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My father was looking forward to my visit during Christmas vacation, not only because he wanted to reunite with his only child, but because he wanted me to fix his computer. I consider myself an average computer user, but he calls me his "computer guru." Thanks to all I have been exposed to concerning computer security, I put that moniker to the test.

Poor old dad uses his computer daily for his digital art, but during a recent move he let his antivirus software expire. His machine started getting popups, browser redirects and his inbox was inundated with spam, causing him much distress and difficulty while working. Frightening warnings appeared on the screen notifying him of viruses, which he was sure he must have. Unfortunately, he fell for one of the rouge antivirus products in the 2009-antispyware family and ordered it with his credit card. After paying $59.95, he still got all that annoying stuff, plus alarming reports every 5 seconds saying that his machine was infected. Needless to say, he was furious!

It took some work, but we managed to get his computer clean of the rogue software with the help of Malwarebytes’ Anti-malware. Thanks to Colin at Free PC Security and WOT users for introducing me to that.

Dad's new ISP had a free McAfee suite available for subscribers in his tier, so we installed it, updated the database and ran a scan. Then we made sure all other software was updated by running a Secunia scan to check for vulnerabilities. And to keep his Internet surfing safer we installed Web of Trust.

I feel confident now that he is protected, but I left detailed instructions on how to use these tools, plus I will email him with reminders. I earned the title "computer guru" this time.

Meanwhile, Daddy is anxiously awaiting his credit card bill and is ready to refuse payment and report this rogue company. I sure hope he gets some satisfaction.

I hear about these cases all the time and I even made a video about it for WOT, but to come face to face with a real occurrence of this type of fraud was eye-opening. My elderly dad is on a fixed income and can't afford to spend money foolishly. His computer is his lifeline out to the broader world now that he's retired, and he felt violated and hurt when he realized he was ripped off. I was happy to read Esa's posting about the FTC's restraining order for sellers of "scareware."

Thank you friends of WOT for helping me help my dad. Together we must keep up the struggle for a safer Internet for everyone.

More than 6 months ago we saw a new fast emerging security threat: fake security software. The sellers of these systems scare Internet users by running a "scan" looking for security problems, and reporting false evidence of viruses, spyware and illegal pornography. The unaware user is then led to a page where he or she needs to buy a license of the bogus software to remove the non-existing problems.

We are are delighted to see that the the US government has moved to shut down sellers of fake security software. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has won a restraining order that stops several sellers of "scareware" from continuing to trade.

Millions of people are thought to have been caught out by these fake security products: WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus - familiar names to active WOT members. Read the full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7779223.stm

We are celebrating two million downloads with a Fantastically Creative WOT logo contest. Create an original logo for WOT in the Google style, and you could win a $100 gift card from Amazon.com.
 
You have seen the clever and cute Google logos. They use their original logo and build a story around it using the season of the year, an event, birthday or even a good idea.
 
For this contest, be inspired by Google, but don't copy one of their designs. Use the WOT logo and design your own story. Our jury of esteemed judges will choose the best one and the lucky winner will have 100 bucks to spend on anything you like!
 
Fantastically Creative WOT logo contest rules

1. The contest is open to all registered WOT users.
2. Respond to this posting with your entry. You can use the image tag to add it here, or send us a link to see it.
3. Submit the link to your entry by midnight December 31, 2008 to the comments section of this blog. By participating in the Fantastically Creative WOT logo contest , you give us permission to use the material in our marketing efforts.
4. The WOT panel will select one winner who will receive a US $100 gift card from Amazon.com. Winners will be announced on our blog and notified by email no later than January 9, 2009.

Google developers have started to make good on their promise of adding extensions to their Chrome browser.They have some catching up to do, but they have jump-started their work on extension support for Chrome by releasing a document that outlines a plan. Among the initial add-ons they want to support is WOT!

According to the document, the Chrome extension system will have to be open, 'webby', rich, general, stable, secure and maintainable and offer support for five types of extensions:

• Bookmarking/navigation tools: Delicious Toolbar, Stumbleupon, web-based history, new tab page clipboard accelerators
• Content enhancements: Skype extension (clickable phone numbers), RealPlayer extension (save video), Autolink (generic microformat data - addresses, phone numbers, etc.)
• Content filtering: Adblock, Flashblock, Privacy control, Parental control
• Download helpers: video helpers, download accelerators, DownThemAll, FlashGot
• Features: ForecastFox, FoxyTunes, Web Of Trust, GooglePreview, BugMeNot

Could it be a redo of Firefox, and to some extent Internet Explorer? (Yes, they also have add-ons for IE. What? You didn't know?! Imagine that...) With no timeline for delivery, we'll just have to sit back and wait. It will be hard, but we're sure it will be worth it!

Read the press release

As the holidays approach,  be on alert for increased phishing attempts by Scrooges who attempt to infect your machine or steal your personal information.

Infected Christmas greetings

Websense Security Labs has issued a warning of an e-greetings campaign which sends you an animated greeting card that actually leads to a Trojan backdoor enabling access and control over the resources of your compromised machine. The spoofed email messages appear as though they have been sent from postcards.org.  A URL link within the email leads to a malicious file called postcard.exe.

TIP: Suspect a scam if  the greeting card doesn't address you by name or the card sender's name isn't included in the body of the email. Never open a card from a generic name or someone you don't know. If the card requires that you install a special viewer or tries to download a file to your system, treat it like a trojan. Cancel the download and scan your system with up to date antivirus software. Don't reply using the email you received - the From address just might be bogus.

Spoofed package delivery notifications

Be on the lookout for phony FedEx and UPS e-mails describing a package delivery waiting for you. The fake emails have been reported to contain a trojan that disables firewalls, steals sensitive financial data (credit card numbers, online banking login details), makes screen snapshots, downloads additional components and provides a hacker with remote access to the compromised system.

TIP: Large companies like UPS don’t send you an executable in a zip file and rarely include attachments. FedEx and UPS tracking is done online on their website. 

Holiday screensavers and games

Parents should be especially careful as many kids are home from school and busily downloading lots of Santa screen savers, holiday puzzles and games or reindeer ringtones. Many free screensavers, at a minimum, cause unwanted pop up advertising.

TIP:Check the WOT ratings on screensaver and game sites.