Avast Exposes Malware-Infected Subscription Traps

Of recent, Avast held a number of websites responsible for circulating contentious software tools and enticing software applications and misleading naïve users into downloading malware in their systems, reports softpedia on March 8, 2012.

In a so-called "button solution," the German Federal Government have decided to issue a law against internet scammers circulating infected subscription traps, on the first week of March 2012. Researchers at Avast revealed that sites like www.software-und-tools.de are often deceiving ignorant surfers and trapping them with huge sum in the hack of freeware program.

Till the law is legally extended to a large number of fraud sites that bind their products with unwanted toolbars and other features, Avast is certain to claim these downloads as malware-infected.

The website winload.de is an ideal example of a site relying upon such schemes serving illicit content. Downloading an application without verifying the checkboxes fixed above the download button results into ruining one's whole PC. As a result, the user unknowingly modifies the default search engine in the Internet browser and changes the homepage of the user too.

On successful installation of the malware-infected toolbar, an operator is sufficed to install all malevolent updates on the affected PC, ranging from sending notification to the user collecting location-based data, adding a different "page not found" functionality, and also collecting information from the internaut's social network account.

Though the customer is informed with the message in the toolbar for successful installation, but the message is a simple message and does not attempt to leave any impression upon the user.

However, it is revealed that the provider of the toolbar uses the new rights as evident from the retaining ability of the toolbar and the browser settings. On properly uninstalling the malware-infected toolbar and the downloaded toolbar, the changed browser-settings are retained. Nevertheless, the uninstallation of the toolbar using the provided uninstaller remained unsuccessful in Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

German users are not the only victims of these kinds of scams. Users across the globe can be an easy target in this toll.

Thus, it is imperative that till the further decision of the state authorities are made towards combating this phenomenon, internauts are recommended to verify all the checkboxes set above the download button before hurrying into downloading any illegitimate tool.

» SPAMfighter News - 3/17/2012