WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | IT pros warn of new type of cyber attack: scareware

IT pros warn of new type of cyber attack: scareware

By Hannah Horne - bio | email

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Spyware. Malware. Adware. And now, scareware. Information technology professionals are warning computer users to be aware of a new type of cyber attack.

These days there aren't too many people who don't spend some time in front of a computer, doing research, reading your favorite paper, chatting up your friends.

It's at those moments, when your guard is down, that hackers are trying to trip you up.

The Better Business Bureau is warning you to be on the lookout for scareware. It's essentially a pop-up window seemingly generated by your computer.

It usually convinces you that a virus has infected your computer and that you need to download  and pay for antivirus software.

That pop-up is actually a ploy to get you to give personal information or to infect your computer.

"This has happened with the New York Times. It happens with Google. It happens with the most respected of websites," said Tom Gallagher with the Better Business Bureau.

The New York Times reported a scareware pop-up was generated by an unauthorized ad after it sold ad space to hackers posing as Vonage. It's a tactic that's catching on.

An international watch group says scareware attacks increased more than 500 percent from 2008 in the first half of this year!

"What they're doing is A -- taking money and B -- infecting your computer," said Gallagher.

Gallagher says protecting yourself is as simple as not clicking on these pop-ups and actively making sure your virus protection is up to date.

"Make sure that we're dealing with people that we know we want to deal with. Make sure that we're buying off the shelf or that we're buying it directly from the company," said Gallagher.

Microsoft has filed lawsuits against five companies, accusing them of being the source of scareware attacks.

If you clicked on one of these ads and actually bought the software, you'll likely need professional help to avoid any problems.

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