London, May 9: An anti-virus firm has warned that name of the Brit-nominated British group ‘Girls Aloud’ is being misused by some cyber-criminals to spread a new computer virus, which can scan a hard drive to get personal information so as to exploit it for identity theft.

Experts at McAfee have revealed that the fake file poses as a music track, a porn clip or a popular film.

Just as the file is clicked, say the experts, it installs a bundle of adware that plagues a user with pop-ups.

The virus has infected about 500,000 computers to date, say the experts.

It has been written in several languages to trick different computer users into downloading the fake file, they add.

The experts have revealed that the fake file has been widely distributed on the eDonkey and Limewire file-sharing networks.

They say that only those using Windows are said to be vulnerable to the malicious program, reports the BBC.

McAfee officials say that the fake media file outbreak is the largest they have seen for about three years.

They suggest that computer users better update their security software, and beware while using file-sharing networks. (ANI)