Rogue AV software mimicking popular legitimate AV solutions is occasionally offered by cyber crooks in the hopes that the familiar name and look will entice users into buying the offered product.

The latest example of this approach has been brought to the attention of Kaspersky Lab experts by users targeted with spam emails touting an "Antivirus & Security Complete Antivirus Protection Solution" and supposedly sent by Kaspersky (Sale@Kaspersky.com).

"The cybercriminals had done a good job: the email not only looked like an official email from Kaspersky Lab but the 'From' field was a good imitation as well," comments Maria Namestnikova.

But while the email includes an image of the fake solution using colors similar to those used by Kaspersky, the link included in the email takes the potential victim to a page whose colors and look resemble those used by Symantec:


"To buy the program, the user had to enter their credit card details and email address so they could receive further instructions. We followed these step as part of our investigations, but received no more instructions at the email address we specified," shared Namestnikova. "It is quite possible that users could have received more instructions on how to download the fake antivirus at the time the spam was active."

This is not the first and will surely not be the last attempt of this sort, so users are advised to remember that no reputable company practices sending out emails like these and that the best thing to do if they are looking for a good AV solution is to buy it directly from the developer or from a well-established (re)seller.