Vista Security 2012 is a phony anti-virus program, which uses a variety of malicious advertising strategies in order to force through its fake full version. It is a part of a name-changing group of viruses that started spreading at the beginning of this year. The name of the rogue varies in accordance with the Windows OS used by the victim.
Figure 1. Vista Security 2012 screenshot
Cyber criminals employ corrupted websites and counterfeit online scanners in order to promote their product. Mere clicking through a hacked website, can lead to the download of Trojans, which are the ones who carry the Vista Security 2012 infection. Hence, it is highly advisable to avoid following suspicious links. For the purpose of entering the targeted computer, the Trojans take advantage of vulnerabilities found in its system. Most vulnerabilities are caused by outdated software, therefor it is recommended to keep all your programs up to date. The Trojans sneak into the machines without asking for authorization and immediately bring Vista Security 2012.
The second transmission method used by the rogue consists of counterfeit online scanners. They promise a free scan of the PC, but what they only do is to deliver Vista Security 2012 to the users’ computers. Once inside, the rogue installs itself as a randomly-named executable, which consists of three characters only. Then, a variety of alerts and warnings starts appearing on the victim’s screen. Some of them are:
Vista Security 2012 Firewall Alert
Vista Security 2012 has blocked a program from accessing the internet
Internet Explorer is infected with Trojan-BNK.Win32.Keylogger.gen Private data can be stolen by third parties, including credit card details and passwords.
Severe System Damage!
Spyware and viruses detected in the background. Sensitive system components under attack! Data loss, identity theft and system corruption are possible. Act now, click here for a free security scan.
Vista Security 2012 Alert
Security hole detected!
A program is trying to exploit Windows security holes! Passwords and sensitive data may be stolen! Threat: Trojan-Downloader.BAT.Ftp.ab
Vista Security 2012 Alert
System Hacked!
Unknown program is scanning your system registry right now! Identity theft detected! Threat: Backdoor.Perl.AEI.16
Privacy threat!
Spyware intrusion detected. Your system is infected. System integrity is at risk. Private data can be stolen by third parties, including credit card details and passwords. Click here to perform a security repair.
These pop-ups’ main purpose is to make the victim believe there are indeed serious security threats that need to be taken care of immediately. And, of course, Vista Security 2012 is promoted as the best security ally that a computer can have. However, the first thing that should be noted here is that these alerts report non-existing threats.
One of Vista Security 2012′s main tricks is preventing other programs from being launched. Whenever the victim attempts to start a program, Vista Security 2012 is evoked instead, and it claims that the program in question has been corrupted, which is a big lie. In fact, blocking other applications is the villain’s primary prevention strategy – it thus tries to avoid being detected by genuine AV tools.
Another one of Vista Security 2012′s cons is browser hijacking. Vista Security 2012 makes it impossible for the user to view particular websites. Instead of the website wanted, the rogue displays the following warning:
Vista Security 2012 Alert!
Internet Explorer alert. Visiting this site may pose a security threat to your system!
Possible reasons include:
- Dangerous code found in this site’s pages which installed unwanted software into your system.
- Suspicious and potentially unsafe network activity detected.
- Spyware infections in your system
- Complaints from other users about this site.
- Port and system scans performed by the site being visited.Things you can do:
- Get a copy of Vista Security 2012 to safeguard your PC while surfing the web (RECOMMENDED)
- Run a spyware, virus and malware scan – Continue surfing without any security measures (DANGEROUS)
When it comes to browsers, Vista Security 2012 uses another trick as well – when the victim attempts to start FireFox or Internet Explorer from the Window Start Menu, Vista Security 2012 comes forth and states that FireFox/Internet Explorer is infected. In order to scare the victim even more, it produces an alert that seems to be coming from the Windows Vista Security Center, which declares that the user’s virus protection is off.
In the meantime, Vista Security 2012 also runs scans of the system, which all to one claim that the computer has been seriously corrupted. The scans always end with a list of viruses, which are, in reality, legitimate Windows files needed for the proper operation of the system. Every time the fake scanning process is over, the program insists that the user should purchase the full version of Vista Security 2012 in order to remove the viruses found by the scan. You should keep in mind, though, that the full version of this software is as fake as the trial one.
In conclusion, the best way to treat Vista Security 2012, provided that it has paid a “visit” to your computer, is to eliminate it immediately via a genuine anti-virus program.
*SpyHunter’s free scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware suite to remove the malware threats.