Virus and malware infections. researches and warnings

"Access to your computer was denied" browser piracy virus removal instructions

The message, "Access to your computer was denied. Illegally downloaded music tracks (in other words, 'pirated copies') have been detected on your PC", appears when browsing the Internet and is a scam. It is a ransomware virus that affects Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari. This rogue pop-up is created by cyber criminals in the hope that unsuspecting Internet users will fall for the fake message and pay a $100 USD or 100 Euro bogus fine using Paysafecard. The fine is purportedly for the user having pirated copies of music files (that were supposedly detected) on their computers. In fact, paying this fine is equivalent to sending money directly to cyber criminals.

Today, whilst testing new malware and fake antivirus samples, a 'great' idea occurred to me. Remember that trick when you hit CTRL+A and ENTER on your friend's computer? All programs, files, shortcuts, and everything else on the desktop are executed simultaneously. When this occurs, the only way to return the system to normal is to restart the computer.

The Idea - What if we do the same with many fake antivirus programs?

This was blowing my mind all day, so I finally decided to take the challenge and do the test. I prepared my old Intel P4 computer with 512 MB of RAM, restored it with a fresh install, and checked that it was in perfect working order.

Meet the participants - Fake antiviruses

After spending some time searching for various fake antivirus samples, I selected 14 participants. These were fake antivirus programs that attempt to scare users into buying full versions by displaying bogus warnings and errors. Some were old versions, some more recent. Before starting the test, I scanned all samples with AVG Antivirus Free Edition. One fake antivirus was not detected by AVG, despite ensuring AVG was running with the latest updates.

Rogue programs, fake antiviruses, fake security scans, fake antispyware, etc. are one of the most popular infections today.

When encountering many of the above software packages, most users believe they are genuine security products and do a good job. And of course, most of those users go on to enter their credit card details to 'purchase' one of these antivirus programs. Unfortunately, there is high probability that the user is then charged considerably more than the price declared in the shopping cart. Over a period of time, these rogue antivirus and antispyware programs have gain an increasingly professional appearance - many even attempt to imitate the interface of legitimate antivirus or antispyware products. These programs are often derived from families, so that an identical program may adopt many names. For example, 'Windows Recovery', 'Windows XP Recovery', 'Windows Diagnostic', 'Windows Vista Recovery' are names representing a single rogue program.

When you surf the Internet, be very careful. I'll keep saying that again and again. There are of course, many popular online 'scanners' that claim to scan your computer for viruses and spyware infections. These scans, however, are fake and attempt to scare PC users for illegal purposes. Do not believe these online scans, especially if you have not specifically requested one.

Wait a minute! This is important - we check your devices - Recognise this message?  This is one of the most popular fake online spyware and virus scanners.

When you open the web page of this scanner, a javascript message pops-up. It reports that your computer contains various infections and the system requires immediate checking.

When you press OK, the web page imitates the 'My Computer' folder by displaying local hard disks, documents, folders, etc. These hard drive and document folders appear identically to all visitors of the website and do not represent real your computer configuration. To less-experienced users, however, this may appear threatening and scary.