Posted on 12/11/2009 3:23:19 PM PST by Cindy
Note: The following text is a quote:
Pop-Up Security Warnings Pose Threats
The FBI warned consumers today about an ongoing threat involving pop-up security messages that appear while they are on the Internet. The messages may contain a virus that could harm your computer, cause costly repairs or, even worse, lead to identity theft. The messages contain scareware, fake or rogue anti-virus software that looks authentic.
The message may display what appears to be a real-time, anti-virus scan of your hard drive. The scareware will show a list of reputable software icons; however, you can’t click a link to go to the real site to review or see recommendations. Cyber criminals use botnets—collections of compromised computers—to push the software, and advertisements on websites deliver it. This is known as malicious advertising or “malvertising.”
Once the pop-up warning appears, it can’t be easily closed by clicking the “close” or “X” buttons. If you click the pop-up to purchase the software, a form to collect payment information for the bogus product launches. In some instances, the scareware can install malicious code onto your computer, whether you click the warning or not. This is more likely to happen if your computer has an account that has rights to install software.
Downloading the software could result in viruses, malicious software called Trojans, and/or keyloggers—hardware that records passwords and sensitive data—being installed on your computer. Malicious software can cause costly damages for individual users and financial institutions. The FBI estimates scareware has cost victims more than $150 million.
Cyber criminals use easy-to-remember names and associate them with known applications. Beware of pop-up warnings that are a variation of recognized security software. You should research the exact name of the software being offered. Take precautions to ensure operating systems are updated and security software is current. If you receive these anti-virus pop-ups, close the browser or shut down your computer system. You should run a full anti-virus scan whenever the computer is turned back on.
If you have experienced the anti-virus pop-ups or a similar scam, notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov.
This sounds “fishy”. I’m sending it to Flag@whitehouse.gov.
When the Federal Government and the rest of the world start treating the criminals who promulgate these malicious codes to the rest of the world by EXECUTING THEM, the sooner they will stop. This ‘malicious’ term needs to be called the spade that it really is; a case can be made for many instances of it as being an offense equal to causing actions and consequences on the same scale as murder..
“Downloading the software could result in viruses, malicious software called Trojans, and/or keyloggers—hardware that records passwords and sensitive data—being installed on your computer.”
A download that can install hardware, not THAT is cool and creative!
The FBI is all over it. Freeper experts, how long has this exact item they describe been around?
I had one of these pop-ups recently while I was on Facebook.
It seems that the bad guys keep making little modification that can get past McAfee and Microsoft Security Essentials that I have had as protection.
It's a beast. The one I got is in the root and its win32/vundo
“The FBI doesn’t tell you what to do when this happens.”
Whoops! Yes they do, but I wouldn’t even try to close the browser but just go straight to restart!
Just do an Alt + F4
I dont use McAfee, havent had a problem since I switched.
Yes, I never click on those, close them, etc.
I “force quit”, do a virus check, restart.
A warning about something like that came out about a month or two ago from I think, ZDNET maybe. Anyway, it suggested not clicking on anything and just x ing out of your browser altogether because it said clicking on any part of the pop up could start a download to your computer of a virus.
I had one pop up on me when I was on myspace last week or so, and I took ZDNET’s advice and x ed out of my browser and then brought it back up and I was ok doing that.
Had this a couple of times last month. Had to shut down the entire computer. When re-booting all was well.
Geez........I got hit by this about 5 years ago......some offshoot of “Spy Sheriff.”
Got two virus notices from my ISP. Both sent from Facebook.
I have now permanently exited Facebook.
Before anyone at Christmas touches a computer or electronic system I am having one hell of a family meeting.
uh i just had an incident last friday at work. just doing a google search for a work analysis and this malware ADVANCED VIRUS REMOVAL attached itself to my pc. it was incredibly aggressive. by the time the IT department helped me remove this puppy it had added 13 trojans and other forms of malware to my pc. i am thankful i at least knew what it was immediately but our corporate security product couldn’t remove it. we had to download a free product from malwarebytes.
The tricky part was that closing the window activated another popup window. I force closed Firefox and ran Adaware. It showed one trojan that was downloaded approximately the time she hit the site with the popup ad.
One thing I found out was that legitimate sites can have these things if they work with a third party ad agency. The script for the popup is in the ad.
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