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Fake Antivirus Peddlers Outpacing Real AV Firms
An anonymous reader tips a writeup at KrebsOnSecurity.com detailing how purveyors of fake antivirus or 'scareware' programs have aggressively stepped up their game to evade detection. The posting is based on a report from Google's malware detection team (PDF). "Beginning in June 2009, Google charted a massive increase in the number of unique fake antivirus installer programs, a spike that Google security experts posit was a bid to overwhelm the ability of legitimate antivirus programs to detect the programs. Indeed, the company discovered that during that time frame, the number of unique installer programs increased from an average of 300 to 1,462 per day, causing the detection rate to plummet to below 20 percent. ... In addition, Google determined that the average lifetime of sites that redirect users to Web pages that try to install scareware decreased over time, with the median lifetime dropping below 100 hours around April 2009, below 10 hours around September 2009, and below one hour since January 2010."
Many people will trust the word of a paid celebrity endorsement from a golfer or football player over the advice of their practicing physician, or an actor even if the actor does not play Dr. House.
But, yeah, you could grep in "crystal healer", "energy medicine practitioner", or any one of a bunch of titles in place of either "doctor" or "celebrity".
This isn't anything new. I could have replaced "Dr. House" with "Quincy M.E." 20 years ago. 100 years before that, it would be some guy coming in with a few actors he mysteriously "heals" with his mystical elixir. 2000 years before that, it was enough to just claim to be the son of a mythical being.
We don't change, we just update the lingo.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
See subject and realize you're nothing but a 3rd rate hack, chump. Poor little falcondouche, trying, but always the wannabe.