Viruses, malicious software, phishing websites are getting so serious, everybody is afraid of getting hit and loosing not only data and personal information, it could also lead to serious monetary loss. Realizing this, hackers are now targeting Firefox users with fake antivirus software that convince users that they should do a Windows Update via a phishing website that very much resembles a legitimate Microsoft Windows Update page.

The attack, discovered by Sophos, is only triggered when a Windows user starts up Firefox. The attack will get pushed through a page redirect. The exact replica of a Windows Update page will then lure users to download an “urgent” 2.8MB update which will start a fake scanner. The number one way to realize that you’re being played a fool by these malicious websites is that it only appears when you run Firefox when indeed Windows Update usually requires Internet Explorer instead.

“Users need to be more vigilant than ever before as bogus security alerts pop-up in their browsers. Fake anti-virus attacks are big business for cybercriminals and they are investing time and effort into making them as convincing as possible. Malicious hackers are using smart social engineering tricks more and more often, and the risk is that users will be scared by a phoney warning into handing over money to fix problems that never existed in the first place.” — Graham Cluley of Sophos.

Of course, if you’re an experienced user who’s been using the computer for years to do things more than watching movies and stalking friends on Facebook, it would take a lot more than such scams to trick you, but with the growing number of computer users around the world, a great number of people might just fall for it.

SOURCE via PC World