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Some of the most effective online attacks rely on social engineering every bit much as clever coding. Scammers have started exploiting a bug in Firefox that causes the browser to lock upward, pushing users to telephone call a phone number for support. Mozilla is reportedly working on a gear up for this issue, but users with less technical knowledge may exist unable to get rid of the locked page even after restarting the browser.

This attack is, at its center, a archetype tech support scam. The new contraction hither is the scam page uses the Firefox bug to make it impossible to ignore. When a user lands on the boobytrapped folio while using Firefox, the browser shows a login box that cannot be dismissed. Attempting to close the browser also doesn't work.

Below the popup, the fraudsters display a message in broken English language that reads:

Please terminate and do not close the PC… The registry key of your computer is locked. Why did we block your computer? The Windows registry key is illegal. The Windows desktop is using pirated software. The Window desktop sends viruses over the Internet. This Windows desktop is hacked. We block this reckoner for your prophylactic.

If the victim calls the phone number on the page, they'll connect with a person claiming to be with Microsoft tech support. Still, that's a scammer who will effort to fox them into paying coin for some production or service they don't demand — in this instance, a non-existent Windows license. The only way to close the browser once information technology'southward been locked is to end the procedure (both Windows and macOS). If you have the misfortune of running Firefox with tab restore enabled, the offending folio will just come dorsum the adjacent time y'all open the browser. In that case, you'd need to disconnect from the network or reset the browser preferences to free yourself.

Unfortunately, many people won't accept enough technical knowledge to clear a browser lock like this, and the odd behavior will convince more users that there is something genuinely incorrect, and maybe they ought to telephone call that mysterious number.

Mozilla developers take stated they're working on a set up that will rollout soon. For now, it'south a good idea to disable tab restore to speed recovery in case you meet a page exploiting this bug.

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