Scam

SecurePcAv is a phony antivirus program that has been infecting PC’s across the interwebs in recent days. If your PC is infected with SecurePcAv you will most likely experience the following: Fake system scans that report numerous infections and refuses to remove the supposed infections until you buy the phony software. Alerts and warnings stating the PC is under attack or unprotected and recommends you buy the phony software. Other software will not work, when attempting to open programs a warning stating the program is infected appears and the software is closed. Web browser hijacking, redirecting the user to malicious websites or showing false security warnings on sites like Google.com.

Paladin Antivirus is a phony security program, designed to rip people off. Paladin Antivirus tricks people into thinking they are downloading a legit antivirus software, then continually displays false security alerts and warnings followed up with a requests for users to buy or register the software. Once a computer becomes infected with Paladin Antivirus it will instantly begin a system scan and will report multiple infections. Paladin Antivirus will refuse to remove any of these supposed infections until the user buys or “registers” the software. Do not fall for this scam. ...

Several reports have been published detailing a Blackberry proof of concept (PoC) exploit called txsBBSpy that was recently presented at a security conference. Although it may not have been the aim of the original presenter, some reports have framed the PoC as being able to exploit so-called vulnerabilities that the writers believe to be present in the Blackberry platform. The “vulnerabilities” involve secretly forwarding incoming emails, locating devices by way of their GPS capabilities, eavesdropping on conversations by surreptitiously turning on microphones, and other such nefarious behavior. ...

Bruce Schneier, in his blog Schneier on Security http://www.schneier.com/ drew attention to this great interview with an ex-Nigerian-419 scammer on the Scam-Detective site. It’s a fairly long piece and gives a pretty good view of the Nigerian scam industry run by organized crime, how it sucks in young people who have good computer and English skills and pays them a huge amount of money ($75,000 per year in this case) to scam victims they view as white, greedy and rich. ...

Fake antivirus software (a.k.a misleading applications or rogue antivirus) is big business nowadays with Symantec reporting 43 million installation attempts from over 250 distinct programs between July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009. With fake AV software costing the victim anywhere from $30 to $100, this is a lucrative earner for criminals. Over time Symantec has observed various social engineering tactics being used to try and entice victims to hand over their money in this scam. The fake antivirus software known as Live PC Care has now gone as far as offering live online support to potential victims. Once a victim has installed Live PC Care onto their system via a system exploit or social engineering tactics, they are presented with the screen below falsely informing them that their system is riddled with viruses. Any suspicious computer user might wonder what this software is and where exactly it came from. To alleviate doubt and to aid with the whole scam, the designers of Live PC Care have added a yellow online support button in the top, right-hand corner of the fake AV software. ...

Advanced Defender is fake security software that tricks people into thinking it’s legitimate antispyware software in hopes they will pay for the product. Advanced Defender is a potentially dangerous and extremely frustrating PC infection that should be removed immediately. If Advanced Defender has infected your computer you may notice the following symptoms: System scans that report numerous infections, yet requires purchase of Advanced Defender before it will remove the infections (These are fictitious scan results) Alerts and Pop-Up system warnings stating the PC is infected and recommend purchase of Advanced Defender (These warnings are fake) Web browser redirecting to random websites (these websites are owned by cyber thieves and will further infect your PC) Advanced Defender will prevent other programs from opening, stating they are infected (The programs are not infected)

Planning a romantic Valentine’s Day for your loved one? Is there is no end to all that you can do to add even more sparkle this dreamy day? Perhaps a bottle of wine, flowers, or a lovely gift to impress him/her—and if you aren’t with anyone, there are even dating services available that provide you with options to meet a date. As Dermot Harnett mentioned in A Brilliant Proposal: Stay Away from Valentine’s Day Spam!, for spammers, Valentine’s Day is a great target. We’ve observed several spam email message styles related to this upcoming event. Gift options, flower delivery, dating service, med spam to spice up your relationship, and much more. Here are some common header lines that Symantec has tracked relating to Valentine’s Day: ...

It’s just a few more days before Valentine’s Day. As most people now are already preparing their celebration, malware authors are also getting ready to use this popular event to target users with their malicious intent. Here’s one example of a malicious file (2077ed17f0ad92dafb8fb7601570e06580e4b7f1) we’ve seen recently: Upon execution, it drops the following picture file greeting: Note: It seems that the malware writers are using valid images from legitimate Web sites. ...

Jerome Segura at ParetoLogic blogged about this yesterday: a rogue security product with a web page that tries to imitate that of the German AV company Avira (check out the red umbrella and the type face.) Hmmm. If this company has been providing “20 Years of Total Protection” how come its web site was just registered last year and why was it registered by a proxy service? The fake: ...

The creators behind the rogue antispyware appliaction WiniGuard have released yet another clone of their software. This one is called SafePcAV. SafePcAV spreads by showing fake online scanners. Once installed it will show hundreds of false infections. To remove these infections it requires the user to pay and license the software. If your computer is infected with this you must remove it soon, Click Here to learn how to remove it.

Symantec has observed a new trend in phishing in which the phishing Web page contains pornographic content. The phishing site states that the end user can obtain free pornography after logging in or signing up. These offers tempt users into entering their credentials in the hopes of obtaining pornography. The attackers use several offers of pornography as bait. Some of the offers are adult chat, social networking with adult personals for sexual favors, blogs with free pornography, and so on. The screenshot below is an example of a phishing website using a leading information services brand. The site states that they provide email alerts for sex parties: ...

Our good friends at Broomfield, Colo., security firm eSoft have found an interesting scam to trick Internet users into installing the Hotbar adware: a fake Firefox download site. The eSoft researchers are theorizing that an affiliate of Pinball Publisher Network (PPB). is responsible. Pinball bought the Zango assets after that pestilent operation failed last spring. However Sunbelt Software Spyware Research Manager Eric Howes did some more digging and found that PPN offers the download file on a site they own so affiliates can send customers victims there for downloads. ...

New, shiny products always tend to catch people’s attention, and spammers are continually looking for ways to do exactly that. So it’s not surprising to see spam tempting people with the promise of a new iPad, and a FREE one at that: The image they’ve used is very sketchy too, patched together from other existing Apple products and bearing little resemblance to the pictures released so far. However much you might want an iPad, don’t get lured in by spam like this.

You’d think that a company trying to raise several hundred million with an initial public offering of stock would tell their affiliates to be on their best behavior for a while. For example, maybe they’d discourage them from hacking government web sites to attract search engine hits on the word “bestiality,” then redirect browsers to the company’s site. The sites: The code: ...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today announced that next Tuesday they will hold a news conference to make public details of “a law enforcement sweep cracking down on job and work-at-home fraud fueled by the economic downturn.” The media advisory said that the news conference would feature the director of the FTC’s bureau of Consumer Protection David C. Vladeck, an assistant attorney general and the Ohio Attorney General. The advisory listed as “also attending” representatives of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Monster.com and Microsoft. ...