It’s difficult to know what you can and can’t trust in the realm of cybersecurity. However, you’re likely to trust your own security solution. Yet, even this could be a devastating oversight, as some malware masquerades as your security software.
Basically, rogue software takes advantage of the fact that online threats are more prevalent than ever. Considering how hyped up data breaches are in the news, it’s natural that the average user will trust their computer when a message appears telling them that they have to download the latest antivirus software to protect themselves. Little do they know that this supposed antivirus program is actually malware in disguise.
Rogue security software is also known as scareware, which is a software that scares its victims with misleading rhetoric, convincing them that they need to download something, or else. Rogue software is usually designed in a way which provides those who spread it a type of commission–which only encourages the spread of such malware.
Sometimes the root problem of rogue software is even more concerning than meets the eye. One particular rogue software scam involves reporting issues that don’t even exist, or issues that were downloaded by the software itself. Other variations of the threat will ignore active issues on your PC, so that they can continue to become a problem; there are even some that keep you from downloading legitimate antivirus, to the point where you can’t even access the websites of reputable antivirus vendors.
Though law enforcement has taken steps to get to the bottom of this scam, the only surefire way of keeping yourself safe is to stay on the lookout for anything strange. Kaspersky Labs has released a great list of all the currently known security software which you can review for yourself.
If you want to avoid rogue software for your organization, reaching out to us at Exact IT Consulting can yield promising results. We can help you keep your network safe from not just these threats, but many more.
