Cyber Criminals Target Twitter to spread Fake Antivirus software
The cyber criminals are at it again. They are trying to infect you with their bogus, Fake antivirus software using the ever popular Twitter.
They are doing this by generating thousands of tweets that contain malicious URLs and/or hashtags (words starting with a ‘#’ as in #followfriday, also known as trending topics).
They are hoping that you will click on the URLs which will then take you to a fake website. This website is designed to trick you into thinking that your computer is infected so that you will purchase their latest annoying anti-virus software such as, FastAntivirus2009.
PandaLabs reported that from June 2nd to June 3rd they noticed over 3000 of these malicious tweets. Some of the targeted phrases include:
#iranelection, free, invites, fake, girls, follow, blackout, control, tehran, Fathers Day, Fake Twitter Invites, Wordpress 2, Fallon, Top Chef, Tila Tequila Live, AT&T, Limp Bizkit, Sytycd, iPhone, Adam Lambert, Wipeout, Holocaust Museum, Miss California, Claim your Facebook, Squarespace, Lakers, NBA Finals, Zack Morris, addict, video, trailer.
Caution is strongly recommended before clicking on a link especially if you do not know who that particular tweep is. More and more people are using automated utilities to try and increase their number of Followers. This means that you will most likely NOT know who you are following or who is following you in which case you could fall victim to this new Twitter Ruse.
A note of interest: It has been reported that 40% of the Twitter accounts are Fake. With literally millions of users currently using Twitter, at 40% the number of Fake Twitter accounts that you could encounter is staggering.
There are also many legitimate URLs posted on Twitter that suffer because of these unscrupulous individuals. You need to be careful what you click on and who you follow. And always make sure that you have your own Antivirus program and keep it up to date.
For more information on this threat: Visualizing the Twitter Trends Attack
Stay Safe,
Frank Verdusco
CPU Help