Be cautious of Internet access at airports
Accessing the Internet via an open Wi-Fi network is risky because you have no idea who is the hot spot provider or who is connected to it. At the airport it may seem more secure to use a terminal to check your e-mail or update your Facebook status; however, according to Symantec, these terminals might not be secure at all.
In a recent article on the company's Web site, Nick Johnston, senior software engineer of Symantec Hosted Services, wrote that at one Internet terminal at a large airport in England, he saw an unusual "Defense Center Installer" dialog box that turned out to be a fake antivirus software, also known as "scareware."
Scareware is a type of malware that claims a computer is infected with viruses and tries to coerce the user into buying the full version of the software to clean the fictitious infection. It's common for this type of malware to try to disable or uninstall legitimate antivirus software, causing Windows Security Center to warn that no antivirus software installed. As this type of software is not really a virus, it's hard for legitimate antivirus software to detect and remove it.
