Thanksgiving Links Could Be Recipe for Disaster

The rogue security product attempts to scare users with fake infection warnings and pesters them into paying money for fake protection.

By  Kara Reeder | Nov 25, 2009
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As is always the case around a holiday, malware authors are trying to capitalize on unsuspecting users. According to internetnews.com, CA is warning about numerous malicious Thanksgiving-related links designed to steal personal data from holiday revelers.

The SEO-related social engineering attack redirects users Googling a variety of Thanksgiving terms and recipes to an intermediate page that then pops up a bogus scanner page that warns the user that their machine is infected by viruses.

Clicking anywhere on the dialog box results in the download of a file "install.exe" which security officials have identified as just another example of a phony antivirus software application.

The rogue security product attempts to scare users with fake infection warnings and pesters them into paying money for fake protection.

Users should also be wary of popular Wi-Fi hotspots as sidejackers, hackers who hang out near popular Wi-Fi hotspots hoping to snag user IDs and passwords, are expected to be out in droves this holiday season. Verizon has issued some tips for online shoppers to help protect their personal data.

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