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The economy is booming in the rogue security software sector this year. PandaLabs reports that malware posing as antivirus software is spreading fast, with tens of millions of computers infected each month. Over the course of this year, they predict that that there will be up to 637,000 variants of bogus security software available, infecting as many as 35 million computers each month.

Essentially a rogue security program convinces the user that their computer is infected with malware, when it's really not, and the user agrees to install the software to remove the nonexistent threat. The duped user pays between $29 and $79, earning cybercriminals approximately $34 million per month through rogueware attacks.

What to look for in rogue software

• Their design is convincingly similar to real antivirus software
• Rogue antivirus programs often display more "alerts" like fake pop-up warnings or messages in the task bar
• Your system is scanned quickly and without your consent - something a legitimate software vendor would never do
• The ‘infections’ detected often refer to different files on each scan
• High-pressure sales copy to buy RIGHT NOW!
• Changes to the operating system that prevent you from restoring the desktop or screensaver

How to prevent infection with rogue software

• Use a safe browser. Many people prefer Firefox.
• Keep your antivirus and antispyware updated and install WOT
• Be careful in downloading freeware or shareware programs
• Avoid using file sharing (P2P) applications
• Don't click on any pop-up that advertises antivirus software

If you have been infected, visit Free PC Security for help.

Do you have any other tips or something you want to share about this plague of fake antivirus software? Let us know.

Panda Security, the world's leading provider of cloud-based security solutions, and WOT Services Ltd., the developer of the world's leading community-based website rating service Web of Trust (WOT), are pleased to announce a partnership today to deliver a safer Web search experience through their new co-branded version of WOT.

The Panda-WOT partnership gives WOT's 5 million members added protection with up-to-the-minute information on malware distributors, phishing threats and dangerous domains detected by Panda Labs. You'll know it's from Panda when you see the Panda avatar as a trusted source on a WOT scorecard. WOT users will also receive special offers for extended trials of Panda anti-virus products periodically. Panda customers can complement their virus protection with WOT's safe browser tool from the Panda-WOT download site. By joining forces, both companies hope to attract new users and make searching, shopping, and browsing on the Internet a safer experience.

“As we did with Collective Intelligence, we trust in the power of the community to improve the safety of the user, that’s why we believe WOT is the best tool to help get safe surfing through the Internet”, said Panda Security’s CEO Juan Santana.

"We are excited to have Panda, a respected security company, as a partner in our goal to make the Internet a safer place for everyone," said Against Intuition's CEO Esa Suurio. "WOT prides itself in providing frontline protection in the battle against online threats, and with this strong collaboration between Panda Security and Web of Trust we have strengthened both our products and given our users a definite advantage against cybercrime."

WOT users can try Panda Internet Security 2010 free for one month. Learn more about this offer on Panda Security for WOT members.

Here are some scorecards with the new Panda trusted source:

• http://www.mywot.com/scorecard/sapiensautomacao.com.br
• http://www.mywot.com/scorecard/adarshpolytechnic.com
• http://www.mywot.com/scorecard/d.mundo-descargas.com

Read the Press Release

Comments on WOT scorecards have proven to be popular and useful, but sometimes they can be troublesome. People are motivated to write comments by their own reasons; either they had an experience on a site they loved or one that they hated. Comments are usually very positive or very negative – sometimes about the same site. The point being that more information can sometimes complicate matters and muddle a decision. On the other hand, comments provide important information. See what I mean about getting muddled?

One of the problems is that not everyone leaving comments is being sincere. Comments can be misleading, contradictory and confusing.  The accuracy, completeness or reliability of the information is not guaranteed. The person who writes the most convincing comments might be wrong or is trying to scam you. That’s social engineering at work. Then there are the random comments and meaningless rants. What does “This site sucks” really tell you?

When writing your comments, please consider the following:

• Be objective and truthful. Useful comments include not only whether you liked or disliked a site, service or product, but also why.

