Pre-requisites: What is Antivirus Software?
Fake or Rogue Antivirus software is a type of malware that pretends to have found an infection on the victim’s computer. In some cases, the cyber criminals’ objective may be only to scare the victim. However, many antivirus programs also try to extract payment stating to remove malware that has not actually been detected and may not even exist.
For example:
While surfing the web you see some popup messages popping out to give you Security alerts, they are fake. A criminal device them just to scare you that your system is infected with XYZ virus, but in reality, it is not.
We can adopt the following measures to keep our system safe from rogue antivirus:
1. By keeping your operating system and applications updated, apply the latest security patches to the operating system and all the applications including :
- Web Browsers
- Flash Players
- Pdf Readers
To maintain antivirus defenses keep antivirus and Internet Security Software up to date. It will be better if “Receive automatic updates” is activated within the product.
2. Avoid clicking on the sponsored links that feature within Internet search results.
3. Whenever possible try to access the required website by directly entering the URL into the address bar of the web browser. It may take a little more time as compared to clicking on a link and accessing the website that is been generated by the search engine but the first way is far safer.
4. Avoid surfing unnecessary and unknown websites, especially social networking websites.
5. If there is some file attached to the email that was unexpected then kindly do not try opening it, it might be dangerous. Don’t open an unknown attachment unless it is verified to be genuine and free from malware.
6. Do not click on random links in email or Instant Messaging (IM) or on any social networking website.
Rogue security software is a form of malware or malicious software and the internet that mislead users into believing there is a virus on their computer and manipulates them into paying various charges for a fake malware removal tool. It manipulates users through fear and a form of ransomware. Rogue antivirus has become a serious and rapidly growing security threat in Desktop Computing.
Measures to be adopted when the system is infected with the Rogue antivirus:
- Use antivirus software or do a free scan with the Microsoft safety scanner. The safety scanner checks for and removes viruses eliminates junk on your hard drive and improves the performance of your PC.
- If having trouble removing the software you can enter the zip code to find experts in the area.
- If sensitive information such as credit card numbers or passwords is being entered into a pop-up window or a rogue security software sight, we should monitor our associated accounts. For additional information check email and web scams.
- If it is suspected that the computer is infected with the Rogue security software that is currently not detected with Microsoft security solutions, the user can submit samples using the Microsoft Malware Protection Center Submission form.