Posted on 10/16/2009 7:14:08 AM PDT by knittnmom
Attack forces user to purchase phony antivirus package to free computer
(Excerpt) Read more at darkreading.com ...
Which story at that link are you referencing?
See the link in Post #2.
It goes so far as to disable booting in safe mode and it completely takes over the Windows shell.
I hope we see an
Ad-Aware/MalwareBytes/Spybot/HijackThis type solution to this one soon. I do “Tech Support” for 4 grandsons age 5-11 so I’m dealing with this sort of thing all the time.
Thanks. I thought I pasted the full link, but must have missed some.
Okay, being a Mac person, I don’t understand this entirely. What company is responsible for this, and why can’t that company be held accountable? Are they overseas? Why can’t people put a stop pay on their blackmail payment to these thieves?
The link in the article to PandaLabs is invalid, correct link is http://pandalabs.pandasecurity.com/archive/Rogueware-with-new-Ransomware-Technology_2221_.aspx
And has a list of valid serial numbers to disable the attacking software.
Ping
A couple of weeks ago my screen went blank then up comes one showing what looked like the My Computer screen, it showed flashing red triangles telling me that it was under a virus attack and to click something to stop it.
I didn’t do it, of course.
I X’ed the window and did a virus scan. It found nothing.
See #11.
Have you heard of this before?
Same/similar thing happened to me. The bogus screen made it look as if it had come from Microsoft. And at first, the warning didn’t want to close. IIRC, I just rebooted and did a scan; nothing came of it, thank goodness.
And I can’t download Adobe 10 so I no longer can watch Youtube videos. It says I am running a 64 bit browser and Adobe 10 only works on 32 bit browsers. Anybody have any solutions?
Practically all of the computer viruses "in the wild" are designed to attack Windows exclusively. Why wear a such a big target on your chest? I surf the web using an operating system whose environment is alien and immune to those Windows-oriented viruses: Linux. No worries. You don't even use an AntiVirus program, although you could download a free one if it made you feel any safer. Your grandsons would find Linux just as easy to use as Windows, and probably easier. It is easier to install, too. I recommend Ubuntu or Linux Mint. All free, too.
I’ve been a victim of this one. Got past Norton.
I deal with these all the time with my work and I call them “extortion ware”. The companies look like they are based out of Russia, and unlike traditional viruses, it is not about bragging rights, it’s about cold hard cash.
These programs are designed to look legitimate, even going so far as scanning your system to find out what anti-virus you are using and modifying the “warning screen” to match it. I’ve seen screens that look like it came from Microsoft, Norton, McAfee, AVG, Avast and Panda.
They make money because many people assume that it came from their company and they need this new program from that company to clean off the viruses.
When people run their anti-virus or anti-spyware program, these nasty little pieces of extortion-ware unleash their trojans and infect the system something fierce.
Malware-bytes and Spybot S&D have been lifesavers for me and my clients when they get hit hard.
An FYI to Mac users who care. One of the Russian groups has put out a bounty contest on anyone who can infect a large group of Macs with a trojan and get verified reports back from the machines. Every Mac who sends a report back earns the creator of the virus 40 cents. This sounds like someone is finally going to go after the growing Mac user base. So be careful what you click on out in cyberspace.
I try to run scans every night (when I remember), I launch MalwareBytes one night, and McAfee the next. So far, so good.
there is no solution. Adobe has idiots working for them. No 64-bit Flash. No Flash for iPhone. Morons.
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