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Posts tagged Malware

Malware Protection Tips for the Home User

Oct25
2011 Leave a Comment Written by blogadmin

Investing in malware protection software makes sense for a variety of reasons, as any online hacking weblog would tell you. To begin with, a multitude of threats, namely online hacking, virus infection, malware infestation etc. stalk any computer user connected to the internet. Malware ProtectionMost new computer systems are accompanied by bundled anti-virus and malware protection software applications. What is disheartening, however, is that a large number of users choose to neglect the vary importance aspect of malware protection and end up exposing their computers to the risk of infection once these bundled applications exceed their validity period and need renewal.

Malware Protection: Prevention is the Best Cure

Failing to install a firewall, forgetting to update the anti-virus software and clicking on suspicious links, apart from poor malware protection efforts, are among the many unhealthy surfing habits of a majority of netizens. Some are not even aware of the nuisance of adware, or the threat posed by spyware.

Not every site you visit will be a safe place. Not every email you receive will contain safe information. Many viruses enter a website when users visit certain websites (predominately pornographic sites). These viruses can also come from certain emails. Keeping these things in mind and ensuring correct surfing habits are the best malware protection you can get; the software applications come in only as a second line of defense.

Programmers of viruses and other malware have written extremely destructive and devious code; some can even disengage the anti-virus software. This may happen even with paid anit0virus software. What’s important is, that the malware virtually has the run of the system now and can wreak havoc on your files.

This was a very rare case, but if you want adequate malware protection, then you must ensure that you check regularly for updates and scan your computer for viruses everyday, which is something that you can tell your anti-virus software to do automatically by scheduling it in advance.

Other Malware Protection Applications

The use of a spyware extractor like Ad-Aware can help alleviate chances of browser hijacking and to remove all data-mining files from your hard drive. Many sites will add these features to your computer when you visit their website, they gather data on your personal site visitation and apparent preferences.

Not only can this be personally intrusive but it can also slow your computer down and may result in a significant amount of unwanted emails.

If you use your computer as part of your business you need to come to terms with the importance of that box of silicon and microchip processors known as a hard drive. Can you afford to have your computer offline while you deal with the devastating effects of a computer virus, hacking or deleted files? Hence, if you use your computer to store office files, or if you’re a freelancer using the computer as a workstation, you ought to realize the importance of malware protection software and other security measures.

Keep watching this online hacking weblog for more information on malware protection.

Posted in Security Software - Tagged , ,

33 Percent of all Malware Created in 2010

Jan14
2011 Written by admin

Last year, 34 percent were born in all the malware that has ever been, according to security company Panda Software on-line.

Statistics released as part of the company’s Annual Security Report 2010 has revealed the biggest threat yet to the Trojans, which included 55.91 percent of the beneficiaries of malware.

The data from PandaLabs also showed spyware made up less than one per cent of malicious software online, whilst 11.6 per cent was fake antivirus software known as ‘rogueware’.

PandaLabs said email spam had still been a major problem in 2010 forming around 95 per cent of all email traffic globally. However, within the year, the figure dropped to 85 per cent.

The survey cited proactive measures such as the dismantling of botnets as helpful to the reduction, saying this had reduced the number of computers being used as zombies to send out spam remotely.

The report states, as well as social networking sites and the growing popularity of smartphones in 2010, the attacker was seen to take advantage of them, using fake Web sites and applications.

It was also the year in which cyber terrorism and cyber-activism, “hacktivism” or become a serious problem. Clearest Stuxnet worm attack nuclear facilities in Iran, Aurora Operation Trojan was launched in large multinational companies and the various functions of the Anonymous hacker group.

Posted in Spam - Tagged ,

Malware: Beware Truncated Twitter Links

Jan12
2011 Written by admin

Truncated Twitter LinksKaspersky Lab presents its assessment of malware action on users’ computers and on the Internet for December.

In December 2010, analysts of the company once again recorded a high level of subversive activities. Kaspersky Lab products blocked over 209 million network-level attacks in recent months, over 67 million groped to infect computers across the network are detected and neutralized over  the 196 million malicious software and recorded nearly 71 million heuristic judgments.

