Bitdefender is a trusted cybersecurity and anti-virus software company that provides a variety of products to protect your computer and digital devices from malware and other online threats which is why it is particularly disturbing when scammers were recently discovered to have set up a phony Bitdefender website where if you go to download on the website what you think is protective security software, you actually are downloading malware that can steal your passwords and sensitive personal information from your computer or cell phone that will result in your becoming a victim of identity theft and your accounts, such as online bank accounts hacked.
Making this story even more disturbing is that the malware used as a part of this scam is readily available for sale on the Dark Web, that part of the Internet where criminals buy and sell goods and services so that even relatively unsophisticated scammers are able to access this malware. AI also makes the creation of phony websites such as done here simple for less sophisticated criminals as well.
Criminals are often able to get their phony websites listed high in a search engine search by either paying for a high position in a search or manipulating the algorithm used to place a website in a seach engine search to get a high position.
TIPS
There are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from this type of scam.
First of all, this scam points out the importance of having dual factor authentication on all of your important accounts so that even if someone managed to steal your username and password, they would be unable to access the account.
Trust me, you can’t trust anyone and with the ease that criminals using AI can create phony websites that appear to be websites of companies that you trust, it is more important than ever to make sure that you are on the legitimate websites you seek rather than a criminal’s counterfeit website. If you are sure of the URL of a website, make sure you type the URL in carefully to avoid going to a criminals’ website.
You can also confirm a website’s legitimacy by going to whois.com to see who actually owns the website and how long it has been in existence. The Google Transparency Report accessed at transparencyreport.google.com can also indicate whether a website is legitimate or not. Another very good tool is virustotal.com which is a free online service where you provide the URL of the website you are checking on and virustotal will send the file to dozens of antivirus companies including Bitdefender, Avast and Kaspersky to see if it is legitimate. Also Google Chrome has its AI powered Enhanced Safe Browsing mode which will allow you to check on the legitimacy of a particular URL and will warn you if it is a scam.
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