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GFI Labs Tracks Resurgence of Fake Antivirus Programs Plaguing
Businesses and Consumers
GFI Software warns of new variations of rogue antivirus programs
often distributed through spam carrying the Blackhole exploit
GFI Software today released its VIPRE® Report for
February 2012, a collection of the 10 most prevalent threat
detections encountered during the month. Most notably, GFI Labs has
been documenting a new wave of
fake antivirus programs
(or rogue AV) on its
Malware Protection Center
blog. Growing since the start of the year, last month brought a
significant spike in new variations of rogue AV.
“While the velocity at which rogues were successfully propagating
may have slowed toward the end of last year, they are certainly back
now, and they remain a popular tactic among cybercriminals,” said
Christopher Boyd, senior threat researcher at GFI Software. “Users
should not let their guard down. As always – no matter how
convincing they look – always take the time to evaluate any piece of
software that claims your PC is infected, prompts you for a credit
card number or asks you to share any sensitive data, especially if
it’s software that you or your employer did not install.”
Many rogue AV programs are being distributed via spam containing
malicious links to the Blackhole exploit, a tool used by
cybercriminals to target unpatched vulnerabilities in software
applications from industry leaders like Microsoft Corp. and Adobe
Systems Inc. Users infected by rogue AV may be redirected to
fraudulent websites, have their systems hijacked by programs
appearing to scan their PCs or plagued by messages warning of
viruses and other PC security risk. These scareware tactics trick
users into providing credit card data to purchases non-existent
protection.
Rogue AV programs are continually tweaked in an attempt to avoid
detection, with newer variants of these malicious applications
propagating every 12 to 24 hours. When confronted with suspected
rogue AV, users can visit the Malware Protection Center for removal
advice or download GFI Software’s
free virus removal tool,
VIPRE® Rescue.
Cybercriminals Target Tax Season, Holidays and Gamers
Last month also saw phishers posing as representatives of Intuit
Inc., the developers of
TurboTax®,
a popular tax preparation program. Victims were told that they must
verify their tax information due to a discrepancy with information
from the Social Security Administration only to click on links that
led to Blackhole exploits. Meanwhile, emails purporting to come from
the
American Institute of Certified Public Accounts
sent warnings of “unlawful tax return fraud” in order to scare
victims into opening malicious attachments disguised as legitimate
documents.
A more traditional holiday cybercrime campaign targeted Tumblr users
last month with promises of $500
Victoria’s Secret
gift cards. Like previous spam attacks offering Starbucks gift cards
and free plane tickets, these Tumblr posts feigned legitimacy by
claiming to come from a “Tumblr Staff Blog.” Users who clicked on
the links were asked to sign up for various offers and submit
personal information in order to claim their gift card. Gamers were
also targeted via YouTube videos encouraging users to download a
program that would generate codes that could be redeemed for
free Microsoft points,
the currency of the Xbox LIVE® marketplace. The bogus
generator prompted the victim to fill out various surveys in order
to receive a password and continue the code generation.
Top 10 Threat Detections for February
GFI’s top 10 threat detection list is compiled from collected scan
data of tens of thousands of
GFI VIPRE Antivirus
customers who are part of GFI’s ThreatNet™ automated threat tracking
system. ThreatNet statistics revealed that Trojans once again
dominated the list, taking half of the top 10 spots.
About GFI Labs
GFI Labs specializes in the discovery and analysis of dangerous
vulnerabilities and malware. The team of dedicated security
specialists actively researches new malware outbreaks, creating new
threat definitions on a constant basis for the VIPRE home and
business antivirus
products.
About GFI
GFI Software provides web and mail security, archiving and fax,
networking and security software and hosted IT solutions for small
to medium-sized businesses (SMB) via an extensive global partner
community. GFI products are available either as on-premise
solutions, in the cloud or as a hybrid of both delivery models. With
award-winning technology, a competitive pricing strategy, and a
strong focus on the unique requirements of SMBs, GFI satisfies the
IT needs of organizations on a global scale. The company has offices
in the United States, UK, Austria, Australia, Malta, Hong Kong,
Philippines and Romania, which together support hundreds of
thousands of installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused
company with thousands of partners throughout the world and is also
a Microsoft Gold ISV Partner.
Disclaimer: All product and company names herein may be trademarks
of their respective owners. To the best of our knowledge, all
details were correct at the time of publishing; this information is
subject to change without notice.
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New Profile Spy Spam Spreading on Facebook Leads
users to a survey scam
A new Facebook scam lures users into signing up for premium mobile
services and spamming their friends by promising to show a list of
profile visitors. It even instructs users to disable ad-blocking
programs. Read the full article :
http://www.sunbeltsecuritynews.com/QU57EP/100811-Facebook-Spy-Spam
How Does a Computer Get Infected with Rogue Antivirus Programs?
The reason these rogue anti-virus programs are successful (for the malicious coders) is because the warning screens very closely resemble legitimate Windows warning screens, plus the rouge software program names closely resemble or sound like legitimate antivirus programs. When you load an infected Web site you might see a warning screen pop up and think that it is a legitimate Windows warning. Users unknowingly are tricked into downloading the software because they believe the warning to be a legitimate Windows messages. You might also be on a Web site trying to view a video and a screen may pop-up telling you that you need to download a codec to view the file. The window prompting you to download the codec looks legitimate, however you are not going to download a codec—instead you will receive one of the many rogue antivirus software programs. In April of this year, it was also reported that systems that had been previously infected with Conficker, found this worm had began installing rogue antivirus programs on infected machines. In the early cases this turned out to be a rogue application called SpywareProtect2009. Kaspersky researchers reported this was a typical rogue program that offered to clean the computer for $49.95. Lastly, if you use file sharing networks you also risk downloading a rogue antivirus as it can be easily hidden inside a legitimate program—that you may or may not be legitimately downloading. For more information on Rouge A/V programs see the full article hereBogus UPS shipping spam
By John E. Dunn | Techworld
Published: 16:05 GMT, 12 April 10
A new wave of bogus UPS shipping spam is being used to push a piece of malware which can render PCs unbootable, security company Webroot has warned. Read full article here,,
Hey Guys! With all the problems in Washington on Wall street and in the banking sector, more and more phishing scams are on the way! If you get an email from your bank asking you to update your personal info THINK TWICE or even 5 Times..Most banks will not ask for personal info by sending an email it may be or more than likely is someone trying to STEAL your personal info.. PLEASE if you even are slightly afraid or suspicious, CALL the BANK and ask .. (Don't call the number in the email Look it up your self )
Just remember the motto of that great bank " The First Presbyterian Bank of Scotland"; " We cannot save your soul ..But we can save your Money!"
As always be careful opening those junk attachments.
Remember.. Grandpa said" there is no such thing as a free lunch". Everybody wants something...
Safe Computing .. Pat F..
How Not to Get Infected
Obviously, there are many ways to pick up a virus or other malicious
software. We've put together a list of the more common methods of
infection so that you know what to look out for and avoid.
10 email scams to watch out for (click here)
If you are using WordPress, Opera or Firefox, make sure
you get your updates.
FAKE Microsoft OUTLOOK Update!!
A fake E-mail notifying of a Microsoft outlook/outlook express Update is going around.
Microsoft DOES NOT send out e-mail notifications of patches/updates. This is malicious software contained in the link . Here is an article about the potential threat. Fake Microsoft patches themed malware campaigns spreading | Zero Day | ZDNet.com.
Remember follow safe computer practices and watch what you download and open in E-mails ....even from senders your know.
Google Sponsored Links Spreading Rogue Anti-Virus Software
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