New Malware Masquerades as Antivirus Software

Oftentimes, the number one reason I see people getting their computers infected with yet another virus is that they were tricked into it by a deceptive pop-up or website, that tried to convince them that they had “1000s of errors”. Upon closer inspection, it is apparent that these are in-fact bogus errors meant to scare and confuse the average user.

I’ve seen these types of viruses before, and they were fairly low quality. One particular variant infected quite a few of my clients called itself ”Windows Advanced Security Center” and would try and imitate the look and feel of a real Windows XP program from a persistent browser pop-up. The victim would then click to see the results of the “scan” and then the virus would take over, preventing them from browsing the web or just about anything else before the supposed “virus” that they were being alerted to was taken care of.

These bogus results are meant to scare you into paying. Some of the more aggressive variants of this virus actually demand payment or credit card info and lock the victim out of using their computer until payment is made. Making payment to these cyber criminals is nothing but a bad idea, as a customer had her financial information compromised after this. Instead, you should seek professional removal of these infections, as they can be quite aggressive.

Be sure to carefully scrutinize any error messages or notifications that you receive, and to be sure that they really are from a reliable antivirus or security program that you or someone trustworthy installed and that the results you are receiving from any “scans” such as the ones above are not bogus technical jargon slipped in by the virus author.

Computer security is all about having as many layers of protection as possible, your antivirus software being just one of them. It is imperative to have good security practice, as this is where 99% of people fail. Antivirus software is not foolproof, and neither are web browsers, which are often the gateway from which viruses will enter your computer.

Our next post will cover how to prevent yourself from getting infected in the first place.

Originally posted on our security blog.

Gavin Rozzi Technology performs on-site and drop-off virus removal at competitive rates in the Lacey, NJ area. Call (732)-820-0377 for a free phone consultation.