The US State of Washington and Microsoft have instituted a number of legal actions against vendors of 'Scareware' under the Computer Spyware Act. Alleged security programs are increasingly bombarding innocent PC users with fake messages detailing putative threats or infections. Advertisement

The aim of companies selling scareware programs is to persuade computer users to buy the full version of anti-virus, anti-spyware or similar software. The reported threats are not genuine, and the programs on offer won't provide the promised protection.

Attorney general Rob McKenna and lawyers from Microsoft's Internet Safety Enforcement team are currently pursuing actions against Texan company Branch Software, which attempts to encourage sales of its "Registry Cleaner XP" software using targeted popups containing false information. "We won't tolerate the use of alarmist warnings or deceptive 'free scans' to trick consumers into buying software to fix a problem that doesn't even exist," McKenna said.


Comment:Here is another update on the lawsuit against the creators of all that scareware (ie., Antivirus XP 2008, Registry Cleaner XP, etc.) that has infected so many users and cost consumers unknown amounts of their hard earned dollars. Good to see that Microsoft is going after these guys.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 16:54

The National Cyber Security Alliance and Symantec Corp. Focus on Upping
America's Cyber Defenses at Start of National Cyber Security Awareness
Month

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A large number of
Americans still fail to use basic Internet security tools and there remains
a substantial gap between the protections people think they have and what
is actually installed on their computers, according to a new cyber security
study released by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Symantec,
makers of Norton security software.

The NCSA-Symantec Online Safety Study found that more than 80 percent
of Americans claim to have a firewall -- designed to prevent hackers and
criminals from stealing personal information -- installed on their
computer. Yet, in reality only 42 percent had adequate firewall protection
according to the study, which combined polling and computer checkups
performed by Symantec's PC Help by Norton. Americans do seem to have heeded
the computer virus warnings as 95 percent of those checked had anti-virus
software installed.

"As we begin National Cyber Security Month, this national study of
America's cyber security protections provides us with a critical baseline
of understanding of how we conduct ourselves and protect ourselves online,"
said NCSA Executive Director Michael Kaiser. "Great strides have been made
but our citizens, economy and national infrastructure will remain at
unnecessary risk until every computer user in America has anti-virus,
anti-spyware and firewall software on their computers."

On the bright side, users' perceptions matched closely with reality in
the realm of anti-spyware software. The study revealed virtually no
difference between the percentage of Americans who had anti-spyware
software installed (82 percent) and the percentage that said they had it
installed (83 percent). Still, close to one-fifth of all users are not
running adequate spyware defenses. Spam filters, however, were a different
story. Seventy-five percent of poll respondents said they were using spam
filters, compared to only 52 percent who had them installed to prevent
unwanted email.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 09:36