“FBI: Rogue Antivirus Scammers Have Made $150M” plus 2 more |
- FBI: Rogue Antivirus Scammers Have Made $150M
- Lookout Antivirus Security
- Rogue Antivirus Lurks Behind Google Doodle Searches
| FBI: Rogue Antivirus Scammers Have Made $150M Posted: 17 Sep 2010 08:41 PM PDT They're the scourge of the Internet right now and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation says they've also raked in more than US$150 million for scammers. Security experts call them rogue antivirus programs. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a warning over this fake antivirus software Friday, saying that Web surfers should be wary of sudden pop-up windows that report security problems on their computers. This software can appear almost anywhere on the Web. Typically, the scam starts with an aggressive pop-up advertisement that looks like some sort of virus scan. Often it's nearly impossible to get rid of the pop-up windows. Of course, the scan turns up problems, and the pop-up windows say the only way to get rid of them is to pull out a credit card and pay. This is always a bad idea. At best, the software is subpar. At worst, it "could result in viruses, Trojans and/or keyloggers being installed on the user's computer," the IC3 said in its warning. The IC3 is run in partnership with the National White Collar Crime Center. "The assertive tactics of the scareware [have] caused significant losses to users," the IC3 said. "The FBI is aware of an estimated loss to victims in excess of $150 million." Scareware peddlers have pushed their ads on legitimate ad networks. The New York Times was tricked into running rogue antivirus ads in September by a scammer pretending to work for Vonage. Sometimes, the scammers simply hack into Web sites and use attack code to put their software on the victim's computer. Last month, webcams sold by Office Depot contained links to a hacked Web site that tried to download rogue antivirus. The IC3 says that users who see these unexpected antivirus pop-up warnings should shut down their browsers or their computers immediately and then run an antivirus scan to see what's going on. Victims who have been hit with rogue AV can file an IC3 complaint here. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Posted: 17 Sep 2010 06:46 PM PDT The other day while I was riding the bus, a would-be thief tried to snatch my phone. Luckily, I was able to keep a firm grip on it and keep him from stealing my precious piece of technology. These types of scenarios make me remember why having some sort of protection-and back-up-for your phone is absolutely necessary. The Lookout app for Android offers up a triple-threat of protection for your phone-and it is completely free. The app's interface is incredibly straightforward. Three panels show the modes of protection and their status. If your phone is up-to-date on all fronts, you'll see green checkmarks for each panel. If there's something that needs attention, you'll see a yellow triangle with an exclamation point. First, Lookout offers a mobile anti-virus scanner. Mobile viruses are a very new threat, but it is better to be safe than sorry. You don't need to be a security expert either to run a scan on your phone. You just press the "Run Virus Scan" button and it goes to work scanning all of your applications for viruses. It also self-activates every time you download a new app and scan it for any threats. It will then verify via the notifications Next, you can back up your personal data including your contacts, photos, videos, e-mails and text messages. You can manage your data and see what has been backed up in Lookout's browser-based dashboard. Last, if you lose your phone, you can track it with the Lookout browser-based dashboard. You can also sound an alarm (or make it "scream," as Lookout puts it) to freak out that shady thief. And even better, you can do a remote-wipe of the device so the thief can't get access to your data. What I like most about this app is how unobtrusive it is. You can schedule automatic data back-ups and anti-virus scans so you'll never have to worry about your phone not being up-to-date in case of an emergency. Unlike PC desktop security software, there aren't any annoying pop-ups constantly reminding you to update your software. It also doesn't freeze up all of your open apps when it scans for viruses. Lookout is currently free for Android phone, making it a must-have for Android owners. You wouldn't leave your PC unprotected, so why should it be any different for your phone? And Lookout is such an easy-to-use, low maintenance app, you'll hardly know it's there--until you need it. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Rogue Antivirus Lurks Behind Google Doodle Searches Posted: 17 Sep 2010 08:47 PM PDT In Esperanto the word is "malica." It means malicious and it's the best way of describing many of the search results Google visitors got Tuesday when the clicked on Google's front-page Doodle sketch, dedicated to Esperanto's creator. It's the latest example of just how good scammers have become at manipulating Google search results. For months now, they've followed Google's Trending Topics section and then used search engine optimization techniques to push hacked Web pages up to the top of Google's search results, security experts say. They do this by flooding hacked pages with keywords that are then recorded by Google's search engine. Hackers have several ways of getting their code on legitimate Web sites -- lately they've focused on stealing FTP login credentials, according to Dave Michmerhuizen, a research scientist with Barracuda Labs. The hacked sites that pop up when one clicks on Tuesday's Google Doodle include a hair salon in New Jersey, an Texas tree company, and a science fiction group. On Tuesday, clicking on the illustration on Google's front page commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Esperanto's creator L. L. Zamenhof, generated an awful lot of malicious search results -- taking visitors to dodgy advertisements or pages that tried to trick visitors into thinking their computers were infected and paying for fake antivirus software. These results remained steadily in the top 5 to 10 search results for people who clicked on the Google doodle link today, and often filled up about half of the first few pages of results, Michmerhuizen said. "I see this all the time," he said. "Poisoning a trend is nothing new, but in this particular case, it's a search where you actually click on Google's logo and you get results back from sites where half of the links have been compromised." A Google spokesman said that this type of problem affects other search engines as well. Google is aware of Tuesday's Doodle problem and has "already removed many of these sites from our index," he added. "To do this, we have manual and automated processes in place to enforce our policies," he said. "We're always exploring new ways to identify and eliminate malicious sites from our index." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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