Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest big name to be used in an attempt to lure unsuspecting internet users into downloading software which could open their PCs to hackers.

Security company Sophos is warning that thousands of messages posted to internet newsgroups are urging computer users to download a file claiming to contain a suicide note from Schwarzenegger.

The actor-turned-politician is in fact alive and well and still governor of California. But users who download the fake file may be opening their computers up to attack from hackers.

"It seems that the same person is behind both the Osama bin Laden and Schwarzenegger postings. In both cases the hacker is trying to get the user to run a Trojan horse to open a backdoor onto their computer," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for antivirus firm Sophos, told vnunet.com.

"No doubt these mass postings to thousands of different newsgroups were done to 'seed' the Trojan as far as possible. Once the hacker has access they can do whatever they like: steal confidential information, tamper with or delete data, send spam, launch denial of service attacks."

The company advised users to keep their antivirus and firewall defences up to date and to run the latest antivirus software.