AVGAntivirus2011 is BAD!!!! 2

[2ffat]

Nope. That's not a slam on AVG. It's a slam on some new malware that mimics AVG's antivirus product. You can read about it on InfoWorld and Microsoft.

*Sign! It's never ending.


James P. Cottingham
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[MakeItSo]

That's bad indeed!
I wonder how many ingenuous people fell / will fall victim to this b*tard.


[navy]"We had to turn off that service to comply with the CDA Bill."[/navy]
- The Bastard Operator From Hell

 

[Noway2]

Unfortunately it probably wouldn't help the Window's masses but one thing that is common in the Linux realm is the concept of digitally signing software with GPG keys as well as SHA-1 and MD5 sums. While not a perfect system, as long as you can verify that the software signer is legit and their key hasn't been compromised, you can be certain you don't download a version containing a Trojan.

For some reason whenever I mention this to our major software vendors, they look at me like just got off the boat from some foreign place and I'm still speaking that language.

 

[guitarzan]

Yikes. I still have users who think "AntiVirus2011" as legitimate... now malware that mimics the same antivirus I recommend to some of them... company logo and all.

Thanks for the heads-up, 2ffat. Hadn't heard of this one until now.

 

[electricpete]

I just got hit by "Antivira AV".

I wanted to sleep late on my day off, but my wife woke me up because the darned thing wouldn't let her do anything ... just kept asking for credit card to install the alleged anti-virus software. When opened internet explorer it hijacked to a proxy site that gave the same warning. Firefox had some other problem. Anything that was launched was taken over by this thing (including task manager to try to fined it and shut it off).

I had to go on another computer to google to find the solution that worked for me. Right-click on the program's message and view properties... tells you the name of the offending *.exe. Then reboot and comeback in safe mode and delete it and purge recycle bin. Now at least you have control of your pc back.

Sorry for venting or being a little off-topic. This is a rare occasion that I have something to contribute and apparently problem successfuly solved (I have since re-installed legitimate a/v software that had lapsed and now running virus scan).

 

[geeknerd]

I have AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011. So this is a fake antivirus acting like AVG ?

 

[guitarzan]

No. There is malware that impersonates the legitimate AVG product. If you installed AVG 2011, then you are fine.

If AVG 2011 magically appearedout of thin air, or if you are being told to "click here to buy the full version", then you probably have the malware variant.

 

[GlenJohnson]

I stumbled across it myself. Luckily, I didn't install it, it just didn't feel right.

http://www.freeavg.com/

Here is the real site. I've installed it on several of my clients pc's as well as mine. Good luck.

Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.
Benjamin Franklin

 

[goombawaho]

I've installed it on several of my clients pc's as well as mine."

Hopefully you only install the FREE version on non-business customers as per the EULA for AVG Free. Wink wink.

 

[jlockley]

I think this is the same or a similar issue.

http://www.infoworld.com/t/malware/...vg-150?source=IFWNLE_nlt_firstlook_2011-02-02

In this case I did not install anything, but the warning from a trusted virus came up. There ware two separate incidents. The first took out my main drive and caused considerable damage to my data structure.
I like Electropete's suggestion of identifying the source, but I believe that time is of the essence when this occurs. Any action on the window including closing it (But not of shutting down all programs w/ task manager) seems to initiate the activity.