ESPN Reporter Erin Andrews Undressing In Her Hotel Room

A embressing video made of ESPN reporter celebrity Erin Andrews undressing in her hotel room is now being used to spread a computer virus, according to sophos.com, an anti-virus software company.

A video of Andrews undressing was shot through the peephole of her hotel room and then quickly made its way to the internet in recent days. Soon after websites cropped up claiming to be links to the video but were actually a way to release a virus into the user's system.

"Hackers are no slacks when it comes to taking advantage of a hot internet search trend, and they have been quick to set up bogus webpages claiming to contain the video footage of Ms. Andrews in her hotel room," said Graham Cluley of Sophos.

The blurry, five-minute video shows Andrews standing in front of a hotel room mirror. It's unknown when or where it was shot.

Andrews' attorney, Marshall Grossman, confirmed Tuesday that the video posted on the Internet shows the 31-year-old reporter. He said she decided to confirm it "to put an end to rumor and speculation and to put the perpetrator and those who are complicit on notice that they act at their peril."



Andrews plans to seek criminal charges and file civil lawsuits against the person who shot the video and anyone who publishes the material, Grossman said.

"While alone in the privacy of her hotel room, Erin Andrews was surreptitiously videotaped without her knowledge or consent," Grossman said in an earlier statement. "She was the victim of a crime and is taking action to protect herself and help ensure that others are not similarly violated in the future."

Andrews has covered hockey, college football, college basketball and Major League Baseball for the network since 2004, often as a sideline reporter during games.

A former dance team member at the University of Florida, Andrews was something of an Internet sensation even before the video's circulation. She has been referred to as "Erin Pageviews" because of the traffic that video clips and photos of her generate, and Playboy magazine named her "sexiest sportscaster" in both 2008 and 2009.

She last appeared on the network as part of its ESPY Awards broadcast on Sunday, and is scheduled to be off until September, when she will be covering college football, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said.

"Erin has been grievously wronged here," Krulewitz said. "Our people and resources are in full support of her as she deals with this abhorrent act."

It was not clear when the video first appeared on the Internet. Most of the links to it had been removed by Tuesday.

Several TV networks and newspapers aired brief clips or printed screen grabs of it Tuesday. Grossman responded to an e-mail question about whether he plans to go after those outlets by reiterating his statement that Andrews plans to seek civil charges against "anyone who has published the material."

He would not say what law enforcement agencies might be investigating.