Rogue AV claims to send money to environmental causes

'Green AV' best added to blacklist to avoid red faces.

In an attempt to lure users into buying it, the rogue anti-malware product Green AV claims to send US$2 per purchased product to the Amazon rainforest.

Like similar pieces of software, Green AV uses legitimate end-user concerns about malware and spyware to try and persuade people buy it. However, as an added 'bonus', it claims to send 2 dollars to environmental causes for each product purchased.

Unlike other rogue anti-virus products, Green AV does not offer a free trial, instead requiring users to pay right away. It does not make the product any less fake though, and users who have bought the product could find themselves infected with other malware.

More at Websense here.

A panel discussion at the VB2009 conference later this month will discuss the question of whether rogue anti-malware erodes users' trust in legitimate anti-virus software. Information on registering for the conference, which takes place 23-25 September in Geneva, is here.

03 September 2009

Tags: cybercrime, malware, rogue anti-malware, social engineering. del.icio.us digg this

6 comments

Hi<<<<

it.s very intresting ,and its a new way

thanx for who dide this ...

and i hope that i well tray one of thos programe..

regard

by Suhail Alhameli, 09 September 2009, 19:12

Green AV is malware, removing it from my infected machine was a complete pain

by Bruce Burns, 11 September 2009, 16:23

I have seen this on a couple of different customers machine, They also had worms, trojans and rootkits. The Green AV is evil.Is there anything that PREVENTS this program. Bitdefender a full paid for version did not do a thing and was disabled. It may not have been Green AV that did this though.

by Daniel L, 13 September 2009, 04:03

I really hate these fake AV's. They make the life of us in IT a pain in the rear!

by Cesar Ramirez, 14 September 2009, 22:18

Is there any way to get Green AV off my computer. Everytime I go onto a site, the actual site comes up but then changes to "reported phishing site". This is a total pain in the butt!!!

by Aggravated, 25 September 2009, 17:09

What I want to know is does the $2 get sent? Pay to get infected, cool.

by shep kohler, 02 October 2009, 17:58