The US government has moved to shut down sellers of fake security software.
In its legal action the FTC targeted two firms: Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC.
The fake security products the firms were peddling were: WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus.
Wow they act fast. 88) Those malwares are already detected by any AV product since ages ago. The bad guys won’t sit on their hands, they’ll just create new brands. Maybe in a couple of years the gov’ment will have time to take a look at this, 88) but not to the hundreds of frauds that will spawn in the meantime.
From Sunbelt:
[i]At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has issued a temporary halt to a massive “scareware” scheme, which falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers’ computers. According to the FTC, the scheme has tricked more than one million consumers into buying computer security products such as WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus. The court also froze the assets of those responsible for the scheme, to preserve the possibility of providing consumers with monetary redress.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants used an elaborate ruse that duped Internet advertising networks and popular Web sites into carrying their advertisements. The defendants falsely claimed that they were placing Internet advertisements on behalf of legitimate companies and organizations. But due to hidden programming code that the defendants inserted into the advertisements, consumers who visited Web sites where these ads were placed did not receive them. Instead, consumers received exploitive advertisements that took them to one of the defendants’ Web sites. These sites would then claim to scan the consumers’ computers for security and privacy issues. The “scans” would find a host of purported problems with the consumers’ computers and urge them to buy the defendants’ computer security products for $39.95 or more. However, the scans were entirely false.
According to the complaint, the two companies charged in the case – Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC – operate using a variety of aliases and maintain offices in various countries. Innovative Marketing is a company incorporated in Belize that maintains offices in Kiev, Ukraine. ByteHosting Internet Services is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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And it’s about time!! ;D
Cheers,
Josh
Why is FTC mad at cosmetics firms who make rouge? And why are we talking about it here?
That’s good 
the people responciple for XP antivirus had a large chunk of the rogue industry…
Well okay then. Now the FTC needs to make sure they get the case heard before a judge who knows the difference between a mouse and its non-related rodent cousin.
Choking with laughter