Google researchers will be releasing their results from a 13 month study into rogue antivirus malware operations on April 27 at the 'Workshop on Large Scale Exploits and Emergent Threats' in San Jose.
The study covered approximately 240 million Web pages finding approximately 11,000 domains that distributed rogue antivirus. Rogue antivirus, or Fake AV, malware is a scam in the form of a popup notice advising the user that their computer is infected with a virus and that they need to “click” to remove the virus.
Clicking, of course, installs the rogue software then extorts the user into purchasing a "full" version of their software. In the mean time the computer system is relatively useless until some sort of action is taken.
When it comes to Fake AV and other malware of this type you should;
- Just don’t click on it to begin with.
- Use Web of Trust to scan your search results.
- Be sure you have a valid antivirus application from a trusted vendor.
Source: Google Blog
Posted by
Mike Wright
