Social engineering: Are people really this gullible?

'Social engineering' is the phrase on many a security expert's lips. But what does it mean? Basically it means computer users are more likely to fire-up a virus if it arrives in an email offering smutty pics of pretty ladies.

Years of endeavour in the arena of digital security can be undone in one testosterone fuelled press of a button. It's enough to make you pull your hair out.

Today we heard that computer users of KaZaA and internet relay chat (IRC) instant messaging are the latest targets of this ploy. A file which offers candid shots of Catherine Zeta Jones turns out to contain a virus. What do you know?

It's not the first instance of such a ploy. South American singer Shakira, US actress Jennifer Lopez and Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova have all been used to tempt the gullible into clicking on a malware-bearing file.

The common link between all four women? By most people's standards they are all attractive ladies. All have adorned the magazine covers of popular men's newsstand titles such as FHM, GQ and Esquire.

Virus writers know that if these women can sell magazines by the shelf-load then they can also be used to 'sell' viruses.

But why now for Mrs Michael Douglas? She's been attractive for years.

With a high-profile court case against Hello! magazine, a film at the top of the US box office and a string of awards nominations Catherine Zeta Jones' star is truly in its ascendancy. She is currently one of the biggest names on the planet - and that's why the virus writers choose to strike when they do.

It seems so obvious as to be laughable. Then again, nobody ever claimed you had to come up with something big and clever to dupe people. Draping a woman in a bikini over the front of a car doesn't make it a better car but it does make for a better sell.

As many a woman will tell you, men - and sadly by and large we're the 'victims' here fellas - aren't exactly thinking with their brains when they click 'Open'.