Another day, another scary way to get hacked. Haven't we had enough?
The Next Web reports that hackers are targeting users of Google Chrome with a new scam that's incredibly easy to fall for. Those affected my see a pop-up prompting them to download and install a "missing font" file. But the file is actually malware.
What makes this scam particularly scary is that everything about the browser message — the type of "missing font," the dialog window, the Chrome logo, and even the "update" button's blue shade — looks legit.
So, how can you stay safe?
According to NeoSmart Technologies, which first identified the hack, there are several ways to recognize the scam.
First of all, the dialog window has been coded to show the user is running Chrome's 53 version. If this is not the version you have installed in your computer, that might be a clue that something isn't right.
There's also a problem with the file names: When clicking the "Update" button, a file titled "Chrome Font v7.5.1.exe" will be downloaded. But this name doesn’t match the one shown in the malicious instruction image, which would read "Chrome_Font.exe."
Even if you fail to identify these signs, you may get a standard "this file isn’t downloaded often" warning when you try to download the file. Still, the Next Web warned that Chrome is currently not filtering out the file as malicious. So you should always exercise caution when downloading or installing anything from the internet onto your computer.
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