The Evolution of Rogue Anti-Virus

Guest post by Dmitry Bestuzhev

We often write about the fact that cybercriminals constantly change their tactics to take account of developments in the security and software industries. And I just came across a great example of this: it shows how the people behind rogue antivirus solutions adapt their "products" to exploit developments and changes in genuine anti-virus solutions.

A couple of months ago, Microsoft released its free anti-malware product, Microsoft Security Essentials. It's designed to ultimately replace Windows Defender, an earlier in-built antispyware product. It looks as though the guys behind the rogue AV which I just came across aren't only playing on people's fears, but on their lack of knowledge.

Malware and IT threats are getting increasing coverage in the general media, but if you're not particularly interested in IT, you're not that likely to remember all the facts. Using the name "Windows Enterprise Defender" is a neat way of getting someone who might have heard of Windows Defender, and half-remembers Microsoft's latest release, to be fooled into thinking that the rogue AV is the genuine article.

Read the full post [viruslist.com]

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