Over $100 Billion dollars are robbed from computer users each year! These are well organized Russian mobsters, radical terrorists and sophisicated gangs that are committing these cyber attacks.
The Russian company sells fake anti-virus software that actually takes over your computer and pays their affiliates $5 million a year just to distribute this malware. These dollar amounts are conservative put out by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
One of our computers was attacked a while back and I wrote this post about it. This anti-virus software looks just like the Microsoft security logo, down to the colors and all. It took me days to get rid of this culprit.
The first thing to remember is to NEVER pay for this anti-virus. Now they have become so clever that even Microsoft is surprised as this malware is now coming into your computer making it look like you have a Microsoft update. The goal is to steal your money. If you get so frustrated to just pay them their fee to make it go away, don't give into your frustration. The $49.95 is just the hook to get your credit card number and personal info about you so they can get your money and credit.
Brad Andersohn's wife had this bugger attack her computer and it has in just these past few months from the time I was attacked to the time she was attacked been so much more highly developed that Brad was not even able to get AVG downloaded in safe mode. I sent him directions on how to get rid of the virus but they no longer worked. That is how fast these bad guys figure out a way to keep infecting computers.
As soon as the good guys figure out an antidote, the bad guys find out right away and fight back with another attack. They freeze up your computer. They won't let your real anti virus run. It won't let you do a system restore or even turn off your system restore in safemode.
These bad guys have turned this into a very lucrative underground business. Even Macs are no longer safe according to the security companies. Last year in 2007 10% of all the computers were attacked and this year it is increased to 15%. Pandalabs says that over 10 million computers are then being used to spread these viruses and malware over the Internet every day. Microsoft monitored just in the past 6 months a 43% increase in malware being removed from Windows systems.
On November 11th, the amount of spam being sent which is the biggest carrier of the malware dropped by half around the world when an Internet Service provider cut off Mycolo Corp, an American company with Russian ties and shut them down on the Internet. Unfortunately, these successes are not for very long because they just figure out another way.
The criminals are very organized and they are International because there is a lot of money to be made.Stay safe:
- Protect your business and your private information. Keep your antivirus running at all times.
- Turn off your computers at night and when you are not using them.
- Do not open anything that you do not know who the sender is.
- Do not go to sites that are sleezy or criminal type.
- Use an online back up system, here is a post about the one we use.
Based on our own experience and those we know in the computer industry, choose a top rated anti virus like AVG. We use AVG and it even checks the websites that come up in your searches. They give it a green check mark if the site is safe. Do not visit any sites that do not have the green check mark. But use the paid version of AVG not he Free version. Don't skimp with your protection. Use Firefox for your web browser. Here is a post I wrote about Firefox and why you should use Firefox.
Disclaimer:The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. Wellington Homes Blog does not guarantee or is any way responsible for its accuracy, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Entries on Wellington Homes Blog represent the opinions and ideas of the author(s). Wellington Homes Blog does not express the views of International Properties and Investments, Inc or those of the broker.
Warning! The Bad Guys Are Faster Than The Good Guys! Watch Your Computers by Katerina Gasset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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