Rogue Anti-Malware Pushes Fake PCMag Review

Varzil found an interesting story about some "Rogue Anti-Malware" (which seems to me should just be called 'Malware') which modifies your HOSTS file to trick you into reading a fake anti-virus review which is of course for more malware. Modifying HOSTS is an old trick, but this is interesting because it's actually trying to get you to read fake content: normally this sort of trick is used to prevent you from fixing your computer, but this one is trying to get you to break it even more. I guess friends don't let friends modify their HOSTS files.

Comments

Re:hijacking AV sites too

[nine-times]

I haven't really found any single solution to be good enough. Once you're infected with one of these things, it seems like the best idea is to either (a) wipe the drive and start over; or (b) download and install every malware/spyware/virus removal program that you can get your hands on, run them serially, and remove anything that any of them find. Ideally you run each from a live CD or something that doesn't allow the virus a chance to load before you can run the remover.

And then to be really careful, run each of them again.