Harry Potter is dead.

This is the rumor that malware authors are spreading together with their malicious program, which Trend Micro detects as WORM_HAIRY.A. Once again these authors capitalize on highly-anticipated events — in this case the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in July 21st — in order to spread their malicious codes to the public. Note that this was not the first Harry Potter-related malware TrendLabs has encountered recently: just a couple of weeks ago a Trojan-carrying email promising free premiere tickets for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie was discovered.

So to Harry Potter fans who got this news, don’t worry… It’s just a rumor. But then again, worry about what’s in your computer now. A worm may already be doing its own “magic” tricks — which include displaying a message (see image below) and redirecting your browser to Harry Putter and the Chamber of Cheesecakes (they probably want you to buy this book) — on your system.