Easter holiday on the 16th April, while we were all taking a well-earned break before the summer exams strike with avengence, 32 innocent students and staff from Virginia Tech University were senselessly killed.
In one of the most terrifying shootings in American history the face of terror is unmistakable, making the face of loss and grief all too common. What makes the story even more chilling is that this shooting was not in a place of war but in a place to be regarded as a sanctuary of safety.
However, now there is an even more bitter twist to the massacre, as it has been revealed that cyber crooks are trying to cash in on the tragedy at Virginia Tech University.
Hackers are already luring people with emails claiming to link to amateur footage of the shootings, but which instead leads to malicious files. The malicious programme, known as Spyware, attempts to steal banking passwords and other information from the computers of online bankers. One such spam message directs to a Brazilian movie site that attempts to install a so-called Trojan horse on the victim’s computer
Formerly, hackers made use of national catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina and the London bombing to put out of sight likewise attacks. PC users are urged to ensure that their anti-virus software is up to date and to be wary of unsolicited emails. They are also encouraged to only follow trusted links and to contact their bank whenever they think their information may have been compromised.
US –CERT have said this is not the first time hackers have taken advantage of national tragedies to line their wallets. Beardsley said events such as the Tsunami are more likely to be successful fund-raising scammers than the Virginia Tech rampage because they are unavoidable natural disasters that affect many poor people.
It seems this tragedy has further revelations from what has already been referred to as just ‘another shooting’ in the US. Now an explosion of outrage from the media blasts us in the face with the controversies surrounding the video footage left by the 23-year-old killer responsible for the brutal murders.
Just after the shooting, NBC News received and aired material sent from Cho Seung-Hui that included his personal videos, writings and photographs. All of which are filled with angry rants about rich “brats” and their “hedonistic needs” and several photos even show Cho aiming handguns at the camera. So the question lies, is this just another media savvy step too far?
Laura Panzica, a second year Business Studies Cardiff student, believes that curiosity often takes over with overwhelming events such as these and ‘people may watch just to make sure if the massacre has been as horrible as they think.’ Not only this but if you do in fact choose to watch the video it may help you to understand or answer why the incident happened.
Thedric Jones, who shared living quarters with Cho and four other students, told CTV Newsnet on Thursday that he was more surprised by the video than the actual shootings. Jones claimed that watching the video was the first time he heard Cho speak and show emotion. “With us, he didn’t say a thing.” He further revealed, “once I’d heard it was him who had been the shooter I wasn’t entirely surprised… but the video was like a totally different person, especially the smiling photos.”
Laura Hinson, a second year Cardiff Journalism student, suggests that “bloggers will also be interested in watching the video footage because they will want to write their post into their blogs.”
However, when questioning a group of second year Cardiff Business Studies students who have watched the video, they claimed all they could hear was the glee in the media’s voices as they gloried over something ‘meaty’ to cover.
