Step 7: Practice Safe Browsing

Rogue antivirus and scareware typically requires user interaction to get a toe hold on victims’ computers. Users can protect themselves by steering clear of suspicious or merely opaque links (such as the shortened links common on Twitter and other social media platforms). Beware of pop-up ads warning of infections or offering free virus or hard drive scans – these are commonly associated with scareware. If such a message appears, close the pop up window, but do not click within the pop-up ad, and you’ll be less likely to suffer a scareware attack!

Rogue antivirus and scareware typically requires user interaction to get a toe hold on victims’ computers. Users can protect themselves by steering clear of suspicious or merely opaque links (such as the shortened links common on Twitter and other social media platforms). Beware of pop-up ads warning of infections or offering free virus or hard drive scans – these are commonly associated with scareware. If such a message appears, close the pop up window, but do not click within the pop-up ad, and you’ll be less likely to suffer a scareware attack!

BACK

Suggested articles

2020 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch

Mobile becomes a prime phishing attack vector, hackers will increasingly employ machine learning in attacks and cloud will increasingly be seen as fertile ground for compromise.

Top Mobile Security Stories of 2019

Cybercrime increasingly went mobile in 2019, with everything from Apple iPhone jailbreaks and rogue Android apps to 5G and mobile-first phishing dominating the news coverage. Here are Threatpost’s Top 10 mobile security stories of 2019.