McAfee- A million 'scareware' victims a day

McAfee: A million 'scareware' victims a day
In an interview (scroll down for podcast), McAfee's director of security research, Dave Marcus, said such programs are "actually worse than useless...It doesn't find what it says it finds and certainly doesn't clean what it doesn't find, the only thing it exists for is scaring you into making this purchase." "They're very clever in their social-engineering tactics,"he said. They often have a "slick Web page" that appears to be from a legitimate company.Marcus said that McAfee offers a free program called Stinger that helps determine if a program is a fake antivirus program. CNET's Download.com also offers several other free virus scanners.On a company blog, McAfee recommends the following:• Before downloading any security software from the Web, get a recommendation from someone you trust who is savvy about Internet security software.• Investigate the company before purchasing its software.• Be careful when responding to pop-up ads.Of course the company also recommends you install reputable anti-malware software and keep it and your other software up-to-date.PodcastYour browser does not support the audio element.Subscribe now:iTunes (audio) |RSS (audio)