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Security Breaking News: Celebrity death = scareware

#50 | 1:37 |

Breaking news tutorials

Friday September 18, 2009

Hackers and creators of

spyware and malware

are always ready to prey on unsuspecting users. When searching on information for highly searched and sensitive topics, like the

death of actor Patrick Swayze

, some of the results pages you find will be false ones. On these pages they use "scareware" to try to shock you into buying an anti-virus product you don't need or worse. Often, this "anti-virus" software is actually malware.

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Show Notes

- McAfee's Avertlabs Announcement

- While searching for information on

Patricky Swayze

or other celebrities, some of the results you get are false.

- These phoney sites will provide you with information, but they'll also try to scare you into purchasing software.

- A realistic window will pop-up telling you you're infected and that you need to download and purchase a product right away in order to protect yourself.

- This type of sales tactic is called "scareware".

- Wikipedia on Scareware

- When searching on information on any topic you should always try to pick a trusted source.

- In addition, if you can't find a trusted source, don't be lured into buying something because of scare tactics.

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