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I got a window from "Firefox" (no fox/earthball logo) regarding a security scan and an executable (.exe) file to clear malware - is this legit or a scam?

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  • Last reply by Phunque

Phunque
Phunque
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While browsing a web site with graphics, a dialog box popped up (dark red with white type) indicating some sort of security alert and recommending a scan, which yielded some 90 or so pieces of malware. It asked if I wanted to clear these items and offered a "setup.exe" file to do that. I refused because although the box referred to Mozilla Firefox, there was no standard logo and I was uncertain whether this was an attack site or a legit Firefox site.

While browsing a web site with graphics, a dialog box popped up (dark red with white type) indicating some sort of security alert and recommending a scan, which yielded some 90 or so pieces of malware. It asked if I wanted to clear these items and offered a "setup.exe" file to do that. I refused because although the box referred to Mozilla Firefox, there was no standard logo and I was uncertain whether this was an attack site or a legit Firefox site.

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TonyE
TonyE
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That will be a malicious sites that is trying to get people to install malware. The site is targeted at Windows users.

Phunque
Phunque Question owner
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Thanks, TonyE. I suspected as much although I'm reluctant to always make the generalization that any site that doesn't look like its parent org is bad. Nonetheless, it's always best to treat it as dangerous until you know for sure.