Can rogue web browsers make a comeback?

Before the survey scams, there were rogue web browsers. They were very popular in 2006 and 2007, when old-school ad vendors were at their peak.

The majority of such browsers are actually skins wrapped another web browser, written in Visual Basic. They were a way to make a lot of cash from affiliate programs and a way to make users install additional malware on their machines.

In this podcast recorded at Virus Bulletin 2011, GFI’s Christopher Boyd talks about how rogue web browsers changed through the years, the dangers lurking behind them and the likelihood of them making a comeback – this time on mobile platforms.

Listen to the podcast here.

Christopher Boyd is a Senior Threat Researcher for GFI Software, a Microsoft MVP in Consumer Security and has talked about security at conferences Worldwide including RSA, SecTor, Rootcon and VB.

He’s been credited with finding the first rootkit in an Instant Messaging hijack, the first example of a rogue web browser installing without permission, the first worm on the Google Orkut network and the first example of a DIY Botnet creation kit for Twitter.

His areas of research include botnets, spam, phishing, P2P, Instant Messaging, ad/spy/malware, worms, social networking attacks/exploits and videogame console exploitation.