Spyware Threats

XP Antivirus Still Available!

Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT download it!

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

27th of March 2008, 22:06 GMT

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The message displayed once a user visits an infected page

A new rogue antispyware application was spotted a few days ago on the web and it may really trick you in case you're not ready for it. Codenamed XP Antivirus, the program pretends to be a security software that cleans your computer of unwanted infections. However,

it isn't so well-intended as it may seem because it is actually a piece of rogue antispyware application which displays false security alarms in order to convince you to purchase the full version of the program.

Vikram Thakur of security company Symantec has spotted this threat on Spoke.com, a business networking site, and, even if the threat was removed quite quickly, it also exists on a few more websites.

"The user profile pages displayed an advertisement, hosted on Spoke.com, which was redirecting users to a link on a site registered in the Russian Federation. This link, in turn, eventually led to XP Antivirus, an application that exaggerates threats on a computer in order to convince the user to make a purchase," the Symantec official wrote on the company's blog.

For those of you who don't know, XP Antivirus affects most versions of Windows, including Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista. So, even if it's called XP Antivirus, it doesn't affect only Windows XP, an aspect that makes you vulnerable even if you're using the last edition of the Windows operating system.

These misleading applications have grown up a lot in popularity in the last few months, becoming more and more dangerous for every unprotected user out there. What's interesting is that they try to use all kinds of names, especially the ones which can easily trick a user and make him believe he is actually installing a real security software. However, scanning your computer with a powerful security product can always help you in this matter, so in case you have doubts regarding your security system, you know what to do.

TAGS:

security | xp | antivirus | rogue

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