Microsoft, Washington State Sue Spyware Company
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Microsoft Corp. and the Washington state attorney general on Wednesday said they filed separate lawsuits against a company that allegedly sold and marketed a bogus anti-spyware product.
The suits against Secure Computer LLC, based in White Plains, N.Y., were the first filed under Washington state's 2005 Computer Spyware Act, which prohibits bogus claims that software available for download is necessary for security reasons. It also makes illegal secretly modifying a computer's security settings. The act carries a penalty of $100,000 per violation.
The company is accused of marketing software that fraudulently claimed to remove spyware, when in fact it made computers more susceptible to attacks. The software, called Spyware Cleaner, was offered through spam, emails, hyperlink ads on search engines such as Google Inc., and through pop-up ads on Web sites. Secure Computer owned several Web sites for marketing and downloading the software, Myspywarecleaner.com, Myerrorfixer.com and Checkforspyware.com.
Microsoft Corp. and the Washington state attorney general on Wednesday said they filed separate lawsuits against a company that allegedly sold and marketed a bogus anti-spyware product.
The suits against Secure Computer LLC, based in White Plains, N.Y., were the first filed under Washington state's 2005 Computer Spyware Act, which prohibits bogus claims that software available for download is necessary for security reasons. It also makes illegal secretly modifying a computer's security settings. The act carries a penalty of $100,000 per violation.
The company is accused of marketing software that fraudulently claimed to remove spyware, when in fact it made computers more susceptible to attacks. The software, called Spyware Cleaner, was offered through spam, emails, hyperlink ads on search engines such as Google Inc., and through pop-up ads on Web sites. Secure Computer owned several Web sites for marketing and downloading the software, Myspywarecleaner.com, Myerrorfixer.com and Checkforspyware.com.
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