Panda Security's anti-malware laboratory has discovered that cyber criminals are using embattled American car manufacturer Ford Motor as bait to distribute malware on the Internet.
Panda claims it has found 1.2 million results in searches related to Ford which point to these malicious pages.
Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda Security's sub-Saharan operations, says: “If users searching for information about Ford click one of the malicious results, they are taken to a Web page in which it seems as if they are about to see a video.
“If they try to watch the video, they will be prompted to download another program. This program, however, is really a fake anti-virus. Panda has detected two fake anti-virus programs that are distributed in this way: MSAntiSpyware2009 and Anti-Virus-1.”
According to Panda, this is one example of the growing trend of fake anti-viruses being developed and distributed by criminals to make users believe their computers have been infected by malware.
The programs simulate a scan of the system and supposedly detect malware. Users are then prompted via online pop-ups and banners to buy the pay version of a fake anti-virus to clean their computers. If they do not buy it, the malicious code will prevent the computer from operating properly in an attempt to force users into buying the product.
Over the last year, this type of malware has increased significantly. According to data from Panda, the number of variants of fake anti-viruses has increased hundredfold between the first quarter of 2008 and the corresponding period in 2009.
In the first three months of 2009, 111 086 new strains of fake anti-viruses were detected, 20% more than in the whole of 2008, says Panda.
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