scareware
Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- noun Software that attempts to scare the user into compliance, as by displaying false warnings of virus infection.
Examples
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The term scareware refers to applications which often masquerade as legit antivirus programs and try to trick users into paying a license fee.
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The software giant says it is seeing decreases in scareware, those obnoxious online promotions that try to frighten you into paying for worthless antivirus protection, along with a decline in those faked Flash player updates that actually download viral coding that allows the bad guys to take full control of your PC.
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Rogue security software is often called scareware because these fake antivirus and registry cleaners can convince the victim to purchase based on flagging screens warning them about threats that don't exist outside the scareware itself.
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The report also highlighted the rise in the use of so-called scareware, fake security programs which falsely tell people they need to install software which does nothing other than attempt to steal personal details from a users' PC.
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Damian Menscher, a Google security engineer, said the malware appeared to find its way onto computers via fake anti-virus software, also known as scareware.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
Note
The word 'scareware' is a blend of 'scare' and the '-ware' of 'software'.