Here at Lavasoft, we constantly come across websites that are trying to piggy back on our name, in order to try to scam people into buying the "product" they're selling. The following is just one example of how scammers will try to take advantage of you.

The folks at Zango contacted us about our blog posting triggered from the Zango/Facebook article that was posted over at Fortinet. They are not happy with the manner in which we've handled our corporate ethics when reporting this information. We'd like to reprint their comments and give them fair space here so that you hear both sides and can make an informed decision for yourself.

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In the last few days, there have been reports of online scams exploiting the wildfires in California, USA. Unfortunately, scams taking advantage of situations like this is nothing new.

In the past, we've seen international news, sports events, and even holidays lead to phishing and fraudulent e-mails. In many cases, disasters and tragedies also bring about fake charity sites popping up on the Web, set up by opportunists looking to cash in on recovery efforts.

The latest security vulnerabilities have been released from Microsoft. Octobers Patch Tuesday lists four "critical" and two "important" security bulletins (a total of nine vulnerabilities). The applications involved include Microsoft Word, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, and Kodak Image Viewer.

Zlob. Fake codecs. Zlob codecs. Smitfraud Trojan. This online enemy goes by many names, but no matter what it's called, the devious tactics and growth on the web are undeniable.

Zlob Trojans, similar to the closely related Vundo Trojan, are malware that usually masquerade as a codec needed to play a video, and then install adware or malware on an unsuspecting users system. (Below is an example of a request message prompting you to download a fake codec. Click for a larger image).