Microsoft warns of scareware..bogus MSE

Software giant Microsoft has warned about a new flavour of scareware which looks like it has been officially manufactured by Redmond.

Microsoft is fuming that its Security Essentials suite which is freely available to Windows users that have genuine software installed is being mimicked by Internet criminals. The rogue anti-malware client lists a bunch of bogus infections before asking a user to pay a fee to purchase a "full" non-trial version of Security Essentials. Of course the concept of asking you to pay for a software which is free and comes from Microsoft should make most people suspicious. Unfortunately it does not.

The fake "Security Essentials 2010" claims to unlock removal and cleaning functionality if the user will pay up. Actually filling out this information puts a user at risk of fraud (stolen credit card details) and of course, identity theft. The malware changes the users' Desktop background, alerting that "YOUR SYSTEM IS INFECTED". "System has been stopped due to a serious malfunction. Spyware activation has been detected."

"It is recommended to use spyware removal tool to prevent data loss. Do not use the computer before all spyware removed."

In other words if it did come from Redmond, Security Essentials was written by someone who has English as a second language. Which given the fact they are American and have not spoken proper English since the 18th century might be true. The malware also blocks access to a number of popular video websites, which includes Facebook, eBay, YouTube, BBC News and more. Microsoft's real Security Essentials software detects the malware as Trojan:Win32/Fakeinit.

More here. http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/17864/1/

 

Thanks for the heads up! Not that I use MSE anyway, but, thanks!

 

I just wanted people to be aware of it. If it looks like it is really from Microsoft, it may mislead someone.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

this is why i never give users the exe, always the link. everyone should go to the source page and download the setup on it's own. that way you can trust what you have.

evil s!!

 

I would never download something like MSE from anywhere other than the OFFICIAL Microsoft Download Page.

Threat averted.

 

Same here.
I usually tell people to whom I'm doing some IT services to avoid downloading anything like that off the net, especially since they already have an antivirus in place and do not need anything else.

 

http://blogs.technet.com/mmpc/archi...tials-2010-then-it-s-possibly-fake-innit.aspx

Just to clear things up. The program in question is called Security Essentials 2010 and looks like this:





Also downloading MSE from Filehippo is legit which others have posted links to.

 

I got one of these things about 7 years ago while engaging in some dodgy internet usage (one of my friends also got the same exact thing >.>). The concept isn't new, although this manifestation certainly looks better executed.

I think 99% of us NBR users would figure this out right away, but sadly most computer users don't have the experience to know any better.