IE9 new scareware protection

[johnwillyums]

I know dear old Ed Bott is a confirmed MS man but this is an interesting article about how browsers deal with "social engineering" attacks'
It's comparing IE9 with Chrome and it appears that IE9 is ahead of the game with this form of attack.
I though it was interesting and useful to read whatever your browser preference

IE9 versus Chrome: which one blocks malware better? | ZDNet

 

[Lordbob75]

......

People fall for that?
The Google Chrome boxes were OBVIOUSLY not from Chrome, seriously.

Though I will give it that, IE9 apparently has an annoyingly good warnings program. Chrome could step it up a tad.

~Lordbob

 

[mr pc]

unfortunately to the unwitting scareware popups can be quite alarming.

my girlfriend's grandma completely freaked out over one (on a mac nonetheless) and is convinced she has a virus and will now pay money for a mac technician to look at it.

I also noticed and don't know how this happened. But my gf got one and somehow her browser was set to open that tab and site when she re-opened the browser, bringing up the false warning every time she opened her browser (FF4).

I could be mistaken about the tab thing, not sure how that came about - but it had her concerned for a moment as well.

 

[Britton30]

......

People fall for that?
The Google Chrome boxes were OBVIOUSLY not from Chrome, seriously.

Though I will give it that, IE9 apparently has an annoyingly good warnings program. Chrome could step it up a tad.

~Lordbob

Unfortunately they do LB. In another post I mentioned a lady friend of mine who opened some page which had a flashing banner ad "CLICK ME", which she of course started to do. I warned her not to since it could be some bad program or virus. Her reply? "But it says click me!" <whistles innocently>

 

[Lordbob75]

......

People fall for that?
The Google Chrome boxes were OBVIOUSLY not from Chrome, seriously.

Though I will give it that, IE9 apparently has an annoyingly good warnings program. Chrome could step it up a tad.

~Lordbob

Unfortunately they do LB. In another post I mentioned a lady friend of mine who opened some page which had a flashing banner ad "CLICK ME", which she of course started to do. I warned her not to since it could be some bad program or virus. Her reply? "But it says click me!" <whistles innocently>

:drool:

~Lordbob

 

[johnwillyums]

Yup. Macs are getting this too:

What a Mac malware attack looks like | ZDNet

 

[Joshatdot]

unfortunately to the unwitting scareware popups can be quite alarming.

my girlfriend's grandma completely freaked out over one (on a mac nonetheless) and is convinced she has a virus and will now pay money for a mac technician to look at it.

Co-worker friend has a Macbook Pro, and got worried about similar thing. He opened Safari or something, and it popped up a fullscreen animated GIF of flashing red VIRUS and other bits on Icons..telling him his AV was out of date, and click here to buy this AV to "fix" the viruses he had.

He called me up to take a look at it, because his login password wasn't working to give him admin rights or summat to install this AV :shock:

When he arrived at my house, he opened the lid and showed me what it was doing. As soon as I saw it, I immediately noticed it was a fake .. cause all the GFX were of a XP Home computer .

 

[MacGyvr]

unfortunately to the unwitting scareware popups can be quite alarming.

my girlfriend's grandma completely freaked out over one (on a mac nonetheless) and is convinced she has a virus and will now pay money for a mac technician to look at it.

Co-worker friend has a Macbook Pro, and got worried about similar thing. He opened Safari or something, and it popped up a fullscreen animated GIF of flashing red VIRUS and other bits on Icons..telling him his AV was out of date, and click here to buy this AV to "fix" the viruses he had.

He called me up to take a look at it, because his login password wasn't working to give him admin rights or summat to install this AV :shock:

When he arrived at my house, he opened the lid and showed me what it was doing. As soon as I saw it, I immediately noticed it was a fake .. cause all the GFX were of a XP Home computer .

What in the name of god is "summat"?

 

[seavixen32]

"Summat" is a good old-fashioned way of saying "something" over here in the UK.

Similarly, "nowt" means "nothing".

 

[Joshatdot]

i use 'summat' for shortening 'something or other like that' or 'something like that' .. summat!

 

[NoN]

Some City Slang....:

Urban Dictionary, May 16: edgehog

 

[Buddahfan]

Windows scareware fakes impending drive disaster

More on link below

Windows scareware fakes impending drive disaster

'Erases' files, icons as lead up to pitch for $80 to buy worthless utility

By Gregg Keizer
May 16, 2011 12:47 PM ET


Computerworld - Scammers are trying to trick Windows users into paying to fix bogus hard drive errors that have apparently erased important files, a researcher said today.
The con is a variant of "scareware," also called "rogueware," software that pretends to be legitimate but actually is just a sales pitch based on spooking users into panicking. Most scareware masquerades as antivirus software.
But Symantec researcher Eoin Ward has found a new kind of scareware that impersonates a hard drive cleanup suite that repairs disk errors and speeds up data access.
Dubbed "Trojan.Fakefrag" by Symantec, the fake utility ends up on a Windows PC after its user surfs to a poisoned site -- often because the scammers have manipulated search engines to get links near the top of a results list -- and falls for a download pitch, typically because it's presented as something quite different, like video of a hot news topic.
Fake system or disk cleanup programs aren't new -- Symantec has highlighted the scareware subcategory before -- but this malware goes above and beyond the call of counterfeit duty.
"[Trojan.Fakefrag's] aim is to increases the likelihood of you purchasing a copy of Windows Recovery by craftily convincing you that your hard drive is failing," said Ward in a company blog Monday, referring to the name of the fake suite that the Trojan shills.

 

[panais]

......

People fall for that?
The Google Chrome boxes were OBVIOUSLY not from Chrome, seriously.

Though I will give it that, IE9 apparently has an annoyingly good warnings program. Chrome could step it up a tad.

~Lordbob

Unfortunately they do LB. In another post I mentioned a lady friend of mine who opened some page which had a flashing banner ad "CLICK ME", which she of course started to do. I warned her not to since it could be some bad program or virus. Her reply? "But it says click me!" <whistles innocently>

:drool:

~Lordbob

:roflmao:

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

There is a whole slew of "Cheatware" as well -- how many times have you followed a link for example to FREE DOWNLOAD -- only to find out the download is FREE but the SOFTWARE isn't.

Rapidfile / similar links are much the same -- you are directed towards another "Free" program" to download but you then have to "Pay" a registration fee to use the download or in some cases after waiting say 3 mins or more to use the "Free slow service" you get taken back to the "Pay" premium screen and the whole pathetic scam starts again.

My pet hate are those "Driver" apps -- they offer to find drivers / fix computer etc --but you then have to PAY to access the files.

At least these are "Open" Scams pure and simple -- usually they don't install viruses or malware -- however BEWARE of any adware which pops up with "Click Me" or other "invitations". This is a 100% sure method of infecting your machine.

Cheers
jimbo