Fake antivirus akin to Microsoft® Update

Have you ever imagined that you could end up installing a fake antivirus program when you were actually trying to install Microsoft update? Well, it won’t be a surprise any more if you end up doing so. A fake antivirus program is at large on the Internet by posing itself as a genuine Microsoft update. Infact, if you look at its interface, it is an exact replica of the genuine Microsoft update website. Many users being unaware of this malicious website committed the mistake of treating it as the genuine Microsoft update location. Till now thousands of users have got infected by this fake antivirus website. So users are requested to be extra careful when it comes to using Microsoft update.

In the beginning of June 2011, Sophos, an IT security and data protection firm, sent out a warning message to all Windows users regarding this fake antivirus software. For the record, as quoted by Sophos, a very simple way to differentiate the genuine Microsoft update page from the fake one is to find out if the site opens in Internet Explorer, because the genuine Microsoft update site only opens with Internet Explorer.

To deceive the users, hackers are taking undue advantage of ‘Patch Tuesday’, the regular security update, which Microsoft issues to its users to keep their system updated. Unfortunately, it is being used by the hackers to trick the users to install the malicious software.

As per Sophos, hackers are also using social engineering tricks to scare the users with fake warnings and alerts.