Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

The latest fake-alert variant spreading on the web right now attempts to play on the passions of the green-Earth movement to trick unsuspecting victims into installing fake security software.

Green AV infects your computer through click jacking (only Norton 360 can stop it).

The new threat actually plays off of a Norton 360 trade name, calling itself the 3.0 Premier Edition, and claims to be the “World’s First Antivirus Which Cares About the Environment.”

Unlike other fake alert infections, Green AV demands a price premium for those who are unfortunate enough to fall for the scam. Typically fake alert infections demand around $50 to stop popping up in your face and “heal” your PC. Green AV demands $99.

Green-AV’s website reads:

Fighting viruses, spyware, malware is not only a question of security. Spyware actualy abuses your computer, overuses CPU speed, network bandwidth, makes your PC run slow. As a result you start consuming more power, working longer, think of replacing your PC with a new one which brings more unrecyclable wastes (many computer’s parts contain toxic wastes).

This way Green AV actualy cares about the environment. We thought that our application can guard not only your PC, but whole Earth – our home planet. So to show how much we care we desided to send $2 from each product sale on saving green forests in Amazonia.

The misspellings, poor English, and the fictional land of Amazonia should tip off any reasonable person that this is a scam.

One of my readers forwarded me a report from the Better Business Bureau. The US Census is taking place this year, and the government is hiring thousands of temporary workers to help get the job done.

Unfortunately, the Census also provides a ripe opportunity for identity thieves to knock on your door, ask you personal questions, and use the U.S. Government’s name to compel you to answer. Here is the waring from the BBB:

BBB Alerts Consumers about U.S. Census Workers:
Be Cooperative, But Cautious!

For years, Better Business Bureau has educated consumers about not giving out personal information over the telephone or to anyone who shows up at their front door. With the U.S. Census process beginning, BBB advises people to be cooperative, but cautious, so as not to become a victim of fraud or identity theft.

The first phase of the 2010 U.S. Census is under way as workers have begun verifying the addresses of households across the country. Eventually,more than 140,000 U.S. Census workers will count every person in the United States and will gather information about every person living at each address including name, age, gender, race and other relevant data.

“Most people are rightfully cautious and won’t give out personal information to unsolicited phone callers or visitors, however the Census is an exception to the rule,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson.

“Unfortunately, scammers know that the public is more willing to share personal data when taking part in the Census and they have an opportunity to ply their trade by posing as a government employee and soliciting sensitive financial information.”

The Census data will be used to allocate more than $300 billion in federal funds every year, as well as determine a State’s number of Congressional representatives. Households are required by law to respond to the Census Bureau’s request for information.

During the U.S. Census, households will be contacted by mail, telephone or visited by a U.S. Census worker who will inquire about the number of people living in the house. Unfortunately, people may also be contacted by scammers who are impersonating Census workers in order to gain access to sensitive financial information such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers.

Law enforcement in several states have issued warnings that scammers are already posing as Census Bureau employees and knocking on doors asking for donations and Social Security numbers.
Question is – how do you tell the difference between a U.S. Census worker and a con artist? BBB offers the following advice:

If a U.S. Census worker knocks on your door, they will have a badge, a handheld device, a Census Bureau canvas bag and a confidentiality notice.

Ask to see their identification and their badge before answering their questions. However, you should never invite anyone you don’t know into your home.

Census workers are currently only knocking on doors to verify address information. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information to anyone, even if they claim they need it for the U.S. Census.

While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, it will not ask for Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers nor will employees solicit donations.

Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail or in person at home.

However, they will not contact you by e-mail, so be on the look out for e-mail scams impersonating the Census.

Never click on a link or open any attachments in an e-mail that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau.

For the past few years Apple has had a heyday with ads proclaiming that Macs are inherently free of viruses and spyware because of the superior software they employ.

And for the past three years on my radio show I have said that the reason Mac users don’t get many viruses is because not many people were using Mac.

After Vista’s shortcomings gave Apple an opening to sell a LOT of Macs and their marketshare broke 10% of users in the US.

With more and more people using Macs, attackers are now realizing that Mac users are a very undeserved population. Many don’t run any security software at all because they believe they are impervious to attack.

Do Mac Users Need Security Software?

In short, if you plan on doing anything important with your Mac, you need security software. If you are using a Mac to play games for your 4 year old, then you can probably go without.

Before you pack your student up for college and send that Mac off to class, here is a list of security software providers who have products you can use to protect yourself and your identity.

The Lincoln, NE Police Department is looking for a Dell Inspiron notebook with service tag JKXQHC1. It was stolen in Lincoln, NE on or around May 13, 2009.

If you have any information about the location of this notebook, please contact the Lincoln Police Department’s non emergency number at 402-441-6000.

Yesterday ZDNet reported that a new exploit was published that uses Adobe’s widely distributed free Acrobat Reader program.

While there are no reports of viruses taking advantage of this exploit yet, sample code has been published online that is often a precursor to B-class virus attacks.

I strongly recommend that you download any available updates for your Adobe Reader program. You may have to manually install these updates or the Adobe updater may pop up in the lower right corner of your screen telling you that updates are available.

The non-event that was the Conficker virus sparked a ton of media attention on April 1. In one afternoon two TV crews visited the new Schrock Innovations Computer Repair Service Center in Lincoln, NE to talk about the virus.

In both interviews I predicted that the virus would be a non-event, but that the bot network left behind could be leveraged at a later date for just about anything.

Over the past few days there has been a lot of concern about the Conficker virus that is expected to strike on April 1, 2009. Callers to my radio show asked me if they should be concerned, and my answer was pretty straight forward.

If the following describes you, you should be relatively safe from the Conficker virus:

* You have a genuine (not illegal) copy of Windows
* You have up-to-date Antivirus Software from a company like Symantec (not free antivirus from your ISP or Free AVG)
* You are current with your Windows Updates
* You can get to the website www.symantec.com

With that said, there are also important details about this infection that you should know to help keep your friends and relatives safe as well.

Dancho Danchev posted on ZDNet yesterday about 21 websites that were successfully gaming Google Video and using the service as a delivery vehicle for malware.

The whose scheme is a simple black hat concept. The attackers are using 21 domains to host pages containing YouTube video content. When the Google bot comes to crawl the sites, it sees the videos and ranks them in the Google search results.

This is where the magic happens.

Today Microsoft will be pushing out a critical Windows Update designed to seal the browser vulnerability that as been gaining fame in the national media over the past few days.

In the past several hours that attack has also expanded to include the distribution of rouge anti-virus programs like XP Antivirus 2009 and similar variants.