Comment Re:Method of infection (Score 1) 104
A number of years ago, I encountered a fake Microsoft security warning while using my Linux computer. It said that Microsoft had detected viruses and spyware on my computer. This was on a Linux computer that did not have any Microsoft products installed on it.
It offered to do a free online scan of my hard drive. Despite clicking on No, a progress bar appeared as it started to do a fake scan of my hard drive. After about 60 seconds, it said that it had finished scanning my drive C. It then said that several different viruses and types of spyware had been detected in both my registry and on drive C. The funny thing is that Linux does not have a registry and also does not use drive letters to designate hard drive partitions.
It listed the names of several viruses that my Linux computer was supposedly infected with. Despite knowing that the test was bogus, I looked up those virus names out of curiosity, and found they were all Windows only viruses. Their scareware ad then offered to sell me their antivirus product, to remove the viruses and spyware.
My understanding is that most desktop users of Linux, have never felt the need to use antivirus software, because Linux viruses have never been a problem.
Despite their supposedly thorough scan of my registry and drive C, they had not noticed that I was not using Windows. Has anyone bothered yet to make a Linux version of their scareware ads?