Posted on 12/11/2009 3:23:19 PM PST by Cindy
Note: The following text is a quote:
Pop-Up Security Warnings Pose Threats
The FBI warned consumers today about an ongoing threat involving pop-up security messages that appear while they are on the Internet. The messages may contain a virus that could harm your computer, cause costly repairs or, even worse, lead to identity theft. The messages contain scareware, fake or rogue anti-virus software that looks authentic.
The message may display what appears to be a real-time, anti-virus scan of your hard drive. The scareware will show a list of reputable software icons; however, you can’t click a link to go to the real site to review or see recommendations. Cyber criminals use botnets—collections of compromised computers—to push the software, and advertisements on websites deliver it. This is known as malicious advertising or “malvertising.”
Once the pop-up warning appears, it can’t be easily closed by clicking the “close” or “X” buttons. If you click the pop-up to purchase the software, a form to collect payment information for the bogus product launches. In some instances, the scareware can install malicious code onto your computer, whether you click the warning or not. This is more likely to happen if your computer has an account that has rights to install software.
Downloading the software could result in viruses, malicious software called Trojans, and/or keyloggers—hardware that records passwords and sensitive data—being installed on your computer. Malicious software can cause costly damages for individual users and financial institutions. The FBI estimates scareware has cost victims more than $150 million.
Cyber criminals use easy-to-remember names and associate them with known applications. Beware of pop-up warnings that are a variation of recognized security software. You should research the exact name of the software being offered. Take precautions to ensure operating systems are updated and security software is current. If you receive these anti-virus pop-ups, close the browser or shut down your computer system. You should run a full anti-virus scan whenever the computer is turned back on.
If you have experienced the anti-virus pop-ups or a similar scam, notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov.
Mark
Bump.
I had this happen to a laptop a few months ago. Even though I recognized it as malware and tried to close down, it infected my machine. It prevents you from connecting to good security software sites that offer free malware cleaners. It also used my email address book to spam.
McAfee didn’t catch it. The laptop was totally hosed.
I’m using Kaspersky now. So far, so good...
I do about the same, but I go to a hard 'off'. Some code survives in memory which stays powered up during a restart.
What does Alt + F4 do?
It shuts down the active widow(s) until all the apps are shut down. Give it a try.
I had it. Couldn’t get rid of it. I went to a geek site and someone said to remove the Yahoo toolbar. I did that and I haven’t had a problem with it since.
Are you still having any problems from the infection your DIL caught?
If so, you can try to do a system restore.
I was going to just wipe it but the wife did not want to lose so many files.
We have up to 20 people here during the holidays and everyone was mad that I would allow access to only one computer.......now they are sheepishly not giving me any static over it.
I fear what the future may require is having cheap disposable hard drives, when your files get corrupted you will have to toss them out immediately.
I have three computers lying around that are in running order but have so many software glitches I was forced to stop using them and I just bought another puter.
My old Win 98, a recent XP and this POS Vista that is really pissing me off, my wife just bought a Black friday steal of a puter with Windows 7 and I am so envious.
I stopped trying to buy all the best firewalls and crap, when its get bad I just stop using it and buy another puter, they go obsolete in 9 months or less anyway.
After you go thru something like that, you see how important it is to back up files, so your wife wont worry about losing them.
But if you ever catch a less dangerous trojan that messes with your settings, you can do a system restore after you get rid of it.
You should open up “system restore” on your PC and see how to do it now, in case you ever need to do it in the future, especially if you have a bunch of people using your PC and possibly playing with your settings. It is easy to do and can be a PC-saver, and may also avoid paying for techie help.
The title of the article rates a “Well...DUH!”
blog:
http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2010/03/scareware-sinowal-client-side-exploits.html
FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010
“Scareware, Sinowal, Client-Side Exploits Serving Spam Campaign in the Wild”
Posted by Dancho Danchev
SNIPPET: “AS50215 Troyak-as customers are back, with an ugly mix of scareware, sinowal, and client-side exploits serving campaign using the “You don’t have the latest version of Macromedia Flash Player” theme. Quality assurance is also in place this time, with the client-side exploit serving domains using a well known “function nerot” obfuscation technique in an attempt to bypass link scanners.
Let’s dissect the campaign, list all the typosquatted and spamvertised domains, the client-side exploit serving iFrames and the actual scareware.”
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