NEWS / GENERAL

Microsoft Update Look-Alike Threat Doing Rounds: Sophos

11 Jun, 2011, 11:07 am IST | by Anuradha Shetty | General

According to a latest warning issued by Sophos, the security company, the net is rife with a new threat on the block. The threat approaches the user as a genuine Microsoft Update, the only difference being that it is not. The threat is actually a fake anti-virus circulating in the garb of a Microsoft Update, and has therefore been successful in luring clueless users into their trap.

The wannabe..

The wannabe..

 


This is just among the several ways that criminals, these days use to convince users to believe that the fake anti-virus that they’re being asked to download is indeed a genuine update from Microsoft. Once the users comply, the rest is anybody’s guess. Interestingly, this update pops up only when users are using Mozilla Firefox on Windows, and those familiar with Microsoft updates, the genuine ones would know that they only happen on Internet Explorer. Funnily, the update shows the exact replica of the Microsoft Update page, and unless the user is well-informed, and cautious falling prey to such traps is just a matter of time.

Sophos, in its warning also stated that users should comply with any such security updates unless they have duly checked it with Adobe, Microsoft, or Sophos themselves.

 

Tags: Sophos , threat , Microsoft Update , Micrsoft , Adobe , anti-virus , fake , Internet Explorer , Mozilla Firefox

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