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Berlin - Firefox users should carefully review any security warnings they receive from their browsers. That's because such warnings are not always indicators of a real threat, says Germany-based antivirus firm Gdata. The impetus behind the fake messages is profit, not security. Hackers are currently attempting to use so-called trojans to trigger fake security warnings in Firefox, Gdata says. The software then redirects the user to a different website where they are encouraged to buy "counterfeit" antivirus software that pretends to find an infection on the computer.

No matter what the site claims to find, users shouldn't be tempted to download the "scareware." The best thing to do instead is to update a reputable virus scanner and re-scan the computer.

Hackers have also come up with a way of preventing users from realising they are being redirected. They do so by ignoring the user's individual computer and instead going after DNS servers on the internet. DNS servers are part of the infrastructure of the internet, converting website names into versions that machines can read.

Hackers can sometimes manipulate the servers to send browsers to the website of the hacker's choice, even if the correct website URL is entered into the browser. Therefore it's a good idea to keep an eye on the browser's address bar. It shows what page the surfer has really visited.

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柏林- 火狐用户应仔细审查任何火狐浏览器接收的安全警告。德国的杀毒软件公司的GData说，这是因为这样的警告不一定是真正的威胁。背后的动力是希望从假警告里获取利润，而不是安全。GData说，骇客正在试图利用所谓的木马来启动火狐的假安全警告。然后，该木马将用户带到其他网站，鼓励他们购买假货的防病毒软件。假货的防毒系统会假装找到病毒。

无论是什么网站声称找到病毒，用户不应受到欺骗而下载恐吓性防毒系统。而最好的办法是购买著名的病毒系统和重新扫描整架电脑。

骇客们还提出了一项防止让用户意识到他们被重定向用户的方式。他们这样做是无视用户的个人电脑。即使是把正确的网站网址输入浏览器里，骇客还是可以操纵浏览器转送到骇客所选择的网站。因此，最好的方法是随时留意浏览器的地址栏。它显示了浏览者真正访问的网页。

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