Most consumers know what a virus or a Trojan is, but if you threw the word “scareware” at them, you might get a look as though you were an alien from another planet. Scareware is no different than any other malicious software that finds its way on to your computer. But the best way to describe scareware is one of those pesky viruses that takes over your computer and keeps popping up windows that say you have 8,572 files infected on your computer with the intent of scaring you into purchasing their “special” virus removal software. Okay, I can see you nodding your head. Now you know what I mean.
My first experience with scareware was about three years ago. I was on Facebook playing a word game with some friends. I had been playing the game for several weeks without incident. Then one night while in the middle of playing, my computer was hijacked, and I started seeing all kinds of files being downloaded. I hurried to shut it down instantly, but it was too late. I was now officially a victim (and you can’t even imagine how irritated that makes me as I work for one of the largest security companies in the world). When I turned my computer back on, there it stood laughing at me in the face, “Every file on your computer is infected and unless you give me $59.95, I own you.”
Last week, my neighbor came to me and said she had a virus on her computer and didn’t know how to get rid of it. When she started describing it to me, I immediately said, “That is scareware.” She tried to go to Best Buy to get it fixed, but it was going to take a week and cost her $200. Therefore, she told me, “I am just going to buy the program.” “NOOOOOO,” I hollered (you might have even heard my scream). I gave her a lesson in scareware and told her that not only was there no special software she would buy to remove it, but she would also be giving her credit card and personal information to a cybercriminal halfway across the world. I was on a mission to eliminate the malware from her computer (and trust me, I’ve become my own personal “Geek Squad” among my inner circle).
How much is scareware costing us as consumers? Just take one instance of such a cybercrime ring charged with distributing scareware – enter Operation Trident Tribunal. International cyber thugs were able to infect more than one million computers and rake in nearly $75 million in profits selling their fake anti-virus software.
You might be saying to yourself right now, “But I have an anti-virus program and always update it.” Well, the truth is that while anti-virus software is great for catching many threats on the Internet, depending on the program you run, it is likely only stopping 30 – 40% of them. Besides, most scareware programs are designed to disable your anti-virus system so even if it was capable of catching it, it will be turned off.
I was able to remove the scareware from my computer instantly with a program called Malwarebytes. And it has also worked on every other computer I’ve had to clean of scareware, Trojans and viruses – including my neighbor’s machine. I would highly recommend downloading Malwarebytes or some other type of anti-malware program onto your computer now (because if you do become infected with scareware or a Trojan down the road, it will likely take over your browser so you won’t be able to get out onto the Internet to download it).
Instead of a Ghostbuster, I have become a Scareware Buster. My neighbor was so grateful that she gave me a nice thank you card and gift certificate to go to dinner (but also informed me that her daughter fell victim and gave up her credit card information – yikes!).
I may not be able to take down cybercrime gangs like the FBI, but I can continue to prevent a new victim one at a time. Scareware doesn’t scare me – and don’t let it scare you.