What is Fake AntiVirus Malware?
Fake AntiVirus Malware, also known as scareware, reports non-existent threats to users with the goal of scaring them into installing malicious software and/or paying for unnecessary product registration and cleanup. This type of malware is generally financially motivated, collecting credit card data of users who believe they must buy the software recommended by the fake antivirus scan.
How to Recognize This Threat: Users typically encounter this type of malware as an unwanted popup from a malicious (or compromised) website that displays a fake online scan message. It is mostly limited to illegitimate sites, but legitimate sites that users normally visit may be compromised with this type of malware for short periods.
How to Prevent This Threat: If such a popup message appears, users should be trained to close it and back out of the page they were visiting without taking any action. To protect your network and each computer on it, ensure you have up-to-date endpoint security protection.