Have you ever seen those messages that pop up at you when you're using your computer? The ones that say, "Your computer may be infected with spyware!" or some such thing?
Social engineering being what it is, too many people have been fooled by this sort of thing. They think, "OMG, I have a virus!" and click on the message, thinking it's from their own antivirus program. They are then cajoled into downloading software that will clean their computer of malware, spyware, viruses, or whatever. The wide-eyed user runs the downloaded app, which then triumphantly pronounces that they have 593 cases of spyware and viruses. But, listen, pal, the software suggests: I can get rid of all of that, if you'll pay $29.95 for Anti-Virus Professional Cleaner 2010, or some such. Yessss... you're buying really good protection if you buy that. In the same way that Guido in the pinstriped suit once offered "protection"!
The problem is that the program that's downloaded to their computer isn't a real antivirus program at all. It's a fake, cleverly disguised as an antivirus/antispyware program. In some cases, these programs can unleash real malware on your PC—things like keyloggers and Trojan horses, that try to sniff out the passwords that you type, or monitor your Internet activity.
McAfee, one of the well-known security software companies, announced that “worldwide a million people are victimized by scareware daily. There are 69,000 daily cases in the United States, according to the company.”
Here’s a tip—if you ever see a screen that purports to say that your computer is infected, or has spyware, or malware, or whatever, take a good look at the notice. Does it say that it's from the company whose antivirus program you have installed on your computer? Or is it just generic? That's probably the first tip-off; if it's not from McAfee, Symantec/Norton, AVG, Avast, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, Panda, or NOD 32, please run fast in the other direction. :-) In some cases, it's really hard to get rid of the scareware (I've had to remove a few of those from people's computers.)
(The above only really applies to Windows users; Mac users may get the pop-up ads, but as far as I know, none of the scareware folks have developed Mac versions of their apps.)
1 comment:
Oh, do I have comments on this!
I am an IT Manager and I run into this daily.
First of all, once you have provided them with your credit card details kiss that credit card goodbye, they will sell those details and you can expect charges until you hit your limit.
Secondly, what makes you think they won't hit you up again? say in a month? They are in your machine!
Thirdly, these scareware infections can be very difficult to remove. It can take me up to 8 hours to remove one and I have the tools and expertise to do so.
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