Cyber Criminals Exploiting Release of ‘New Moon’ to Spread FAKEAV

Researchers at Trend Micro (an Internet security company) have cautioned computer users that a Blackhat SEO (Search Engine Optimization) spam scam is spreading at fast pace. It is artificially raising the search hits of movie "New Moon," a freshly released sequel of Twilight, near the top results with the bogus online sites distributing bogus antivirus software or FAKEAV, also called 'rogueware' or 'scareware.'

Search terms (or keywords) like "New Moon premiere live stream," which could be exciting to people interested in watching the movie free, are especially subjected to manipulation.

The ensuing results mislead Web-surfers to bogus online scanners that eventually end up downloading a FAKEAV version. Trend Micro has identified this fake antivirus as TROJ_FAKEAV.MET. Once run, the Trojan plants malicious files and exhibits false alerts.

These alerts persuade Web-surfers to acquire 'Security Tool,' a fake antivirus program, explains Erika Mendoza, Threat Response Engineer at Trend Micro, as reported by Softpedia on November 20, 2009.

Informing the same problem, PC Tools (another security company) says that it too observed requests on search engines hunting for Stephenie Meyer who wrote the book 'Twilight.' However, the web-pages from search results promise text of the author's interview but actually download a bogus AV scan. They (web pages) exhibit false malware alerts as well as urge surfers to buy non-existent AV products, as reported by V3 on November 19, 2009.

Dave Marcus, Security Research and Communication Director of McAfee Avert Labs, stated that in addition to exercising common sense as the best safety measure, Web-surfers could follow certain useful tips. These are running antivirus scans regularly; spending on prepackaged security software from reputed security vendors; perusing site advisories; along with staying updated with new virus reports, as reported by Features.csmonitor on November 19, 2009. Additionally, Marcus also advised that users must watch out for URLs that appear suspicious while doing online searches.

Cyber criminals leveraging a movie premiere of "New Moon" to spread scareware, which is the most prolific and lucrative online threat, through SEO techniques isn't something new. During June 2009, similar scams exploited the release of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."

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» SPAMfighter News - 12/2/2009