Rogue Anti-Virus

Web fraud losses more than double in 2009, says report

Dan Kaplan March 15, 2010

Losses related to cybercrime more than doubled from 2008 to last year, according to a report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

Searches for Apple iPad poisoned to distribute rogue AV

Angela Moscaritolo January 27, 2010

Cybercriminals have launched a black hat search engine optimization (SEO) campaign exploiting the interest surrounding Apple's newly released tablet computer, iPad, according to researchers at web security vendor Websense. Searches for "apple tablet announcement" have been poisoned by attackers and now yield a malicious link within the top five search results for site promoting rogue anti-virus products. Other recent SEO campaigns have leveraged the crisis in Haiti, the movie "Avatar" and Google's new Nexus One smartphone. - AM

Haiti quake searches poisoned to hawk fake AV

Angela Moscaritolo January 14, 2010

Cybercriminals have launched a black hat search engine optimization (SEO) campaign to exploit the earthquake in Haiti, according to security researchers at anti-virus company Panda Security. Searches for "Haiti earthquake donate" or "Haiti earthquake donation" yield malicious links leading to rogue anti-virus products, Luis Corrons, lead researcher at PandaLabs, said in a blog post Wednesday. SEO campaigns are common: Two ongoing ones are leveraging the movie "Avatar" and Google's new Nexus One smartphone. — AM

Waldec spreading through fake New Year's e-cards

Angela Moscaritolo December 31, 2009

The Waledac botnet is spreading spam messages that contain the subject line "Happy New Year 2010" and provide a link for what the email claims to be a New Year's greeting card.

FBI: Fraudsters earned $150 million in rogue AV scams

Dan Kaplan December 14, 2009

Victims have lost more than $150 million falling for rogue anti-virus schemes, the FBI says in a new warning.

Web attacks are financial boon for crooks, Cisco finds

Angela Moscaritolo December 08, 2009

Spam and spyware still are profitable for cybercriminals, but the big money is in banking trojans and other web exploits, Cisco's annual security report has found.

Experts expect exploits abound on Cyber Monday

Angela Moscaritolo November 25, 2009

Cybercriminals have already begun to ramp up their exploits in preparation for Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.

New Halloween-themed spam just the first fright

Angela Moscaritolo October 23, 2009

A Halloween-themed spam campaign is already making the rounds, and experts warn that other malicious holiday exploits are expected next week.

Symantec finds rogue AV to be well-oiled profit machine

Dan Kaplan October 19, 2009

A new Symantec report released Monday reveals a booming marketplace for criminals involved in installing bogus anti-virus products on victim computers.

Facebook cuts off accounts spreading rogue anti-virus

Dan Kaplan October 02, 2009

On the same day that the Internet Crime Complaint Center issued an alert on the ongoing dangers of social networking fraud, a computer security researcher reported on a new Facebook threat in which scores of fake member profiles were attempting to push rogue anti-virus programs.

Wave search "poisoned"

Chuck Miller September 30, 2009

Google searches on terms related to its new collaboration and communications platform, Google Wave, are leading to a rogue anti-virus programs, according to the Websense Security Labs. Users seeking information on how to sign up for Wave, which currently is by invite-only, have been victimized by manipulated search results that lead to sites designed to trick victims into paying for a security solution that doesn't work. Searches for Microsoft's new Security Essentials consumer anti-virus product also have led to "poisoned" results. — CAM

New York Times inadvertently sold ad space to hackers

Angela Moscaritolo September 15, 2009

Hackers posing as a trusted advertiser tried to trick NYTimes.com visitors into believing their computers were infected so they would buy a fake anti-virus product, the paper has revealed.

Serena Williams meltdown is latest poisoned search attack

Dan Kaplan September 14, 2009

Hackers continue to use a tried-and-true tactic to infect internet users: poisoned search results.

New York Times serves up rogue ads to readers

Angela Moscaritolo September 14, 2009

An "unauthorized advertisement" made its way onto the Gray Lady's third-party managed ad stream.

Environmental rogue traps users with "green" promise

Chuck Miller September 03, 2009

Attackers are leveraging users' desire to "go green" with a new round of fake anti-virus programs.

Wildfire malware

Angela Moscaritolo August 31, 2009

Cybercriminals are targeting users interested in learning information about the ongoing wildfires raging in California's Angeles National Forest, Panda Security has warned. In one trial. searches for "angeles crest fire" yielded a malicious link as the third most relevant search result. If clicked, a fake system scan is displayed, aiming to trick users into thinking their computer is infected and offering to download a rogue anti-virus product. — AM