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Firefox 4.0 Crack Disseminates Malware

On the word of reports from The Register published on August 6, 2010, cyber-criminals are spreading a scam involving a phony download of Firefox 4.0 beta that so deceives unsuspecting consumers that they become infected. Evidently, it (the scam) tells them that a crack pertaining to the Firefox 4 browser is freely available for download but when users actually take it down, they contract Trojan infections.

The temptation to own something for 'free' has led plenty of Web-surfers to land on the Internet's more dubious zones, where miscreants keenly wait to spread malware infections onto their PCs.

Explain the security researchers that the present case is interesting in that the widely used browser Firefox version 4.0, which was launched in the form of a beta recently in July 2010, can be downloaded from Mozilla's Internet site for free. Therefore it is wholly pointless to take down a crack. This consequently makes the fraudsters think that they can cheat the unsuspecting user into executing a fake Firefox 4 'crack' or 'keygen tool' that are being touted through spurious Twitter accounts.

Reportedly, it was found that both the keygen and crack were carrying a Trojan downloader namely VirTool.Win32.Obfuscator.hg!b (v). Sunbelt detected it for a previous model ordinarily called "2GCash-FakeCrackSerial."

Anyone who might get ensnared would find the downloader whilst he clicked for downloading the keygen or crack. Actually, hitting the download button for Firefox 4 leads a probable victim onto a different website. Therefore it's the least surprising that the move is risky as well and Sunbelt discovered five or more separate malware programs within the download, as per the company's researchers.

These are Trojan-Downloader.Win32.CodecPack.2GCash.Gen, FraudTool.Win32.FakeVimes, TrojanDownloader-Win32/FakeRean, Virus.Win32.Parite and Trojan.DNSChanger.Gen.

Hence, it's advisable that users maintain caution about this threat. Additionally, they must load each and every essential security solution along with firewalls and anti-virus programs so that they don't become a victim.

Meanwhile according to the security researchers, there's nothing astonishing about the attack. Whenever new software gets introduced, scammers try to obtain personal gain by exploiting them. For example, when Windows iPad and iTunes were launched, cyber-criminals targeted them for spreading their malware.

Related article: Firefox Gets Vulnerable With JavaScript

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