Cyber Security

Virus notification phishing

We've recently been seeing a rise in clients reporting virus infections which turn out to be nothing more than browser notification phishing. They look something like the below:-

You can easily prevent this kind of scam by simply disabling browser notifications entirely (if you don't actually use notifications). Within Edge just go to Settings, Cookies and Site Permissions, Notifications, and turn off the "Ask Before Sending" option

Alternatively if you have already allowed a website to trigger unwanted notifications then you can add them to the block list in this same settings screen.

Many times these notifications arise from clicking on fake virus warnings (similar to the one shown at the top of this page), but these are just simply images on websites designed to convince you into thinking that you do have a virus, and that by clicking the scan button you'll be asking your own virus scanner to clean them. All we can recommend here is that you remain vigilant, and be aware of the websites that you visit. Unfortunately with the way that web marketing works many hackers will simply place an advert onto a reputable website (such as a newspaper) containing their phishing tools, as very often adverts are not properly checked before being allowed to be published.

Posted 15/02/2024