Malware Creators Use Hosts File

This post was written by admin on February 21, 2009
Posted Under: Free PC Security, malware

We are used to coming across malware sites with rogue programs such as antivirus2009 which promise to clean your computer of all defects that it finds, and the fake scan will find hundreds of problems on the cleanest of machines.

The malware vendors rely upon 'scare' tactics and the unwary user will purchase this rogueware only to find that they are out of pocket and their computer is infected with malware.

It is a very lucrative business for the vendors, users paying anything from $29 USD to $99 USD by credit card, this leaves them at risk of ID Theft and Fraud and stuck with an infected piece of malware.

Now though, the vendors have found a new approach via the Hosts file! The rogue software modifies the Hosts in such a way that users get redirected to what appear to be genuine sites such as Cnet, zdnet, pcadvisor and more.

There are further details of how this works on TechJaws