Ubuntu vs Virus

I had a user buzz me on the phone the other day complaining about a webpage that popped up saying she was infected with stuff. Fortunately, this user knows to call me when something like this happens (see, employee training does help). So I got on my Ubuntu laptop and took a look at the page, the Kentucky Institute of Medicine.

The page dumped me to a page that said my Ubuntu computer was infected. Because I knew that there wouldn't be any problem, I went through the presented dialog boxes, attempting to cancel the installation. Ultimately, the virus still tried to install anyway. Below are screenshots of what happened. Note that each time I hit cancel in the dialog boxes (click on the pictures to enlarge them):


The redirected website, acting as though it's scanning my Ubuntu laptop.



Oops, looks like I wasn't running an anti-virus on my Ubuntu computer...and got infected with Windows spyware programs??



My PC is soiled? Maybe I need to get some diapers...



"Destructive and damaging software founded." Oh noes! Hit the X! The X!!!




Oh look...it tries to install it anyway. Note that the filename makes it appear to look like AVG.

Just goes to show you can't trust anything you see on the internet, especially if it tells you your computer is infected. Or just use Linux/Ubuntu.

By the way, the Kentucky Institute Of Medicine is a perfectly legitimate website. It seems that their DNS servers got poisoned and would redirect to the virus-installing website. For a long time, the website continued to redirect and, as of this writing, it now has an "under construction" placeholder. So even legitimate websites can possibly get you infected, if you don't know what to look for. Just never trust websites. Always be suspicious.

And use Linux/Ubuntu. :P