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MonaRonaDona uses scare tactics

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 13 Mar 2008

The MonaRonaDona virus is a bogeyman aimed at scaring PC users into buying dummy anti-virus software, explains MicroWorld Technologies.

Security experts at MicroWorld Technologies say the malware, once active, will close all major applications in the title bar and display an alert message.

No application will be allowed to start, making the user panic and search for a solution to deal with this menace, explains MicroWorld. During the search, the user will find Web sites that offer to clean the MonaRonaDona virus.

One of the software solutions listed is offered at $39.90, but on cross-checking, MicroWorld found this software surfaced during the same period as the malware.

It promises detection of a long list of malicious software. However, when checked, it registered more than 200 false alarms (tagging clean software as infected/malicious) and its update process was quite misleading, the security company explains.

This is a devious scam that frightens people into buying dummy security software and provides a false sense of security, making them vulnerable to future security threats, it concludes.

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