don't catch this popup!

Tonight I was helping my son make a birthday card for his teacher. He wanted to say 'Have an all-star birthday!" and then include some pictures of an all-star. While we were searching for a couple good shots of our favorite - JT Snow - we were suprised by a popup window that said

"Your computer is infected! Windows has detected spyware infection. Click here to protect your computer."

naturally being the uber-geek dad, I pointed out to him it was an attempt to get us to do the wrong thing. I think he was still more interested in the JT Snow pics, but it felt good trying to teach safe surfing anyhow. ;)

Then, just before calling it a night - I saw this on my blog reader -

Don't 'Click here to protect your computer'

Infectious 'trojans' sell rogue software, send unwanted email, steal data

Its designers trick people into saving it by telling them they need a new piece of software to watch video online.

Once installed, it bombards people with pop-up messages and bogus flashing warnings that their computer is infected.

The messages say: "Your computer is infected! Windows has detected spyware infection. Click here to protect your computer."

The trojan then sends adverts offering to sell rogue anti-spyware on sites that could expose customers to credit card fraud. Microsoft said the problem is global and linked to organized criminal gangs.

hmm - reminds me of infostealer - that piece of malware that'd auto-magically call your bank for you and relieve you of that troublesome cash sitting in your account.

what's the moral of the story? - JT Snow was a great player for the Giants - but just because he caught every popup that came near him, we will be better off if we skip this kind of popup.

ha!