Get Your New Video Codecs–and Scareware

Scareware gangs have been using pretty much the same tactics since the dawn of time. Or at least since 2005. They compromise Web sites, use them as jumping off points for pop-up boxes that aim to terrify the citizenry into thinking their PCs are infected and downloading fake security software. Bu...

Report: Vishing Attack Targets Skype Users

Skype users are being targeted in an ongoing voice-phishing, or “vishing,” attack, according to a report by ZDNet’s Zero Day blog. Skype users reported receiving a pre-recorded call informing them that their computer had been infected with malware. In order to remove this malware users are advise...

Preemptive Protection against LizaMoon - Mass SQL Injection Attacks

LizaMoon is a mass SQL code injection attack, where a Web application vulnerability is exploited to inject malicious code into affected websites. If a Web surfer visits an infested site, he will be redirected to an alternate website that tries to install a rogue anti-malware software. This...

Twitter Worm Uses Google URL Shortener to Spread Scareware

A fast-moving Twitter worm is in circulation, using Google’s goo.gl redirection service to push unsuspecting users to a notorious scareware fake anti-virus malware campaign. At 8:45 a.m EST today, this Twitter search shows thousands of Twitter messages continuing to spread the worm. According to...

Dissecting the ZeroAccess Rootkit

The ZeroAccess rootkit isn’t the most well-known or closely watched piece of malware in recent history, but, as an extremely detailed new analysis of the program shows, it is a perfect example of the kind of sophisticated malware that attack crews are using to maintain persistent, silent access t...

Users Still Making Life Easy for Scareware Crews

Scareware and rogue AV programs have enjoyed a very good run in the last few years, making millions of dollars for their creators and generally making life miserable for victims. And while there’s been some innovation recently in the mechanisms attackers use to keep the programs resident on...

Rogue AV Live Tech Support

This is a recording of a live chat session with the technical support agent associated with a rogue AV program. The session was recorded by Nicolas Brulez, a security analyst at Kaspersky Lab.The video is best viewed in full-screen mode...

The Rise of the Rogue AV Testers

By Costin Raiu Recently, I was sitting around with a number of colleagues from Kaspersky Lab, discussing everybody’s favorite subject: the state of anti-virus testing these days. During the talks, somebody brought up the name of a new, obscure testing organization in the Far East. Nobody else had...

How to Run a Scareware Campaign

The infection routines being used by some scareware and rogue AV gangs are much more comprehensive and far-reaching than many current analyses have shown, experts say, including some attacks that not only place a malicious script on a compromised server, but infect every single legitimate script ...

Scareware, Black Hat SEO and You

The scareware and rogue AV problem that initially appeared a few years ago and has since found its way onto thousands and thousands of legitimate Web sites, including The New York Times home page, has now reached epidemic levels. The scams are mostly boilerplate and well-understood, but it’s not...

Moscow Bombings, TJX Hacker Spur Black Hat Campaigns

Spammers and malware writers have wasted no time in taking advantage of Monday’s bombings in Moscow, opening up a campaign on Twitter to point users to malicious sites. The pair of suicide bombings that hit the Metro system in Moscow Monday morning inevitably led to a flood of messages on Twitter...

iPhone SMS Used as Bait in Rogue AV Scam

Cyber-criminals are using interest in MMS or SMS on the iPhone to trick users into downloading rogue antivirus software. According to security company Websense, attackers are abusing Google’s search engine to get users to click on links leading to a malicious page pushing scareware. Read the full...

Rogue AV Scam Targets Google PageRank

An ongoing attack on Google users is sending victims to rogue anti-virus software sites, researchers said this week. The attack takes advantage of Google’s page-ranking feature, according to researchers at eSoft’s Threat Prevention Team. The scam works like this: An attacker hacks a site, but...