Scareware menace on the rise as more users log in

BANGALORE: As you start browsing, a window pops up trying to grab your attention by identifying an ‘infection’ in your system, and coaxing you to install a program—and even pay for it — to fix the security breach. Fine, where is the problem? Only that the program that claims to fix your PC’s security woes is a fake — often called a rogue software. Rogue security software or ‘ scareware’ pretends to be a legitimate one, provide little or no value and may even install malicious code.

While rogue softwares have been there for a while, experts say the menace is rising. Security solutions firm Symantec points to rising vulnerability as more people, not necessarily regular computer users, are logging onto the digital economy.

This implies that critical personal financial information from a larger set is piling up on the net. Which, says Symantec’s VP for India product operations, Shantanu Ghosh, is leading to cyber criminals using persuasive online scare tactics to convince users to purchase rogue security software.

“Our study reveals that with growth in broadband penetration, scareware is a concern that would affect consumers and enterprises alike,” he adds.

Microsoft’s most-recent semi-annual Security Intelligence Report also points out that rogue security software has become more prevalent lately, more than doubling in volume over the past year. “It remained the single largest threat category for the first half of 2009 and Microsoft’s products and services removed malware from more than 13 million computers worldwide,” the report quantifies.

Kaspersky Lab detected about 20,000 rogue antivirus programs in the first half of 2009, more than double from 8,000 identified in the first half of 2008.

The reason these rogues are created is because they generate huge money. They are promoted through affiliate programs where affiliates get paid a certain amount, as high as $30, every time the rogue is installed, an internet security expert told ET.

The FBI had issued an Intelligence Note last December, warning of a surge in rogue antivirus tricking people into buying the phony software.

The FBI note estimates the rogue antivirus loss to victims to top $150 million.