'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' Support Scam

The 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' support scam is a fake update that can trick victims into installing unwanted or even threatening software. Users should double-check update sources for their authenticity and always reject ones arriving from third-party websites. Most anti-malware products offer browser protection against these attacks and their payloads, and should block a 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' support scam automatically.

Your Update Served with a Side of Disingenuity

Although the average PC owner is becoming more aware of the value of updating their OS, criminals and con artists are doing their best to turn that knowledge back on its owner with a little sleight of hand. Cons such as the 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' support scam are well-aged scenery in the Web and can appear in both compromised ad networks and hacked or hostile websites. While its payload is variable, this tactic offers obvious dangers of accepting the word of a stranger – or website.

This threat is similar to previous and concurrently-running campaigns, like the 'Your Windows 10 is Damaged and Irrelevant' Support Scam or the 'Urgent Chrome Update' Pop-Ups. It delivers a misleading pop-up with a fake Windows error that asserted that the Windows Firewall is detecting damage and vulnerabilities related to insufficient updating. It also tells the user not to leave the tactic page until the update completes.

Users with any long-term familiarity with Windows will know that Microsoft handles Windows 10 updates through a built-in management system automatically. No step in this process involves the tactic browser. The 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' support scam uses its fake update for installing other threats, which malware experts have yet to analyze. The significant possibilities fall under the following categories:

• Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) can include toolbars and adware. It doesn't conduct overtly harmful or illicit behavior but can expose you to advertisements and create security risks.
• Criminals also use fake updates for delivering Trojans, which range from backdoor Trojans and RATs (which let attackers control your computer) to 'delivery men' style programs like AppleJeus or Necro.
• It also is possible that specialized threats will install themselves without needing more explicit consent than the 'update's' acceptance. Spyware, for example, collects information like passwords, while file-locking Trojans encrypt and lock media for ransoming.

Canceling a Patch with Rotten Fibers

The 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' support scam is a fragment of an extensive line of update-themed tactics that have been part of the Internet's landscape for years. However, users can take advantage of certain characteristics that are specific to this scheme for their improved self-defense. For example, Windows 10 delivers updates with less interaction from users than ever before automatically – and there should be a reason for downloading patches rarely off the tactic manually.

More generally, while browsing the tactic, users can employ settings that keep their browsers from loading potentially unsafe content. Disabling advertisements or scripts like JavaScript will block most of the 'advanced content' that a tactic like the 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' Support tactic uses. Web surfers also can check Web addresses or URLs for the identity of the domain serving the pop-up, but they also should beware of typo-squatting sites (such as 'mlcrosoft.com' instead of 'microsoft.com').

Users exercising these precautions should experience little to no danger from a 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' support scam. However, anti-malware tools may provide last-minute protection by blocking the pop-up, its domain, and any drive-by-download attacks.

The 'Your Windows 10 is not Updated' support scam offers a fix to a self-proposed, and a false problem completely. Getting to know your operating system is a friendship with great benefits, when it comes to spotting tactic attacks and avoiding them particularly.