Yes it is fake as these scammers have created a small number of similar sites to try and exploit the popularity of Firefox and inexperienced users. Oct 18, 2015 virus: fake firefox update. User Help for Mozilla Firefox. 10 posts • Page 1 of 1. FrankJ01 New Member Posts: 1. Definitely malware. My wife downloaded it during a Chrome session the other day, a drive-by download from a pwned patch.com server, near as I can make out. Fortunately, both Chrome and her antivirus raised a stink, and she came. Beware of Fake Firefox Web Browser Download and Update Websites June 2013 - Posted: June 25, 2013; Views: 9,341 Comments. Tweets, and online advertisements, which claim that you can download Firefox, download an updated version of Firefox, download a Firefox security patch, or download some form of Firefox add-on or extension. A version of the Zango spyware toolbar is now targeting users of the Firefox browser to download an infected update. Is being fed to users via a fake but convincing Firefox update page.
- Firefox Patch Download Fake News
- Firefox Patch Download Fake Videos
- Is Firefox Patch Download Legitimate
The successor program to the notorious Zango spyware toolbar is being used to target users of Mozilla's Firefox with fake browser updates, a security company has alleged.
According to a warning put out by eSoft, the reprised Hotbar app, run as of May last year by a new entity called Pinball Corp, is being fed to users via a fake but convincing Firefox update page. The update page - which users would come to through a search engine for the latest updates - looks identical to the genuine page in everything bar the version it is claiming to offer (3.5 where the most recent is 3.6) and some misspelling.
Windows users fooled into downloading and installing from the fake page will actually be getting a toolbar app that also hits the user with pop-up ads and a weather application in the system tray.
According to eSoft, the software is actually being fed without the direct knowledge of its creators, Pinball, which will likely be paying a third party affiliate for every install. As with the distribution of the original Zango Toolbar, how that install gets on to a user's PC is not their business.
Zango disappeared last April after several years in which it was accused of sneaking spyware on to users' PC without their consent, invariably by paying third parties to do the dirty work. In 2006, it was fined $3 million by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its actions.
It should be pointed out that what is at fault here is not the new toolbar app per se, but the way it is being distributed by a separate entity and installed under false pretences. As ever, an application becomes legitimate if the user consents to its installation having had the proposition explained in an accurate way, but that is certainly not happening in this instance.
The genuine install site for Firefox updates can be found here.
This story, 'Fake Firefox Update Spreads Spyware' was originally published by Techworld.com.
We have received reports from many users who were interrupted in their browsing experience and who got redirected to a fake page pretending to provide an 'important', 'urgent' or 'critical' update. Some people have also reported seeing ads prompting them to download a Firefox update or occurrences of fake Firefox requires a manual update pages that try to trick them into installing a malicious extension. These are scam tactics to trick you into installing malware!
Table of Contents
- 1What is a fake Firefox update notice?
To our knowledge, fake update notices are a form of 'malvertising'. Those fake notices get triggered by code contained in ads that are displayed on otherwise legitimate websites you are visiting and get spread through advertisement networks.
This is an example of what a fake Firefox update notice might look like. These are hosted on randomly generated and quickly changing domains:
Firefox has an automated background update mechanism which will never prompt you to manually download and execute a file, except in the case of a Heartbeat notification (see below). You can always manually check for Firefox updates - to learn how, see Update Firefox to the latest release.
Heartbeat notifications
Firefox Patch Download Fake News
If you start Firefox and see a notification bar with a Heartbeat icon, the message Your Firefox is critically out of date. An update is required to stay secure and an button, this is a legitimate Firefox update notice and you should update Firefox. To learn more about the 'Heartbeat' feature, see the article Rate your Firefox experience, surveys and out of date messages (Heartbeat) and this Mozilla Wiki page.
Firefox Patch Download Fake Videos
- Never click on these fake update notices.
- Never save or open/run unsolicited files!
- Install an ad-blocking add-on from addons.mozilla.org to avoid such kind of malvertising in the future.
- Report web forgeries to the Google Web Forgery site.
- Run a malware scan on your computer to make sure your computer was not infected. (See Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware.)
- Avoid downloads from unreliable sources in the future.
- Use What happened to Tracking Protection? (enabled in Private Browsing by default).
Is Firefox Patch Download Legitimate
Fake updates have been spotted for other popular browsers. Although we cannot root out every bad actor on the web, we are continuing to improve Firefox's defenses against malware. Knowing how to recognize and report such frauds helps us keep the Internet open and safer.