Social engineering and the exploitation of vulnerabilities in legitimate software remained the main methods employed by cybercriminals, though it appears they never cease to hone their skills in other areas. They certainly didn’t pass up the opportunity of jumping on the ‘shortened URL’ bandwagon. Users are increasingly using Internet addresses that have been shortened with the help of special URL shortening services, and they don’t always know that malicious links may be lurking among them. In December the top trends on Twitter’s main page included a number of entries with links that had been shortened using popular services such as bit.ly and alturl.com. After several redirects these links eventually led to infected websites.

In another development, the authors of fake antivirus programs have been busy perfecting their tactics, so much so that two of their creations made it into December’s Top 20 malicious programs detected on the Internet – in 18th and 20th places. Genuine antivirus programs are now so effective at detecting their fake counterparts when they attempt to download to users’ computers that the cybercriminals have moved their wares to the Internet instead. In the latter scenario these rogue programs don’t need to be downloaded to a computer; users just need to be lured to a fake antivirus website, which is a lot easier than bypassing real antivirus protection.

Representatives of the Trojan-Downloader.Java.OpenConnection family remain extremely active. Instead of using vulnerabilities in a Java virtual machine these Trojans employ the OpenConnection method of a URL class – standard functionality of the Java programming language. Two representatives of Trojan-Downloader.Java.OpenConnection were among the Top 20 malicious programs detected on the Internet in December in 2nd and 7th places. At the height of their activity the number of computers on which these programs were detected in a 24-hour period exceeded 40,000.

Topping the list of web-based threats, well ahead of its nearest rival, was the adware program AdWare.Win32.HotBar.dh. As a rule, this program is installed along with legitimate applications and then annoys the user by displaying intrusive advertising. For the first time ever a malicious PDF file that makes use of Adobe XML Forms has made it into the Top 20 online threats. When a user opens the file Exploit.Win32.Pidief.ddl, a script exploit is launched that downloads and runs another malicious program from the Internet. Exploit.Win32.Pidief.ddl occupied 11th place in December’s rating of threats emanating from the Internet.

December also offered virus analysts the chance to monitor cybercriminal activity as it adapted to a new Russian Internet domain. November 2010 saw the beginning of domain name registration in the .ÒÆ (Cyrillic abbreviation for the Russian Federation) zone of the Internet. Online scammers turned out to be most active in the new domain, registering sites that were used to spread malicious programs and make enticing offers of a fraudulent nature.

Three types of malware were detected above all: the music files as false, movies and multimedia, script programs disguised model useful services for the social networking site Odnoklassniki and Trojans to redirect users to pages malicious Web.

Posted in Security Software, Spam - Tagged ,

PandaLabs Report : One-Third of All Malware in History Was Established In 2010

Jan07
2011 Written by admin

PandaLabs Malware ReportMore than a third of all malware that has ever existed has been fixed by mobsters in 2010 alone, according to the latest annual report from PandaLabs.

To be precise, the company found that 34 percent of all existing malware has been developed by cyber-criminals last year, banishing forever the image of angry nerd virus created in his studio.

It’s not all bad news however is that there has been a dramatic decline in the rate at which threats are growing: Since 2003, the number of new threats has doubled each, but in 2010 they increased 50 per cent.

An unwelcome trend however, has been the rise in social media malware, in particular Facebook and Twitter, although PandaLabs pointed out that there have also been attacks on other sites like LinkedIn or Fotolog. According to PandaLabs, hackers use several techniques to trick users.

These include the hijacking of Facebook’s ‘Like’ button, identify theft to make it appear that messages are being sent by trusted sources, and the distribution of fake apps.

PandaLabs also pointed out that the year has also seen a rise in activist attacks on websites, so-called hacktivist incidents. Most notably, of course, was the co-ordinated response by the ‘Anonymous’ group in support of Julian Assange of Wikileaks. The DDoS attacks that brought down Mastercard, Visa and PayPal were a reminder of how quickly such attacks could be mobilised.

