Home Malware Programs Fake Warning Messages ‘Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player’ Pop-Up Alert

‘Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player’ Pop-Up Alert

Posted: January 30, 2014

The 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert is a classic case of an attack that uses erroneous information to get its victims to compromise their PCs with threats and/or Potentially Unwanted Programs. As a fake pop-up alert that's delivered without any real attempt to detect issues with the associated machine, an 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert always should be considered an illegal attempt to harm your system. Even if you didn't install any software that the 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert was providing, after you've had any exposure to these kinds of attacks, malware experts generally recommend using anti-malware programs to make sure that the attack hasn't succeeded.

The Prelude to an Infection That Claims that Your Computer's Infected

The 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert serves as an example of the creative social engineering that criminals use to distribute threats. Like any other fake online scanner, the 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert doesn't scan your Flash Player and doesn't detect any legitimate threat-related problems. Instead, the 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert is simply a pop-up designed to make you install its software without questioning the request too much. In reality, there are no online tools for detecting whether or not your Flash Player has been compromised. Although there are such things as general anti-malware scanners hosted online, you never should trust such products that aren't verified as being associated with reputable PC security companies.

Malware experts point to fake media websites, such as domains that pretend to offer streaming movie content, as the most probable distribution points for an 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert. Nonetheless, an 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert isn't restricted to any one distribution method, and, upon occasion, also may compromise a general advertising network. Installing the security solution recommended by an 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert will not allow you to access any new Flash content, but the 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert may infect your PC with threatening software, such as backdoor Trojans or spyware.

Uprooting the Real Source of File Corruption from Your Computer

The 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert may include secondary means of compromising PCs that reject the initial offer of a software download. Disabling such problematic browser features as Java, JavaScript and Flash may provide a certain amount of protection from the 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert's attacks. Of course, malware researchers also find it preferable to have anti-malware software with browser-protecting functions to block any 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alerts that happen to pierce your browser's baseline security.

As basic PC maintenance, any known infection vector, whether it's a pop-up like the 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert, a file attachment or a corrupted website, should be reacted to with the appropriate use of anti-malware software. If you assume that an encounter with 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert may have infected your PC, and use anti-malware products to determine otherwise, then your machine will be safeguarded from common PC threats that don't show symptoms, such as the most popular forms of spyware.
The nature of the software being installed by the 'Infected files have corrupted your Flash Player' pop-up alert's latest attack campaign still is open to investigation.

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