Re: FTC files complaint against "Bogus Computer Scan Software" makers

[Gary Warner <gar () askgar com>]

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Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah wrote:
> "scareware" 
> Sorry.  But I am really getting sick of the media making up unnecessary new 
> malware terms ...
I have to say that I just assumed that this was either going to be Dan
Hubbard at Websense or Graham Cluley at Sophos.

Anyone in?

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We know its NOT F-Secure . . . although the media referred to their
story on "MacSweeper" relentlessly as "Scareware for Mac", its not
mentioned once in their story:

http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001362.html

Talking about the same family of malware, the Mac-based "Imunizator",
Graham Cluley says:

"Windows users are no stranger to scareware like this, but it is rarer
on the Apple Macintosh. Nevertheless MacSwp-B's discovery does follow
fast on the heels of other malware that has been identitifed on the Mac
OS X platform in recent months," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant for Sophos.

http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2008/03/imunizator.html

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Hmmm... Maybe it WAS a journalist.  Can anyone beat Dan Goodin, January
24, 2007?  "MySpace slams ad networks over 'scareware'"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/24/myspace_accusation/

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WAIT!  Gregg Keizer uses the term in his January 6, 2006 story "FTC
Nails Two Spyware Sellers for Tricking Users"
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/cybercrime/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=175802230

This "scareware" practice spread during 2005, and even with several FTC
actions, continued. In an earlier interview, Patrick Hinojosa, the chief
technology officer of Panda Software, said that the scam was too
lucrative to disappear. ""We're going to see a lot more like this, like
mushrooms after a rain," he said.
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Gary Warner
Director of Research in Computer Forensics
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
gar () cis uab edu            gar () askgar com
205.934.8620               205.422.2113
Blog = http://garwarner.blogspot.com/
Home = http://www.cis.uab.edu/forensics/

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