Users of the popular Internet Explorer alternative Firefox are the new target of a malware disguised as antivirus software which a fake Windows Update recommends to be downloaded.
Malicious software are aplenty, and web pages posing as the official Windows Update are nothing new. This new variant discovered by Sophos, however, only activates when it finds itself a Firefox user using a Windows operating system.
Familiarizing with how Windows behave and work is a big thing in exposing this scam as it is. For instance, updates for Windows are downloaded in the background and not actively. Furthermore, the legit update page only loads using Internet Explorer.
On the other hand, unknowing users who can’t distinguish a fake Windows Update page from the real thing will be easily pressured to take the wrong measures after they downloaded the fake software. Once downloaded, it will convince users that their system is infected with malware that is not actually there.
By the time it happens, Graham Cluley of Sophos said that users do not hesitate to hand over some cash in order to address the issue that was not there all along. Cluley mentions that “malicious hackers are using smart social engineering tricks more and more often.”
