Researcher Patrick Jordan put together some statistics on the various Rogues he sees on a daily basis, and I thought it made for some interesting reading.
How are the rogue AV products shaping up in terms of monthly / yearly numbers? Let’s take a look at what Patrick has pulled out of a fiery lake of evil through the years:
Click to Enlarge
No surprises that the new finds keep coming, with the foot really hitting the gas pedal in 2008 and never really letting up. In terms of rogues from various families doing the rounds in 2011 (from the 1st of January to the 31st of March), we have a clear winner:
The PrivacyCenter rogue sweeps all aside, and probably accepts some sort of award for services to scamming people out of their money (Patrick tells me that “MSE stands for Microsoft Security Essentials which is the fake alert used with the MSE extension”). While I’m not a huge fan of long lists, the following long list gives you an idea of the overwhelming nature of so many fake products hitting the net every other day:
1/4/2011 Palladium.FakeRean
1/4/2011 HDDFix.FakeSysDef
1/5/2011 MemoryFixer.FakeSysDef
1/9/2011 DiskOK.FakeSysDef
1/12/2011 GoodMemory.FakeSysDef
1/12/2011 FastDisk.FakSysDef
1/12/2011 WindowsSystemOptimizator
1/15/2011 DiskOptimizer.FakeSysDef
1/17/2011 WindowsOptimization&Security
1/18/2011 MemoryOptimizer.FakeSysDef
1/18/2011 WindowsSecurity&Control
1/20/2011 WindowsUtilityTool
1/21/2011 WindowsScan.FakeSysDef
1/25/2011 WindowsUniversalTool
1/26/2011 Antivirus.Net.FakeSpyPro
1/26/2011 WindowsRiskEliminator
1/27/2011 SmartInternetProtection2011.FakeVimes
1/28/2011 WindowsDisk.FakeSysDef
1/28/2011 AVG-Antivirus.FakeXPA
1/28/2011 WindowsAntispywareSolution
1/28/2011 WindowsShieldCenter
1/31/2011 WindowsHealthCenter
2/1/2011 WindowsProblemsRemover
2/2/2011 WindowsProblemsProtector
2/3/2011 WinDisk.FakeSysDef
2/4/2011 DiskRecovery.FakeSysDef
2/4/2011 InternetSecurity2011.RTK
2/5/2011 WindowsSafetyProtection
2/6/2011 WindowsSoftwareProtection
2/7/2011 PCSecurity2011.FakeSpyPro
2/7/2011 WindowsSoftwareGuard
2/8/2011 WindowsWiseProtection
2/9/2011 AntiViraAV.FakeSpyPro
2/9/2011 WindowsCareTool
2/10/2011 WindowsOptimalSolution
2/11/2011 WindowsOptimalSettings
2/11/2011 AntivirusSystem2011
2/11/2011 InternetSecurityDefender2011
2/14/2011 WindowsProblemsSolution
2/15/2011 WindowsUserSatellite
2/17/2011 WindowsExpressHelp
2/18/2011 WindowsAVSoftware
2/20/2011 WindowsSafetyGuarantee
2/21/2011 InternetSecurityEssentials.FakeVimes
2/21/2011 WindowsOptimalTool
2/22/2011 WindowsExpressSettings
2/22/2011 MegaAntivirus2012
2/23/2011 InternetDefender
2/25/2011 WindowsTool.FakeSysDef
2/25/2011 WindowsPrivacyAgent
2/26/2011 WindowsProcessesOrganizer
2/28/2011 WindowsTroublesAnalyzer
3/1/2011 WindowsPerformanceManager
3/2/2011 AntiMalwareGo.FakeSpyPro
3/2/2011 WindowsEfficiencyManager
3/3/2011 AntiVirusAntiSpyware2011
3/3/2011 XPHomeSecurity.FakeRean
3/3/2011 WindowsDebugSystem
3/5/2011 AntivirusMonitor.FakeSpyPro
3/7/2011 WindowsErrorCorrection
3/8/2011 WindowsDefenceCenter
3/9/2011 WindowsServantSystem
3/10/2011 SystemDefender
3/10/2011 WindowsTroublemakersAgent
3/11/2011 WindowsTroublesRemover
3/13/2011 WindowsDiagnostic.FakeSysDef
3/14/2011 WindowsRemedy
3/16/2011 BestMalwareProtection.FakeVimes
3/16/2011 E-SetAntivirus2011.FakeXPA
3/16/2011 WindowsThreatsRemoving
3/17/2011 WindowsEfficiencyMagnifier
3/18/2011 WindowsSafeMode.FakeSysDef
3/18/2011 SystemDiagnostic.FakeSysDef
3/18/2011 WindowsEmergencySystem
3/21/2011 CleanThis.FakeRean
3/21/2011 WindowsSupportSystem
3/22/2011 WindowsLowlevelSolution
3/23/2011 WindowsRecovery.FakeSysDef
3/23/2011 WindowsBackgroundProtector
3/24/2011 WindowsSimpleProtector
3/25/2011 WindowsPowerExpansion
3/26/2011 MSRemovalTool
3/28/2011 WindowsExpansionSystem
3/29/2011 WindowsRepair.FakeSeysDef
3/30/2011 WindowsProcessRegulator
3/31/2011 WindowsStabilityCenter
Pretty crazy. As always, if you happen to find yourself on a website with flashing infection alerts and constant offers to download a “security program”, ignore the prompts, don’t fill in any information and run the other way.
Thanks Patrick.
Christopher Boyd