UK PC Users Hit By Huge Fake Antivirus Attack

An anonymous reader writes "UK Internet users were on the receiving end of a large drive-by web attack at the end of February, which attempted to push fake antivirus at least 750,000 times on a single day alone, security company AVG has said. According to a company analysis, on Sunday 27 February, detection levels for the previously obscure Russian 'Blackhole' exploit kit suddenly spiked to 900,000 globally from a few tens of thousands that would be typical for such kits, before dropping back again. Unusually, almost 750,000 of these detections were for UK PCs, which offers a baseline for what must have been a sustained attack several times that size against mainstream web servers frequented by users in the country."

Comments

Re:Computers not fun anymore?

[cyberfin]

I think what people here are getting at is not IF something can be done (it obviously can), but whether "The Bad Guys", actually are willing to go through the effort to do it. It's a simple business choice:

1) You try exploiting a system that has MANY documented holes and that its users are more than likely less security conscientious than other tighter systems; ergo, unlikely to cancel credit cards in time or change passwords.

2) You try exploiting a system where it's generally harder to implement a successful exploit and where its users are more likely to reset their security in a blink of an eye if they smell foul play.

Hint: "The Bad Guys" are lazy by nature...