PandaLabs - New ‘Rogueware’ Samples Detected

Researchers at PandaLabs, an Internet security company, have recently discovered a number of new malware variants that pretend to be legitimate antivirus software. These bogus solutions are also called 'rogueware.'

Described as fake software, rogueware tries to deceptively grab money from computer users by instilling a conviction in them that there is malware on their systems that could be removed with certain paid software. Currently, researchers are cautioning users that three such bogus security programs are circulating on the Internet.

Luis Corrons, Technical Director, PandaLabs, said - the three new fake programs detected by the company during late August 2009 namely SaveSoldier, TrustNinja and SaveKeep were actually identical rogueware with different monikers that also had a common strategy, as reported by Webuser on August 27, 2009.

An unwary user could be convinced by malicious code writers to install the malware on his system and demand money for cleaning the computer off non-existent viruses. While the three rogueware appear in different monikers, they are actually quite similar.

Security experts state that cyber criminals' use of software, which pose as legitimate AV programs, is now a commonplace. However, the clue that suggests that the fake programs are the same malware is that the payment access they utilize is the same.

Moreover, it is extremely profitable to run a rogueware business, said experts. Almost daily, researchers find numerous new variants and a small number of families that attempt to contaminate computers and to cheat their users off money.

At the end of 2008, PandaLabs spotted nearly 55,000 rogueware pieces and now it expects to find over 637,000 more rogueware pieces by Q3 2009 end, an increase by ten times in not even twelve months.

There has been an extensive propagation of malware over the recent years and with it cyber-crime has sadly taken a place in an underground framework of economy, while its growth is attributed to the so-called rogueware.

Moreover, as rogue antivirus programs have been increasingly inflicting the Internet, bogus anti-malware such as 'VirusRemover 2008' and 'AntiVirusXP' emerged in 2008, defrauding Web-surfers into handing over money that supposedly cleaned non-existent threats.

Related article: PandaLabs Report Discusses Movie Trojan and Other Worms

» SPAMfighter News - 9/14/2009