GFI Software today released its VIPRE® Report of February 2012, a collection of the 10 most common threats faced during the month. More specifically, GFI Labs has documented a new wave of fake antivirus programs (or rogue AV) on its Malware Protection Center blog. Growing since the beginning of last month has brought a significant spike in new variations of rogue AV.
Many rogue AV programs are distributed via spam containing malicious links to the Blackhole exploit, a tool used by cybercriminals to target unpatched vulnerabilities in software applications from industry leaders such as Microsoft and Adobe Systems Inc.
Users infected by rogue AV can be redirected to fraudulent Web sites, who have hijacked their systems from programs that appear to scan their computer or afflicted by mail virus alerts and other risks to PC security. These tactics of scareware fooling users to provide credit card information to non-existent protection purchases.
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