What is a hoax, where do hoaxes come from, and why are they dangerous?

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Kaspersky products characterize certain software as “Hoax.” Let’s investigate what this verdict means, in which cases our products deliver that verdict, and why users should beware of such programs.

Astrologers announce the year of the Hoax: Detections double

The reason for this post is the increase in the number of detections our products have been making with the Hoax verdict. The number of users who have encountered such software has doubled in the past year. In short, more and more users are being caught in the risk zone. So it’s worth taking the time to dissect the problem, starting with a brief background discussion.

Many users complain of slow computer bootup and application startup times, and even system crashes with errors. It’s a problem that just about everyone faces now and again. It happens because during operation the computer gets clogged up with all kinds of data, affecting its processing speed.

Demand generates supply, so programs promising to speed up and scrub down the computer soon started multiplying. The rapid growth in such software began in the late 2000s and never stopped.

Cleanup programs generally look for unused or temporary files, registry keys, startup programs, and so forth, and report the presence of such “digital garbage” to the user, who then decides to have the program clean up the computer. That does improve overall system performance to some extent.

Unfortunately, not all cleanup/speed-up software is equally benign. Amid the ranks of honest developers who create programs to help users, there are a good many cybercriminals at play.

What is a Hoax?

Some programs for cleaning up the computer and improving performance force the user to pay to get rid of alleged detected threats. Two key features help distinguish the good guys from the bad:

First, the latter deliberately mislead the user by greatly overstating the risk, or even reporting non-existent errors.
Second, they compel, rather than invite users to make a purchase, declaring that without payment the problem cannot be solved.
At Kaspersky, we call such programs Hoax — software that intentionally misleads the user. Here are some examples of verdicts that Kaspersky products assign to such programs:

* HEUR:Hoax.Win32.Uniblue.gen
* Hoax.Win32.PCFixer.gen
* Hoax.Win32.DeceptPCClean.*
* Hoax.Win32.PCRepair.*
* HEUR:Hoax.Win32.PCRepair.gen
* HEUR:Hoax.MSIL.Optimizer.gen
* Hoax.Win32.SpeedUpMyPC.gen

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