Blog Entry
1403
Scareware
So here's a new term, "Scareware".
Someone has coined this new term to describe fake antivirus and antispyware software.
Makers of fake antivirus and antispyware software are exploiting search engines and driving people to sites selling fake security products.
By slightly mis-spelling the name of popular security products, they trick you into visiting their malicious site, and bombard you with messages and pop-ups about how badly you are infected and how many viruses you have and "scaring" you into buying their product.
This is fooling tens of thousands of people into purchasing this fake software, which in fact infects them further. I have seen figures that show these cyber-criminals may be making upwards of $10,000 per day.
Popular mis-spellings are Ad-Ware instead of Ad-Aware, Spywarebot instead of Spybot, and Spyware Blaster instead of SpywareBlaster.
There are a multitude of fake products out there. A couple that spring to mind, in addition to those above, are WinXP Antivirus, Antivirus 2009, but there are 1000's more.
The golden rule is DO NOT just search the internet for a security product.
Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).
It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.
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