Fake Malicious Site Warnings Used to Push Scareware

[Peaches]

Fake Malicious Site Warnings Used to Push Scareware

Malware distributors have started abusing the security alerts displayed by browsers when encountering malicious websites in order to trick users into downloading and installing fake AV programs.

Browsers like Chrome and Firefox, as well as Google's Web search engine, use the Google Safe Browsing API to check if opened websites are malicious.

The Google Safe Browsing service uses blacklists maintained by the search giant, which aggregates information from various sources.

When encountering a malicious resource the browsers display their own customized alert, giving users the option to close the page or ignore the warning and continue.

According to security researchers from Symantec, attackers have fake versions for each of the browser warning pages.

They even have one for Internet Explorer, even though Microsoft's browser doesn't use the Google Safe Browsing API.

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