Warning: Fake Microsoft Security Essentials Spreads

Microsoft has warned the public of the new scareware spreading the Internet which mimicked Microsoft Security Essential Suite. The rogue anti-malware tells the user that the system if infected with a lot of viruses and spyware and then asks the user to pay for a fee for the purchase of a full version of Microsoft Security Essentials. However, Microsoft Security Essentials are given free to genuine Microsoft users.

The fake “Security Essentials 2010″ claims to unlock removal and cleaning functionality if the user will pay up. Actually filling out this information puts a user at risk of fraud (stolen credit card details) and of course, identity theft. The malware changes the users’ Desktop background, alerting that “YOUR SYSTEM IS INFECTED”. “System has been stopped due to a serious malfunction. Spyware activation has been detected.”

Microsoft Malware Protection center have identified it as Trojan:Win32/Fakeinit. Fakeinit’s downloader not only installs the fake scanner component – it also monitors other running processes and attempts to terminate the ones it doesn’t like, claiming that they are infected.

Here’s a picture of the fake MS Security Essentials compared to the original one:

Moreover, the rogue security essentials lowers a number of security settings in the registry, and changes the desktop background to display the message that your computer has been infected with a virus.

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