Comments on: How the proliferation of ‘scareware’ fuels cybercrime

By: Lilly

Lilly — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:29:04 +0000

I was just reading something about this, this morning in a magazine. Scareware is becoming very predominant.

So many people are being tricked, the education about it needs to continue.

By: BayTech

BayTech — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 03:40:27 +0000

Scareware really has become an epidemic. Computer support companies are spending more time cleaning scareware infections than ever before. It’s scary how many people actually pay, just to have the problem go away…. not that it ever does. Like the article says, it’s like stepping into quicksand.

Once you pay, the attackers know they have a “payer”.

1. Good reliable antivirus
2. Use Firefox (not IE)
3. Noscript addon for Firefox
4. Use an ad blocking host file (www.winhelp2002.mvps.org)
5. Use Protowall (www.bluetack.co.uk)

All one can do is reduce the attack vectors. Among the above 5 recommendations the single MOST IMPORTANT is to keep Windows updated.

If possible, ditch Windows and get a real OS (www.ubuntu.com)

By: Chaser Cruz

Chaser Cruz — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:34:35 +0000

There are few people who are not well educated with such kind of issues of computer illiteracy that is why this problems arises most of the time online. That is why there are many offerings around the net about this problem.

By: TJ

TJ — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:41:43 +0000

“promotions crafted to panic you into spending $30 to $80 for worthless anti virus protection” Anyone who runs into this problem should do the research to provide protection for there systems. Lets face it, if you are a victim of a virus you want protection and you will go to any lengths to solve the problem fast.

TJ Nelson
Webmaster, SepticTankProblemsPro.com
Solve: septic problems

By: Arpey

Arpey — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:20:23 +0000

This is an escalating problem – I’ve seen clients sites hacked to redirect to these scareware sites, and it causes no end of problems.

Another scam my friend nearly fell for was a direct telephone call, from someone who claimed to be from Microsoft, saying they had received a virus alert from her PC. They then tried to sell her expensive AV software down the phone!

I don’t know how these scammers obtain credit card merchant accounts to operate – in the UK you have to jump through hoops to get one, even if you are a legitimate business.

Jon
Social Media Guy

By: Jeannie

Jeannie — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 23:36:39 +0000

“In the past two months, AVGâ€™s free LinkScanner tool, which prevents users from clicking on malicious Web links, has been flushing out â€“ on a daily basis â€“ more than 30,000 Web pages displaying ordinary-looking ads embedded with hidden scareware triggers. Earlier this year the daily average was roughly 5,000, Thompson says.”

This is alarming, and just keeps escalating. It is not a matter of if you are going to run into it, but when, unless you have something like AVG that can give you a warning.

By: Danika

Danika — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:47:43 +0000

There definitely is a fine line that online advertisers like to cross. The most common ads that says “your computer is infected. get a free scan” is such a blatant hoax yet you still see the ads everywhere. Often times what these software does to your PC goes unnoticed. When I has a technician round he found more than 1000 spyware on my PC – and I did not even know about it.

By: Pam White

Pam White — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:23:25 +0000

This is indeed scary for me, worse than a virus or a trojan horse combined for that matter. In this scenario ” Make the purchase, and you
get a bogus inoculation. Try to cancel it, and youâ€™ll get repeated offers.” Learning this now, we see how potent it can be and how insidious the schemes have become nowadays. I wonder who will take a look into this just before it gets to evolve again.

Pam White

My last blogKate Winsletâ€™s Portrait on Auction

By: Belinda

Belinda — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 02:23:22 +0000

it works because its so "easy". When you scare people they will want to act quickly. The reason why these tactics work online because most people are relatively "illiterate" when it comes to computer security. So much for authorities taking care of it. I still see many of these types of ads running on Google all the time. - Belinda

By: ADHD Doctors Connecticut

ADHD Doctors Connecticut — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:12:56 +0000

Finally, someone calling out those companies that advertize on TV about the dreaded “blue screen” and “compuetr running slowly?” selling scams. I cringe every time I see them. When I’m with a friend less computer literate, I’m always surprised how many people take this seriously (the scare tactics). Viruses are a serious matter, but “scareware” advertising is too.

Thanks for talking about this.

Mitchel