Elinor Mills with CNET (who is quickly becoming my favorite go-to writer for all things malware) took the time to parse through a recent 13-month analysis that Google performed between January 2009 and February 2010.

The report states that..

Fake antivirus–false pop-up warnings designed to scare money out of computer users–represents 15 percent of all malware that Google detects on Web site..

As Elinor’s article points out, scammers are turning more and more to social engineering and trickery to infect users with Fake Anti-Virus malware and trojans in order to gain access to user information and sensitive data.

Earlier today, I had a conversation with a long-time customer of PCS’s regarding a small rash of infections she was having to deal with on her network. This customer has invested in the proper hardware and software solutions to insure that her network is secure, but malware continues to get through because the habits of her end-users are contributing to the infections.

When Fake Anti-Virus presents itself through a web site, it takes on the familiar role of an anti-virus program warning the end-user of an infection that needs to be cleaned.  The end-user (who is used to this type of behavior from AV programs) accepts the offer to “disinfect” and in turn, becomes infected by essentially doing what the end-user thinks is the “right thing” to do.

Unfortunately, the only sure defense is to make your users aware of this type of attack.  If they get a warning that their system has become infected, make sure they know the procedure to follow to avoid infection.  If you’re an small business or a personal computer user and something about a warning message you’re getting just doesn’t look right, contact us – we’re ready to help.