Rogue antivirus products have been afflicting unsuspecting users for years now. Some actively plant malware while pretending to remove it. Others run a quick fake scan on the system and report dozens of spurious threats, threats that can only be removed if you pay the product's significant registration fee. But the latest, a nasty fake defragmenter discovered by researchers at CyberDefender Research Labs, is even worse.
The rogue software gets onto your system through a malicious web site introduced into search results using a technique called SEO (Search Engine Optimization)poisoning. If your system isn't protected, just clicking the poisoned link is enough to get the malicious software installed.
According to CyberDefender's research team, "System Defragmenter pretends to be an optimization program that will scan the hard drive to fix any memory problems and hard disk errors the machine may have." After it runs, trying to launch any program or shortcut on the desktop will just show the error message "Scan Hard Drive". The hard drive scan finishes with a warning that the drive has errors that can only be fixed if the user purchases the full program. And, according to CyberDefender, the payment page isn't actually secure but includes a fake "verified" green address bar.
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