Hard-Disk Application Scareware Detected

Security Researcher Dave Michmerhuizen at Barracuda Networks a security company has said that a fresh kind of scareware, which pretends to be a worthwhile application for hard-disks, is circulating online similar to a bogus anti-spyware scam. Infosecurity.com reported this on December 14, 2010.

In one personal security blog, Michmerhuizen writes that whereas bogus anti-spyware attempts at making users believe that spyware has infected their PCs, phony hard-disk benefiting application attempts at making users believe that their PCs are disintegrating into parts.

He adds that the new hard-disk utility scareware is circulating in various names -Quick Defragmenter, HDD Defragmenter, Win Defrag and Win HDD, with one variety, which Barracuda Labs has observed appearing most frequently, being HDD Diagnostic.

Moreover, according to Michmerhuizen, when malware attacks target people's PCs, the most treacherous tactic used is malvertisement meaning malicious advertisement.

The researcher outlines that the majority of online advertisements are added to Web-pages through JavaScript codes, while loading of those ads takes place elsewhere from a server hosting them. Nevertheless, these servers are being increasingly compromised that themselves deliver suspicious or harmful material eventually.

Typically, the current assault has its roots in an authentic website, which contains ads from perconel.com that have been included in the Web-page with the help of heavily encoded JavaScript. Often the ads are exhibited perfectly well still the server hosting them occasionally incorporates an additional JavaScript, which creates trouble.

For, that JavaScript instructs the Web-browser that it must show up certain window and open a domain, which, however, starts releasing exploits on the host PC. These exploits then run a downloader that successively pulls down the bogus hard-disk benefiting application on the system.

Thereafter a notice stating that the hard drive could not be found appears on the computer screen.

The idea is for creating fear in the user's mind so that he clicks on "Enable Defrag HDD Repair" that subsequently displays the box asking for payment.

Conclusively, Michmerhuizen says that this utterly fresh scareware once again reminds that users must be careful with their online operations as also deploy trusted anti-virus software while simultaneously use Web-traffic filters.

Related article: Horde Vulnerabilities Allow Launching of Script Injection & XSS Attacks

» SPAMfighter News - 12/25/2010