Another trend is the growing interest in Apple Mac as a hacker target. A few years ago, Mac enthusiasts used to boast about their malware-free machines – that’s not the case any more. PandaLabs doesn’t put any figures on the spread of Mac malware beyond pointing out that the company’s growing market share means that it’s become more vulnerable to attacks.

The banking Trojan remains the most widespread of all malware, accounting for some 56 percent according to PandaLabs. However, there’s a rise in rogueware or fake antivirus software, a category that didn’t even exist five years. PandaLabs said that about 40 percent of all fake antivirus programs were created in 2010. Out of the tottal of 5,651,786 individual examples of fake antivirus programs, of these, 2,285,629 appeared between January and November 2010, said PandaLabs.

The badge of dishonour for the country with the most infected PCs goes to Thailand which has nearly 70,000 infected machines – China and Taiwan are not far behind. The UK does not figure on the list of the worst 20 offenders, although France and Italy do, with about 48,000 infected machines.

Finally, PandaLabs has revealed that spam has continued to raise alarmingly high levels in 2010 despite the Mariposa and Bredolad botnets have fallen. This does not mean that the amount of spam has increased the number made headlines, 95 percent of all email traffic is still high at 85 percent.

PandaLabs believe that many of the trends of 2010 continue in 2011, with more and more examples of cyber-activism, the attacks of the media. SEO threats, an increasing number of attacks on mobile phones and tablets and other evidence of an attack on Macs. In addition, new technologies will also be under threat – let,s see the attacks on Windows 7 and more of hackers trying to exploit HTML 5.

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Microsoft Warns of Office-Linked Malware

Jan05
2011 Written by admin

Office-Linked MalwareMicrosoft Office users should beware a potentially hazardous. Microsoft has announced that it is malware that will have the advantage of vulnerability in Microsoft Office. Microsoft had the known issue in November. Microsoft has released a patch for the threat.

The popular anti-virus company Symantec has listed this as a critical threat. They reported seeing the code “in the wild.” In the wild, is a term used to describe malicious software to see on the Internet. This particular malware may be sent by e-mail. It then uses the error to Microsoft Word infects the host computer.

However, unlike most other types of malware, this particular one doesn’t even have to be opened by a user to infect the computer. An email containing the malware, in the form of a modified rich text format document, simply has to be in the Microsoft Outlook viewing window for it to take advantage of the exploit. In other words, if a user who doesn’t have the patch receives an email with the malware in their Microsoft Outlook, it can infect their computer even if the email isn’t opened. Once infected, the victim’s computer can have programs installed on it, their data viewed, their data changed, or even have their data deleted by the attacker.

Microsoft recommends that everyone download the patch for this vulnerability. The patch is called MS10-087. Microsoft also recommends that everyone keep their antivirus updates. It also encourages users to have an anti-malware installed on your computer.

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Texas Agency Website Shutdown by Malware Attack

Dec31
2010 Written by admin

Malware AttackAccording to the Star Telegram, which published its new, 21 December 2010, Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DAST) website, which have been hit with a malware or a virus that had detached from the Internet in the morning of December 21, 2010.

In the agency said it had temporarily closed the site for security reasons, but did not know exactly what the problem was that even in the absence of information has been compromised. In particular, there is a report of the information system at that location, so that ordinary people can experience power shortages in nursing homes and support services to life.

Further, there’s a registry within the site that reveals misconduct of employees and qualified nurse aides who’ve been prohibited from performing any service in nursing homes. Some vital manuals, handbooks, forms, enforcement statistics along with other types of valuable resources are also included in the website.

Stated Cecilia Fedorov, a spokeswoman for the agency, the department was investigating the entire incident in coordination with Health and Human Services Commission as also computer specialists for unearthing the nature of the malware that infected the TDADS’s computer server. According to her, everything the server contained was being analyzed for ensuring it was safe enough for getting it back to work. Star Telegram reported this.

In a remark, the specialists said there was a rapid growth in cyber-attacks on government and popular websites for disseminating malware over the recent time, while cyber-criminals found them effective in affecting a huge number of users.

