I have seen many different viruses pose to be a security suite on a users machine, requesting them to put in their credit card info and preventing them from surfing the Internet until they do. This practice is not new, but I think this is the first time I have seen a virus mimic a current security software to instate some credibility into their scam.
At the Windows Team Blog Eric Foster is reporting about a trojan that takes a page from these other well known scams and puts it’s own twist on it. It actually mimics Microsoft’s free AV Solution, Microsoft Security Essentials except it prompts the user to install other security software and requests a credit card number.
Has Microsoft reached general acceptance of their security suite, enough for malware writers to start exploiting the name and the design? Should companies like McAfee be worried? I think so.