On CHOW: His burger will EAT your burger
BNET Business Network:
BNET
TechRepublic
ZDNet

August 4th, 2009

Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 1:56 pm

Categories: Adobe, Arbitrary Code Execution, Browsers, Data theft, Flash, Malware, Passwords, Phishing, Rootkits, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware, Viruses and Worms

Tags: BSOD, Blue Screen, Microsoft Windows, Security, Operating Systems, Software, Ryan Naraine

Hackers are using the infamous Windows Blue Screen of Death to trick computer users into downloading fake security software (scareware).

According to a discovery by Sunbelt Software, a Windows users are being shown the recognizable blue screen that signifies an operating system crash with a bright red “Security Alert” notice. (click image below for full version)

The rogue security software used in this scam is called SystemSecurity. It infects Windows machines via fake codec and fake Flash Player update packages planted on malicious Web sites.

Ryan NaraineRyan Naraine is a journalist and security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab. He manages Threatpost.com, a security news portal. Here is Ryan's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.


Email Ryan Naraine

For daily updates on Ryan's activities, follow him on Twitter.

Subscribe to Zero Day via Email alerts or RSS.

  • Talkback
  • Most Recent of 42 Talkback(s)
That's "passe"
The "?" was an e accent egout. Apparently this site doesn't accept high ASCII characters. (Read the rest)
Posted by: stephenkca Posted on: 08/11/09 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Find the people behind this  Lerianis10 | 08/04/09
Yeah, beacuse...  The 'G-Man.' | 08/05/09
Saves money...  sframberger@... | 08/05/09
Oops!  Tim.M | 08/06/09
Those sound like the words of  unclefixer@... | 08/05/09
Wrong? what is this word?  Hate Malware | 08/06/09
Bring them where?  tom@... | 08/05/09
Death penalty for hackers?  keithparks | 08/05/09
Yeah maybe, but  Zpaceman | 08/05/09
Charges? My suggestion would be  unclefixer@... | 08/05/09
WT?  Hate Malware | 08/06/09
Extradite  Zpaceman | 08/06/09
err 'scuse me  paul_bruford@... | 08/06/09
"alt F4" defeats most malware for the "average user"  ~doolittle~ | 08/04/09
You forgot part 2  D2 Ultima | 08/06/09
Is that the actual screenshot?  gtvr | 08/05/09
LOL I was thinking the same thing...the grammar alone should ...  USTechHead | 08/05/09
Does the "average user" actually read error messages?  stephenlposey@... | 08/06/09
Nope =)  D2 Ultima | 08/06/09
Ah, but spelling and grammar are pass?  stephenkca | 08/10/09
That's "passe"  stephenkca | 08/11/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  seymouralexander@... | 08/05/09
Shhh,  tealcat | 08/05/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  Bilmekanikeren | 08/05/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  Robuntu | 08/05/09
More dumb people out there than you think...  jerry@... | 08/05/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  Dragoon212 | 08/05/09
Poor grammar  ccfman2004 | 08/05/09
lol  Hate Malware | 08/06/09
Fake "System Security 2009" experience  Jim.Callahan | 08/05/09
This can't happen in Windows, esp. Vista!  joe.smetona@... | 08/06/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  RAMChYLD | 08/05/09
It will probably fool most of my customers (nt)  eric_s@... | 08/05/09
It would fool most of my users also.  dank953@... | 08/06/09
you ought to read my post too...  D2 Ultima | 08/06/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  Hate Malware | 08/06/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  ImaGremlin | 08/06/09
Who is dumb enough...  D2 Ultima | 08/06/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  ranels | 08/07/09
The first thing I'd do...  JCitizen | 08/10/09
RE: Fake 'Blue Screen of Death' pushing scareware  volksware@... | 08/10/09
Ignore  stephenkca | 08/11/09

What do you think?

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

Essential Topics Click Here

advertisement

Recent Entries

advertisement

Archives

Favorite Links

ZDNet Blogs

White Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

Meet Doc

  • Here to help you with your Document Management Needs
  • Doc is an enigma. Born to a Russian ballerina and a German electrical engineer, he grew up in various locations in the United States. He’s seen the insides of more brands, versions, and generations of printer and printer-related hardware than almost anyone.
  • To learn more about this mysterious figure check out his blog on ZDNet and his Workspace on TechRepublic. You’ll be glad you did.
  • Produced by
    ZDNet and