The attack was first spotted on Monday 14 July and anyone who has visited the site in that time could have been infected with a Trojan, security firm ScanSafe warned.

A number of legitimate websites have found themselves targeted by hackers in recent months as cybercriminals change their tactics.

Rather than direct surfers to bogus websites to carry out their attacks, they hijack legitimate, trusted websites and infect the PCs of those who visit in a type of attack commonly known as a 'drive-by download'.

Eldar Tuvey, chief executive of ScanSafe said: "High-profile websites such as Nigella Lawson's must realise that they are becoming an appealing target for these cybercriminals."

"The compromise of legitimate and trusted websites has contributed to a 278 per cent increase in web-based malware for the first half of the year," Tuvey continued.

ScanSafe recommended that anyone who thought they could have become a victim of this attack to run a full scan of their system immediately.

The page that was infected was www.nigella.com/recipes/index.asp. Should anyone enter that URL or follow the link after typing "nigella.com recipes" in the search box in Google, the page is flagged as malware.

If you click on the link, Google prevents you from visiting the site, and instead shows a warning.

ScanSafe said it called Pabulum Productions – the company that runs the Nigella website – before it reported on the hack. The site now appears to be clear.

www.scansafe.co.uk

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