Extortionware / Rogue Security Software / Malware

You may not be familiar with the terms ‘rogue software, extortionware, or malware’ but there’s a very good chance that you or someone you know either has experienced it, or will in the near future.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have seen a lot of virus attacks lately. A large part of the viruses I had to clean-up where this type. They appear as a pop-up on your PC, warning you that you’re infected with malware, and urging you to buy a specific program in order to remove the threat? Some of them keep popping up and won't let you shut them down. I have even seen one that won't let you access the internet. While the “threat” being reported by these fake scanners isn’t real, the danger posed by the scam is.

As malware writers fill the web with rogue anti-malware programs, this kind of trickery is becoming more and more common, and now poses one of today’s greatest security challenges to computer users.

What exactly is a rogue? Rogue security applications are sometimes referred to as scareware or extortionware because they try to frighten users into thinking they need to buy a certain program. Taking the form of legitimate-looking anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-malware products, these rogue applications appear beneficial from a security perspective but provide little or no protection, generate misleading alerts, or attempt to lure you into a bogus transaction; essentially, they are malware, pretending to be genuine Internet security programs, and they aim to steal your money, private information, or expose you to other high risk cyber threats.

Rogues are distributed in a variety of ways, using social engineering tactics to deceive and mislead people. For example:

• You may see an ad for a security software product pop-up on your PC as your browsing the Web, warning you that your PC is infected with malware, prompting you to download a specific program to remove it.
• It may be distributed by a fake codec (supposedly necessary to view a certain video).
• You may see messages that appear to come from your operating system, telling you that your system is infected, and pushing you to take a certain action, like visit a website or download a program.

Microsoft’s Help and Support page explains it well, stating that, “Rogue security software might report a virus, even though your computer is actually clean. The software might also fail to report viruses when your computer is infected. Inversely, sometimes, when you download rogue security software, it will install a virus or other malicious software on your computer so that the software has something to detect.”*

In my opinion the best ways to avoid Extortionware is:

• Do not fall for scare tactics.
• Use security software with real-time protection and keep it up-to-date. If you have ant-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, etc… programs and a warning pops up from another service telling you that you are infected, DON’T BELIEVE IT.
• Access experts. If you do get a warning like this, contact someone that knows. Hopefully me. HA HA.
• Read the software reviews. Refer to sources such as Download.com, Afterdawn.com, or even type the suspect program name into a Google, Bing, or Yahoo search bar. The search may show the program as legitimate, but all of my experience it comes back with a cure to get rid of it.
• Ask knowledgeable friends and family. Ask them what they use and if they have ever heard of the “rouge” software.
• Practice online skepticism. Be aware that these programs exist and can cause trouble. Also be cautious of links in e-mail messages and on social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc…).

Remember, be careful what you download and what links you click on. If you do get a warning that pops up on your monitor saying you are loaded with "infections.", don't get scared just contact someone that knows about this kind of stuff, ME, and see what can be done.



*Part of the above content is from the Lavasoft Newsletter.
* http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/rogue.aspx