They have also warned that hackers are preparing more sophisticated, malicious software has grown in size and activity rather than indicating a decline. Therefore, companies need right now are becoming more aware of how they might implement best security practices to protect their websites and customers with security reputation and sales.

First, be regularly monitored malware on their websites to make sure that no mention was vulnerable to online threats. In addition, organizations that have the costs of monitoring programs on the Web, and focus on the patches and updates for third-party widgets to be installed.

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Malware Invading Cloud 2011

Dec29
2010 Written by admin

Malware Invading Cloud 2011New strains of malware have recently observed a cloud-based service for file-sharing, and its presence may be the Herald and potentially dangerous security threat for Internet users in 2011.

The security firm Kaspersky Lab has recently discovered a malware called “Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Drooptroop.jpa.” The Trojan was found on Rapidshare, a popular file sharing cloud computing and storage services. (Cloud computing is the process by which servers handle external data processing and data storage tasks generally performed by personal computers.)

The particular drooptroop variant (Kaspersky has identified more than 7,000) was first discovered around Christmas and titled “gift.exe.” Once downloaded, the malicious “gift” can intercept browser functions, redirect user requests and allow an attacker to gain access to users’ systems, explained Vicente Diaz, Kaspersky Lab researcher.

Drooptroop also automatically takes users to a rogue antivirus site that attempts to trick them into purchasing antivirus software they don’t need.

What is worrisome for security analysts is that malicious programs, such as drooptroop not appear in the body of the Rapidshare link, which means that it can successfully evade capture by traditional security filters.

As companies become more and more toward the cloud, security experts believe that cyber crooks will adapt to new developments and continue to prosper

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Internet Explorer Leads the Security Malware: Report

Dec24
2010 Written by admin

Internet ExplorerMalware Security Report by NSS Labs found in the Windows Internet Explorer 9 Beta catch “extraordinary” 99 percent of live threats, which IE does not pack 80 percent. Mozilla Firefox 3.6 called for 19 percent of direct threats, down 10 per cent of NSS Labs test is performed in the first quarter of 2010.

Protection of IE9 includes SmartScreen URL filtering, which is included in IE8 and reputation of the applications SmartScreen, which is a new IE9. The report noted Apple’s Safari browser has been asked 5-to 11 percent of direct threats, and protection of the public fell by 18 percent in Q1 2010.

Google Chrome 6 caught just three percent of the live threats, down 14 percent from the Q1 2010 test and Opera 10 brought up the rear—the browser caught zero percent of the live threats. The report concluded the browser provides virtually no protection against socially engineered malware.

From an initial list of 8,000 new suspicious sites, 1,209 potentially malicious URLs were prescreened for inclusion in the test and were available at the time of entry into the test. These were successfully accessed by the browsers in at least one run. On average, 124 new URLs were added to the test set per day. NSS Labs then assessed the browsers’ ability to block malicious URLs as quickly as they found them on the Internet, and continued testing them every six hours to determine how long it took a vendor to add protection.

Trends show Safari and Firefox converging at a protection rate just under 20 percent, indicating that while they share the Google Safe Browser feed, there is a difference in each browser’s implementation. The report noted the mean time to block a site (if it is blocked at all) was16.4 hours, and noted Chrome (with a mean time of 17.8 hours) and Safari (nearly 37.5 hours) were above average at adding new blocks. With the exception of Opera, which failed to block a single malware download, all browsers blocked at least one malware download, according to NSS Labs data.

“It became obvious from this test and comparisons to the earlier test that Microsoft continues to improve their IE malware protection in Internet Explorer 8 (through its SmartScreen Filter technology) and in Internet Explorer 9 (with the addition of SmartScreen application reputation technology). With a unique URL blocking score of 94 percent and over-time protection rating of 99 percent, Internet Explorer 9 was by far the best at protecting against socially-engineered malware,” the report concluded. “The 89 percent zero-hour block rate suggests a far superior malware identification, collection, and classification method,” the report noted.

