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Windows 7 Suffers Fake Antivirus Software Attack

Sophos researchers have detected fake antivirus software making the latest Windows 7 operating system its target. The software has been identified as Troj/FakeAle-RK - a Trojan that attacks Windows.

Liang Zhang, security expert at SophosLabs AU, noted that the malicious program appears as a pop-up dialogue box that tries to inform user that his Windows 7 PC embraces several serious security threats, as per the news published by infosecurity.com on March 23, 2010.

When an option "Remove all Threats immediately" in the dialogue box is clicked by the user, yet another dialogue box pops up and asks him to download a malicious file "win_protection_update.exe". This malicious file is also a fake antivirus program, proactively identified as Mal/FakeAV-AA by the researchers at the Sophos. The most important thing about the malware is that the author of this malware commits a silly error in a spelling.

According to the security firm, victim will be promised of money for updating their expired license that will consequently fix all the problems their computers are facing. However, the so-called problems never existed in their systems.

In the meantime, security experts stated that now-a-days Windows 7 is being consistently targeted by cybercriminals. In the beginning of March 2010, Sophos' researchers discovered several malicious links that directed to Google by means of blackhat SEO.

When these malicious sites are visited by users, they will encounter an interface that resembles Windows 7, displaying a popup that appears identical to the security center popup for Windows 7. The malicious site also shows fake AV scan results, informing users that their PC has been infected by many viruses.

Regarding this issue, security experts stated that software companies have started upgrading their interface for the new operating system of Microsoft with the proliferation of Windows 7 among personal and business PCs. It appears as if software developers now understand the importance of a good user interface for their products. But it's not at all necessary that every software performs decently. It hardly takes any time for scareware authors to target the users of a new operating system.

Related article: Windows XP Fault Strike Firewall

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