The StartUp Britain website has been seen linking to malware, just days after its official launch.
The website, designed to encourage and advise small businesses in the UK, got the backing of Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday. However, late yesterday it was found to be directing visitors to sites pushing fake anti-virus software.
Security firm Sophos raised the alarm for the link to bankling.com. Once users clicked, they were warned their computer was infected with a virus and a fake fix was recommended to them in an on-screen prompt.
Once the fix was clicked, their computer downloaded the real malware.
The link, which appeared to only affect Internet Explorer users, has now been removed from the site.
StartUp Britain told the BBC: "There were some issues with a link on the website at the launch. This issue has been addressed and any links that were not operating as intended have been amended or removed."
Earlier this week, Spotify fell victim to a similar scam. Malicious adverts appeared across the free version of its service and attackers hit Windows users with the BlackHole exploit kit.
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