The test, conducted in September 2010, was the company’s fourth test of Web browser protection against socially engineered malware—which the company said is the most common and impactful security threat facing Internet users today. This report followed the same Live Testing methodology as the tests conducted in Q1 2009, Q3 2009, and Q1 2010.

The report contains validate the empirical evidence gathered during 11 days of 24 x 7 tests done in every six hours, more than 39 discrete test functions, each adding new and fresh malware URL. Each product has been upgraded to the latest available at the time of commencement of the trial, and allows access to the Internet directly.

Posted in Spam - Tagged ,

Malware loves Android and iOS Smartphone’s

Dec22
2010 Written by admin

Android and iOS Smartphone’sMalware for the two most conventional mobile platforms has improved at a much higher rate than for other platforms.

In 2010, malicious software for Smartphone has increased by 33% since last year. Moreover, all projections point out that the contamination will soon become an outbreak like for Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac.

In this regard, Gareth Maclachlan, COO of Adaptive Mobile says “With the increasing pervasiveness of Smartphone devices, 2010 has undoubtedly been the year that fraudsters have truly turned their attention to mobile platforms.”

He adds “The vast majority of consumers are acutely aware of the threats that PC-based viruses, spam messages and phishing emails pose, but many are still unaware of the risks associated with their mobile devices.”

As reported by TGDaily , phones running on Android OS and Apple iOS are at greatest risk – as for these platforms, the number of malicious programs for the year grew by 45%. For Google Android, an open source operating system, even a few applications were demonstrated that allow you to remotely control the telephone. So far as platform Nokia Symbian OS concerned, which till recently was leading in the number of viruses aimed towards it, the number of malware for it on the contrary has decreased by 11%. This shows that this OS is becoming less popular in the market, because hackers primarily are oriented to the most widespread products.

Therefore, users should think about what programs to download and pay more attention to security for mobile devices. Smartphone is definitely harder to break than the computer, but this problem is still rampant.

Posted in Online hacking - Tagged ,

Hackers Set Sights On Android Mobile

Dec17
2010 Written by admin

Android MobileMalware specifically targeting mobile devices increased 33 percent in 2010 as the pirates quickly pushed to new campaigns designed to exploit the popularity of smartphone and the fact that too many users of the cast caution when accessing and sharing data from their mobile companions.

A sharp spike of mobile malware, according to a new report on mobile provider AdaptiveMobile security software, was to be expected, as demand for Smartphone and mobile applications skyrocketed to record levels in 2010.

And while most of these attacks — like this summer’s brutally effective Trojan campaign targeting Android-powered devices — were fairly simple in design and execution, security pundits expect hackers will step up their game in 2011 with more complex scams that will exploit multiple Smartphone features and weaknesses to steal data and spread more malware.

“The next year will see the emergence of the compound threat — intelligent scams designed to exploit multiple phone capabilities in order to reap maximum reward for the criminals, before the user even realizes they have become a victim,” AdaptiveMobile COO Gareth Maclachlan said in the report.

Android, Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) open mobile operating system, continues to take share — mostly from competitors Symbian and BlackBerry — but the success comes at a price.

AdaptiveMobile’s report found that identified exploits for Android surged 400 percent from 2009 but quickly added that the total number of Android exploits is “still at a low level relative to older platforms.”

In fact, Nokia’s Symbian saw its number of identified new exploits fall 11 percent and the iPhone saw a similar percentage decline. Windows CE-based viruses rose 7 percent while the number of exploits impacting Smartphone running Java-based apps jumped 45 percent from 2009.

“With the increasing pervasiveness of Smartphone devices, 2010 has undoubtedly been the year that fraudsters have truly turned their attention to mobile platforms,” Maclachlan said. “The vast majority of consumers are acutely aware of the threats that PC-based viruses, spam messages and phishing emails pose, but many are still unaware of the risks associated with their mobile devices.”

The report concludes that this trend towards more sophisticated malware attacks to force mobile wireless operators, handset manufacturers and mobile application developers to abandon the traditional security technologies and find alternative and more sensitive smart to keep pace with the pirates and owners of malware.

Posted in Online hacking - Tagged , , ,
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