Since June, there has been a significant decrease in the number of fake anti-virus programs, but new versions of this type of malware continue to emerge.
This is according to Kaspersky Lab, which says it is currently observing 10 000 daily attempts to infect users with Trojan-FakeAV. This compares to June figures of 50 000 to 60 000.
The company says these sorts of programs identify standard Windows files as “malicious”. The company says this makes the fake anti-virus software look conspicuous. According to Kaspersky, cyber criminals have even invited users to distribute fake anti-virus software and pay them a percentage of the sales every time the fake anti-virus is installed and paid for.
“It's clear that successful cyber crime gangs are still distributing rogue AVs, even though this market is experiencing a sharp decline,” says Kaspersky.
Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, senior malware analyst at Kaspersky Lab, says consumers fall for these sorts of scams because they appear very realistic. He adds that these scams intimidate consumers with warnings about fake infection or data loss.
He offers this advice for users who want to avoid being scammed: “Don't trust any messages around 'errors in operating system' and 'computer infection' - it is most probably a scam.” He adds that users should not visit pornographic sites and sites containing cracks for software, as users are likely to have their computers infected on these pages. Finally, he says computer users should install an anti-virus software solution.
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