Rogue Antivirus Scan Program infections

The IT Service Center has seen a large amount of systems coming in due to a Rogue Virus Scan program infection. These applications are designed in making the user feel they have a virus infection and that they need to run a scan using their software. Some of these applications are even made to look like Norton, McAfee, Windows, etc applications, but they are not legitimate. Many of these applications need interaction to install as with a browser plug-in, an infected email attachment, video codec’s, and software shared on peer to peer networks. There have been an increase in; what is referred as, drive-by downloads which exploit security vulnerabilities.
The drive-by downloads are able to install the rogue application without user’s interaction. Going to an infected web site or even the flash advertisements that pop up on legitimate sites can be utilized to spread the rogue applications. Just moving your mouse over a flash player video could be enough to cause an infection.
Please make sure that you have the latest Windows Security updates and also the latest Adobe Flash* player installed. If you are using other browsers (Firefox, Safari, etc) other than IE, make sure you have the latest patches for them also.
One of the main tools that technicians are using to scan, detect, and remove these rogue applications is Malwarebytes. This is a free application for personal systems found at www.malwarebytes.org . Some infections are too severe for even Malware bytes to remove and the user may need to backup their data and reinstall their Operating System. The reinstallation of operating systems is outside the scope of service for ITS. You will need to work with your vendor or local repair centers.

*For the latest Flash Player, go to: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer and uncheck the “Also Install” Free…optional application and click the “Agree and Install now” button.

For Truman Owned systems, please report malware infections immediately to the IT Service Center(785-4544).

For students needing further assistance with their personal system, contact our IT Service Center (785-4544) or stop by our IT Service Center in Pickler 203. The Service Center does not perform the removal of malware infections on personal computers but can give advice to point you in the right direction for self removal or local professional assistance.