• Differentiate between the technical safety of the site and the content

• Support your assertions or statements

• Try to keep it short, but focused

Avoid these:

• Obscenities, discriminatory language or other language not suitable for a public forum

• Advertisements or  "spam" content

• Email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses or other forms of contact information

• Critical or spiteful comments on other comments posted on the page or their authors

Examples of good comments:

I bought a puppy from this site 9 years ago and the service and caring that they showed was above and beyond. This is NOT a puppy mill. They are true Siberian Husky lovers with great dogs. Very professional and extremely caring about their pups. ~ from scorecard

I use this website to broadcast my internet radio show. If you are looking for fun then this is one of the sites you should check out. This one is on my list of good websites. There is nothing really financial going on aside from some Pay to View things but that is all managed by Stickam. ~ from scorecard

The directions are simple, sometimes to the point of not containing enough information, but I've experienced with recipes similar to these and they turned out well. If there are multiple alternative sets of ingredients that may be used for a dish, those alternatives are listed, too. ~ from scorecard

Startpage, powerd by Ixquick, is the world's most private search engine. It's the same Ixquick engine many of us have been using, with a new easier-to-remember name. WOT is happy to support Startpage and provide safety ratings for all the search results.

Startpage is a meta-search engine that does NOT record your IP address or use Unique ID cookies, which gives people concerned about privacy issues something to cheer about. Because of their privacy safeguards, Ixquick/Startpage was awarded the first European Privacy Seal, and became the first and only EU-approved search engine.

Try the Startpage search engine today.

America's Digital Goddess, Kim Komando, recommends WOT to help avoid malicious websites. This is a big deal because Kim Komando is a popular radio personality with a syndicated show on over 450 stations across the USA. She also writes a syndicated newspaper column, which runs in USA Today and USA Today.com.

We are thrilled that Kim is helping us spread the word about WOT to her loyal fans. Please visit her site and let her know that you are part of the awesome WOT community helping make the Internet safer for everyone.

Articles about WOT on Kim's website:

Easily avoid malicious Web sites

5 free programs to prevent PC problems

Last week's launch of Firefox 3.5 has been highly successful, and to help Mozilla celebrate, we have created the Surf Safer and Smarter by WOT collection on their new add-on collections. A collection is a group of related add-ons that anyone can create to share with others.

Please subscribe to our collection, and if you have any suggestions of great add-ons that help make browsing, searching and shopping on the Internet safer and smarter, please let us know and we'll add them to the collection. So far we've included:

• Web of Trust
• Adblock Plus
• Xmarks
• Better Privacy
• Surf Canyon

Add-ons may not be compatible with your system, so please check the details first. Firefox 3.5 is a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Microsoft's Bing, the search engine formally known as Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search, has garnered lots of attention lately (and a bit of market share too.) WOT supports Bing search results with our ratings, in addition to supporting other popular search engines.

Porn made easy

Recent criticisms of Bing say that it's making searching for porn too easy. Bing has a feature called Smart Motion Previews which provides video previews in the search results, which is great in concept, but it doesn't know the difference between a video of sleeping puppies and porn. Any motivated middle schooler can easily turn off Bing's SafeSearch and watch porn for hours without ever visiting a porn site.

Kim Komando suggests blocking Bing until Microsoft comes up with a solution. For people attempting to surf porn at work, Microsoft has published instructions for a workaround that will make it harder to access porn from their work PCs.

What is your opinion? Vote in our poll.

ESET security researchers are warning people of a massive spam campaign related to fireworks and Independence Day that will be used this holiday weekend to trick people into visiting malicious websites.

The Waledac botnet, estimated at tens of thousands of infected computers, are expected to send out links to videos of Independence Day fireworks which hide new copies of Waledac malware. ESET says that many antivirus programs do not detect this type of viruses, so, as always, do not open any links in unsolicited email. Read the report.