Prevalent Rogue Security Software Characteristics: Symantec Report on Rogue Security Software

Given their financial motivations, the distributors of rogue security software scams need to affect a broad number of potential victims. Getting the program onto a victim’s computer is a critical step in rogue security software scams and the scammers use a variety of techniques to do so. While some rogue security software programs rely on just a few specific techniques to achieve this, many of them incorporate multiple techniques to improve the odds of success. The distribution techniques for rogue security software programs can be simplified into two groups: installation methods and advertising methods.
The installation methods for rogue security software can either be intentional or unintentional. Scammers who persuade victims that they need the rogue software to address security concerns lure the victims into downloading the software intentionally. This is a common approach to rogue security software installation that was used by 93 percent of the top rogue security software scam attempts observed during a one-year period from July 2008 to June 2009, and discussed in the just published Symantec Report on Rogue Security Software. During the same period, 76 percent of the observed scam attempts used unintentional downloads to get the misleading applications installed onto victims’ computers. An unintentional (or, intrusive) download occurs when malicious code is downloaded onto a computer without the interaction or knowledge of the victims, such as in drive-by (continue reading...)