Users of the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser have been targeted by a new scam that tries to load a user’s PC with fake antivirus (AV) software. The software is found on a fake Windows Update page.
This latest scam has been discovered by security firm Sophos who says that the attack triggers when encountering a Windows-based PC user using the Firefox web browser. When the page – which is a copy of the real Windows Update page – loads within Firefox, it offers users an ‘urgent’ 2.8MB download, which if downloaded will load the fake antivirus software on the user’s machine. This then runs a scan which is designed to make the user believe that the fake antivirus software is actually looking for viruses on the machine.
“Users need to be more vigilant than ever before as bogus security alerts pop-up in their browsers,” said Graham Cluley of Sophos. “Fake anti-virus attacks are big business for cybercriminals and they are investing time and effort into making them as convincing as possible.”
Users of the popular browser are frequently targeted by such scams. Sophos last week reported a separate scam that sent users of the browser messages to make them believe their computer is infected with a virus. Read the full story here.
