Hacked Info

For computer users who may be fretting over how to dislodge the latest malware from their PCs after the pop-up indicated that their systems may be infected, wait a moment! The “anti-virus check” that alerted you to download a software, could well be a malware itself. Shocked? Latest PandaLabs research reveals that this new business of rogueware or scareware has affected over 35 million computers globally.

Rogueware mainly indicates any kind of false software solution that pretends to provide your PC protection against virus or malware attacks. Rogueware takes advantage of the fear in computer users’ minds of any impending cyber attack. It coerces users to buy the fake antivirus solution, especially through popular social networking sites likes Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and MySpace. Rogueware uses attractive pop-ups and sends messages through the web browser’s task bar. It pretends to scan the operating systems and shows pop-ups indicating existence of malware. These programs also modify the operating systems to ensure the rogueware is established in the system.

The advantage that rogueware gives is that cyber criminals no longer need to hack password and username of users to creep into their financial accounts. All they need to do is to find a way of being bought by gullible PC users. PandaLabs put the figure of rogueware groups at 200. In fact, there has been a five- to ten-fold rise in rogueware between Q3 2008 and Q3 2009. These rogueware also dodge signature-based detection by valid antivirus software.

The business of rogueware is generating a whopping $34 million every month for the cyber cons. PandaLabs researchers say that this model consists of two groups: program creators and program distributors. The creators make the applications, provide the distribution platform, and other services. The distributors increase the spread of the rogueware and catch unsuspecting users who fall prey and buy these programs.