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Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA Listmaster

NRT-0603 Panda Labs reports increase in fake antivirus products infections:

Panda Security has noted an increase in the spread of fake antivirus products that serve as a lure for duping users into downloading and installing malware, according to an online press report. The fake applications, classified as adware by Panda Labs, pass themselves off as antivirus utilities and often appear on the Internet as free downloads. They can also be concealed in other files downloaded by users, including music or video files.

Once the fake antivirus products are on a computer system, they notify the unsuspecting user that a virus has been detected. The fake antivirus products then invite the user to buy the full version of the antivirus to disinfect the computer.

If the fake antivirus products are not purchased by the users, the computer will continue displaying nonexistent infections and pop‑ups inviting users to purchase the security software, which in reality does not detect or delete anything.

To prevent users from checking whether the tools themselves, or the virus warnings they produce, are genuine, the fake antivirus programs usually try to block the Web pages of real online antivirus products and online security companies.

Panda Labs Technical Director Luis Corrons noted that fake antivirus programs were becoming more sophisticated to avoid detection by real security solutions. Many of the programs are polymorphic, changing form every time they are installed on a computer.

[darkreading.com 04Sep08]

Last Modified: Tuesday, 30-Sep-2008 19:53:39 EDT