Category: Scareware

The Proliferation Of Scareware Hits Home

The Proliferation Of Scareware Hits Home

The agitation in the voice on the phone shook me from sleep early Saturday morning: My Uncle the surgeon had a computer problem and he was concerned enough to call. He explained he had been trying to view pictures of a newly renovated base in South Korea when all of a sudden McAfee popped up and did a scan, revealing 28 viruses. But for some reason the new module McAfee wanted him to install wasn’t working because the site wouldn’t accept either of his credit card numbers.

Mar 16, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post
Scareware Purveyors, Spammers, and Crooks Take Advantage of Haiti Earthquake

Scareware Purveyors, Spammers, and Crooks Take Advantage of Haiti Earthquake

Bad actors have taken advantage by engaging in search engine poisoning including taking over existing web sites, using techniques that boost search ranking, and installing malicious software using scareware tactics on user’s PC’s. They also set up fake donation web sites. Finally, they employ Spam e-mail, Twitter messages, and related electronic communication methods in order to direct users to these web sites.

Jan 14, 2010 | 1 comment | View Post