Not Always What It Seems
According to software company Symantec, tens of millions of computers across the U.S. are infected with scam security software that their owners may have purchased, but which only leave them more vulnerable. The owners are duped into providing their credit card and other personal information when a fake security alert pops up as the computer user accesses a legitimate website. The alert claims to have found a virus and offers to correct it with security software. In fact, the alerts are established by very sophisticated cyber-thieves. Symantec found 250 varieties of scam security software with names that appear legitimate, such as “Antivirus 2010” and “SpywareGuard 2008”. Actually, I found one such infection on my parents’ computer identified as “antivirus.exe”. About 43 million downloads of the scam software were attempted in the past year, but it is unknown how many succeeded. To increase their reach, the cyber-thieves recruit middlemen who earn between one and 55 cents each time a person downloads the software. One such site, which is now closed, TrafficConverter.biz, reported that its leading affiliates earned as much as $332,000 monthly for selling scam security software. The refined affiliate sales model is very sophisticated and can confound your small business security efforts. Educate your employees not to click on any such alerts and only purchase security software from a trusted source, not one that is pushed out to you from the web.