The Firefox updated page that automatically pops up after an update has never lead us wrong before but some enterprising malware writers have crafted a fake clone of the update page with a catch – it urges the user to download a flash update. What the victim gets is a fake anti-virus program that immediately starts spouting warnings and demanding money. PC Mag reports that the attack is rogue and was discovered by F-Secure.

It isn’t clear from the article what causes the page to pop up in the first place, my guess is something encountered in the previous browsing session changes the homepage. The fake page can presumably be seen in any browser and it displays a recent update version of Firefox but not the most recent one. The download will try to start automatically, if it is saved and run the rogue anti-virus “Security Tool” will infect the computer. F-Secure is already blocking the website that the attack originates from and the latest database update can detect the rogue AV; otherwise the best way to avoid it would be to ignore pages like this and get updates from the source, in this case Adobe’s website.

To see pictures of the attack visit the F-Secure website.