14 DAY TRIAL // Security vendor Check Point has stopped displaying scareware-like alert pop-ups inside ZoneAlarm Free firewall after facing a customer backlash.
Late last week ZoneAlarm users started complaining about seeing security warnings, which falsely suggested that they might have an infection on their computers.
The pop-ups were called "Global Virus Alert" and claimed that "Your PC may be in danger!" They went on to describe the threat as ZeuS.Zbot.aoaq and advise people to buy additional protection.
People who clicked on the "Get Protection" button, were taken to a page explaining that the threat is a variant of the ZeuS "financial Trojan virus", which is capable of stealing banking passwords and account data.
Most intriguing, under this description, there was a table showing that ZoneAlarm Security Suite was detecting this threat, while products from Norton, Trend Micro, AVG, Avast and Avira, weren't.
Users, who ever came across a scareware campaign, will probably find these advertising methods very familiar, as they are constantly used to push rogue antivirus products.
Speaking in general and without naming any particular vendor David Harley, a senior research fellow at ESET (NOD32 Antivirus), said:
"If a vendor was rash enough to indulge in such scareware tactics, its customers might want to consider whether […] marketing based on 'our product detects this and these other companies can’t' can possibly be accurate.
"Even if the company making the claim didn’t share samples (and that would be really bad karma in this industry), and the claim of non-detection held true at a particular point in time, howlikely is it that the other companies wouldn’t encounter it and add detection for it, sooner rather than later?"
Initially, Check Point defended its dubious marketing strategy, claiming that it "was purely an informative message about a legitimate and serious virus that also included information about the differences in protection of various products, and how to get protection against it."
However, according to a new announcement posted via the ZoneAlarm Twitter account, after considering the negative consumer feedback, the company decided to pull the plug on the pop-up messages.
