It looks like our stuff
Software giant Microsoft has warned about a new flavour
of scareware which looks like it has been officially manufactured by Redmond.
Microsoft is fuming that its Security Essentials suite
which is freely available to Windows users that have genuine software installed
is being mimicked by Internet criminals. The rogue anti-malware client lists a bunch of bogus
infections before asking a user to pay a fee to purchase a "full"
non-trial version of Security Essentials. Of course the concept of asking you to pay for a software
which is free and comes from Microsoft should make most people suspicious. Unfortunately it does not.
The fake "Security Essentials 2010" claims to
unlock removal and cleaning functionality if the user will pay up.
Actually
filling out this information puts a user at risk of fraud (stolen
credit card details) and of course, identity theft. The malware changes
the users' Desktop background,
alerting that "YOUR SYSTEM IS INFECTED". "System has been
stopped due to a serious malfunction. Spyware activation has been
detected."
"It is recommended to use spyware removal tool to
prevent data loss. Do not use the computer before all spyware removed."
In other words if it did come from Redmond, Security
Essentials was written by someone who has English as a second language. Which given the fact they are American and
have not spoken proper English since the 18th century might be true. The malware also blocks access to a number of popular
video websites, which includes Facebook, eBay, YouTube, BBC News and more.
Microsoft's real Security Essentials software detects the malware as
Trojan:Win32/Fakeinit.
More here.
