http://www.americanpendulum.com/2012/02/14/remove-smart-protection-2012-2/
Date: 2012-02-14
Smart Protection 2012 is a fake anti-virus application, which belongs to the same rogue-family as Security Sphere 2012. Hackers use a variety of malicious advertising methods in order to convince users to purchase these phony programs.
To start with, Trojans serve as distributors of the Smart Protection 2012 infection. They are laid in compromised websites, and only a click is enough for them to get installed on the targeted computer. Therefor, it is highly recommended to avoid clicking through suspicious websites. Trojans do not seek authorization and, in most cases, the user is first aware of the rogue attack only after Smart Protection 2012′s scanning tool appears. Trojans manage to sneak into systems through vulnerabilities found in them. Since vulnerabilities are mainly caused by outdated software, keeping all your programs up-to-date is an efficient prevention measure when it comes to rogue infections.
Online scanners are Smart Protection 2012′s second delivery tool. They are placed on malicious websites and, even though they promise to perform a free scan of the computer system, they are not capable of it. Their main purpose is to bring Smart Protection 2012 inside the system.
When inside, Smart Protection 2012 first creates a randomly-named folder. Its location varies in accordance with the Windows OS used by the victim. In XP it is placed in c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\, and if it is Windows 7 or Windows Vista – C:\ProgramData.
Then, the malevolent program configures itself to start automatically as soon as Windows starts. As with other fake anti-virus software, Smart Protection 2012 fakes a scan of the computer system every time and again. All of these scans report non-existing security threats – instead of the names of these threats, the program provides a detailed description. The fact is that there are no such threats at all – they are made-up to scare the users and make them purchase the full version of Smart Protection 2012, which is promoted as an extremely efficient virus-fighter. Please note that the full version of this program is also a scam and spending your money on it would only mean that you have sent your money to hackers in exchange for a virus.
What Smart Protection 2012 also does is to produce a great amount of counterfeit alerts and notification, which are not only annoying, but they also slow down the overall performance of the PC. Below, you can see some examples of fake warnings, displayed by Smart Protection 2012.
To put it in a nutshell, Smart Protection 2012 is nothing more, but yet another hacker-attempt to trick users into buying malware. Therefor, in case this program has managed to creep into your computer, the best thing you can do is to remove the villain immediately with the help of a legitimate 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.
The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Date: 2012-02-14
Smart Protection 2012 is a fake anti-virus application, which belongs to the same rogue-family as Security Sphere 2012. Hackers use a variety of malicious advertising methods in order to convince users to purchase these phony programs.
To start with, Trojans serve as distributors of the Smart Protection 2012 infection. They are laid in compromised websites, and only a click is enough for them to get installed on the targeted computer. Therefor, it is highly recommended to avoid clicking through suspicious websites. Trojans do not seek authorization and, in most cases, the user is first aware of the rogue attack only after Smart Protection 2012′s scanning tool appears. Trojans manage to sneak into systems through vulnerabilities found in them. Since vulnerabilities are mainly caused by outdated software, keeping all your programs up-to-date is an efficient prevention measure when it comes to rogue infections.
Online scanners are Smart Protection 2012′s second delivery tool. They are placed on malicious websites and, even though they promise to perform a free scan of the computer system, they are not capable of it. Their main purpose is to bring Smart Protection 2012 inside the system.
Figure 1. Smart Protection 2012 screenshot
When inside, Smart Protection 2012 first creates a randomly-named folder. Its location varies in accordance with the Windows OS used by the victim. In XP it is placed in c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\, and if it is Windows 7 or Windows Vista – C:\ProgramData.
Download Spyware Removal Tool to Detect and Remove* Smart Protection 2012
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Then, the malevolent program configures itself to start automatically as soon as Windows starts. As with other fake anti-virus software, Smart Protection 2012 fakes a scan of the computer system every time and again. All of these scans report non-existing security threats – instead of the names of these threats, the program provides a detailed description. The fact is that there are no such threats at all – they are made-up to scare the users and make them purchase the full version of Smart Protection 2012, which is promoted as an extremely efficient virus-fighter. Please note that the full version of this program is also a scam and spending your money on it would only mean that you have sent your money to hackers in exchange for a virus.
What Smart Protection 2012 also does is to produce a great amount of counterfeit alerts and notification, which are not only annoying, but they also slow down the overall performance of the PC. Below, you can see some examples of fake warnings, displayed by Smart Protection 2012.
Smart Protection 2012 WarningClick here to activate protection.
Your computer is still infected with dangerous viruses. Activate antivirus protection to prevent data loss and avoid theft of your credit card details.
Smart Protection 2012 Warning
Intercepting programs that may compromise your privacy and harm your system have been detected on your PC.
Click here to remove them immediately with Smart Protection 2012
Warning: Your computer is infectedIn order to prevent itself from being detected by any legitimate AV software that might be installed on the computer, Smart Protection 2012 blocks every possible executable that the victim tries to launch and displays the following message:
Detected spyware infection!
Click this message to install the last update of security software…
Warning!There is probably no need to say that this alert is bogus and should not be taken into consideration.
Application cannot be executed. The file [name].exe is infected.
Please activate your antivirus software.
Download Spyware Removal Tool to Detect and Remove* Smart Protection 2012
|
To put it in a nutshell, Smart Protection 2012 is nothing more, but yet another hacker-attempt to trick users into buying malware. Therefor, in case this program has managed to creep into your computer, the best thing you can do is to remove the villain immediately with the help of a legitimate 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.
The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
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