video shows fake anti-malware in action

As you are aware, an epidemic of fake anti-malware products is threatening Internet users today. Marketed under hundreds of different names, this type of rogue software scares users by giving false spyware alarms and then tries to deceive them into paying for removal of non-existing malware.

WOT's new video shows what happens when a clean computer is infected by this type of bogus software.

Watch the video

 

Can somebody else view this video in Internet Explorer 7.0 without browser crashing? I even removed Flash player with Adobe's removal tool and installed it again. But each time when I try to see this video the flash plug-in crashes. Other websites that use flash don't crash. By me the crashing is almost in the beginning of the video.

 

That happened to my mom too. I'll tell our support people about it. Meanwhile, you can also view it on youtube.

Sorry about the inconvenience.

 

Thanks for your prompt reply. I am able to view the video on youtube. That was also one of the sites I tested to see if I was able to view the videos.
I don't know if it's relevant but this is the version of Internet Explorer that I am using at the moment: 7.0.5730.13
The flash plug-in version that I am using is: 9.0.124.0

 

We found the problem. There was a screen where I used a zoom, and it didn't work properly causing IE7 to crash. Weird... Anyway, I fixed it and the new version is being uploaded to WOT's site right now.

Thanks for pointing it out.

 

Hello,

I appreciate the effort to raise awareness to the problem, but I think the approach is wrong.

Some things in the video:

Clicking links like mad: why?

Using IE: why?

Protection - make sure your AV is up to date and use link advisory ... Not bad, but avoids the most critical issue - use your mind and think 3.43 seconds before clicking!

All I saw was someone happily clicking on prompts without reading, while using an inferior browser - and before anyone attacks me and calls me a fanboy, yes IE is an inferior browser! Forget about Firefox, my sweetie, take Opera for example.

The events shown in the video CANNOT happen if you browse using Opera. End of story. Nothing happens = no prompts = no fraud.

Even if the prompt is merely a well animated flash or something simulating the events taking place in a supposedly real computer - the follow-up of ActiveX thingies and such after the user clicks won't occur. End of story.

Staying safe and avoiding epidemics is such a simple matter. Relying on doomsday approach as a solution is not the most effective way. And the video does not touch the root of the problem - the browser that makes it all happen. "Bad" guys will always exist and try to exploit whatever possible to make gain. If you remove the vectors of attack, you nullify the chance for exploitation.

Change browser = problem solved.

Mrk