The Scourge of Rogue Security Software

"In a recent guest post on ITBusinessEdge.com, Marc Fossi, who is the Manager for Research and Development at Symantec, warned of the dangers of rogue security software. Rogue security software is a name given to a class of fake security software that masquerades the real deal. It typically employs fear tactics to persuade users to quickly fork out cash to remove a nonexistent infection.

However, especially disturbing is that no protect is actually afforded. On the contrary, rogue security software installs the very malicious code that it promises to eliminate, turning the target computer into a slave that can be remotely controlled by a hacker. An estimated 43 million users have downloaded these fake applications since June 2008, making this a real problem with SMBs. And that is not even considering the $30 to $100 that users get tricked into paying."