What is SCAREWARE?

Scareware is a Type of Malware designed To Trick Victims Into Purchasing and Downloading Useless and Potentially Dangerous Software. Scareware, Which Generates POP-UPS That Resemble Windows System Messages, Usually Purports To Be Antivirus or Antispyware Software, A Firewall Application or A Registry Cleaner.





Scareware is also known as SmitFraud, crimeware, fake anti-virus, rogue anti-virus, rogue security, and Rogueware.

Scareware generates pop-ups that look like Microsoft Windows system warnings and alerts for anti-virus/anti-spyware software, registry cleaners or firewalls.

These deceptive pop-ups create a user call to action to purchase scareware and repair alleged errors.

Scareware may include a clickjacking feature to redirect a user to an attacker’s website or initiate a malware download if a user tries to close the pop-up.Scareware also coerces users into uninstalling legitimate anti-virus software. If a suspicious pop-up appears, the user is advised to right click on the taskbar item and select close, or exit the browser by selecting Ctrl-Alt-Del to terminate the browser process.




Scareware infects users and their computers via any of the following methods:
Email scams masked as breaking news alerts or greeting cards
Ads providing free scans or system clean-ups and displaying a long list of unknown threats to generate user fear

Affected websites retrofitted to take advantage of software vulnerabilities
The messages typically say that a large number of problems -- such as infected files -- have been found on the computer and the user is prompted to purchase software to fix the problems. In reality, no problems were detected and the suggested software purchase may actually contain real malware. If the user falls for the scam, he will lose the money he paid for the useless software and he may also make his computer unusable.