Rogue security software

With the rise of cyber-criminals and a black market with thousands of organizations and individuals trading exploits, malware, virtual assets, and credentials, rogue security software has become one of the most lucrative criminal operations.

People looking for articles on such events on a search engine may encounter results that, upon being clicked, are instead redirected through a series of sites[7] before arriving at a landing page that says that their machine is infected and pushes a download to a "trial" of the rogue program.

[13] Spam messages that include malicious attachments, links to binaries and drive-by download sites are another common mechanism for distributing rogue security software.

Spam emails are often sent with content associated with typical day-to-day activities such as parcel deliveries, or taxation documents, designed to entice users to click on links or run attachments.

Some rogue security software overlaps in function with scareware by also: Sanction by the FTC and the increasing effectiveness of anti-malware tools since 2006 have made it difficult for spyware and adware distribution networks—already complex to begin with[16]—to operate profitably.

[17] Malware vendors have turned instead to the simpler, more profitable business model of rogue security software, which is targeted directly at users of desktop computers.

In contrast, several private initiatives providing discussion forums and lists of dangerous products were founded soon after the appearance of the first rogue security software.

[26] Law enforcement has also exerted pressure on banks to shut down merchant gateways involved in processing rogue security software purchases.

In some cases, the high volume of credit card chargebacks generated by such purchases has also prompted processors to take action against rogue security software vendors.