December 13, 2008
- Antivirus 2008: the Latest Scourge of the Internet
Steve Weigle asked: The one thing that never changes in IT is the fact that everything is constantly changing. In the past, people had to watch out for viruses. Then it was spyware, and then it was browser hijackers. Next came the Trojan, a program, that when opened would release either a virus, spyware or both. Lastly, we heard about phishing, an attack that tricked the end user into giving out personal information that can lead to identity theft. Recently The Village Geek has been flooded by computers that are infected with what researchers are calling fraudware. Fraudware is software that tries to frighten the end user into purchasing protection from… itself. In the old days they called it extortion. The current rash of fraudware is called Antivirus 2008; it is available in several varieties, including XP Antivirus 2008, XP Antivirus 2009 (the latest version!), MS Antivirus and probably more. This is an actual program that installs itself on your system in the same way spyware installs, without your knowledge or permission. Antivirus 2008 then shows up on your task bar as a warning icon that looks almost identical to the Windows Security Center shield and it shows an “X” or an exclamation mark. Pop up bubbles will warn you that an infection has been found. If you ignore the pop ups the program will pop up full screen and simulate a virus scan showing multiple infections. The program will show you all the problems and then it will explain that you must purchase the full version for $50 in order to clean these infections. Here are some typical warning messages:Privacy Violation alert!XP antivirus detected Privacy Violation. (…)
