Many of you already know that there are many scams all over the internet and that the cybercriminals are always trying to find new ways to steal your personal data. According to the latest reports, a simple online search by using Google Chrome might lead your device to be infected with a malware.
Google Chrome New Malware: How The It Works
The scam has been discovered by Proofpoint researchers back in December 2016, but unfortunately, this is still an ongoing attack. Below we will tell you how this scam actually works and how it gets installed on your computer:
- The victim will need to use the Chrome Browser on a Windows machine;
- The victim will need to live in an English speaking country (Canada, Australia, U.K. and U.S.);
- Victim is then sent to a malicious site via search engine results (if the victim will click the link to the site that shows up in a search result).
It seems that the hackers are inserting JavaScript into poorly secured websites. So, if you are using Google Chrome and you click the link from the search engine result, the script will make the website unreadable and a pop-up will appear saying that “The ‘HoeflerText’ font wasn’t found,” and that is the reason why you can’t read the page.
After that, it will ask you to update the “Chrome Font Pack”, which obviously will infect your computer. Once this happens, hidden ads will be loaded and clicked on automatically and this is how the hacker gets paid by ripping off legitimate ad networks.
We have to mention that the hacker could also change the malicious link into something worse, such as encryption ransomware. The best way to defense yourself is to NOT click any UPDATE/INSTALL button that appears when opening a random website.
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