Beware of this Fake Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials is one of the top 5 free antivirus software, without a doubt. However, there is a rogue security product out there which wrongfully claims to be “Microsoft Security Essentials”, and has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft.

This malware is distributed via drive-by-download attacks by the names hotfix.exe or mstsc.exe (md5: 0a2582f71b1aab672ada496074f9ce46). Check out how real it looks

Not often we see a rogue software/malware using a branded name, specially of Microsoft. It also features a bizarre matrix display of 32 antivirus products, offering you to locate a tool that would be capable of fixing your machine as “Microsoft Security Essentials” can’t clean the malware it found. Like with any other scareware, the infection it points to is fake as well.

As you can see from the image above, this fake MSE tool found an (non-existing) unknown Win32/Trojan which it can’t fix, but only 5 of the 32 security software have a solution. No wonder, all these five security tools (AntiSpySafeguard, Major Defense Kit, Peak Protection, Pest Detector and Red Cross) it points to are fake as well!

So, beware of this fake Microsoft Security Essentials tool which will try to scare you into purchasing a product you don’t need. Don’t fall for it. I can’t wait to see how long it takes for Microsoft to track down and sue those behind this rogueware.

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