malware »
FinFisher spyware used by governments around the world is disguised as Firefox, and Mozilla is not happy about it
FinFisher, also known as FinSpy, is a piece of malware developed by Gamma International and sold to governments of 36 different countries (the US included) to monitor the activities of computer users. The spyware was originally designed to aid with criminal investigations, but there have been reports that say it [...]
Read More »Google releases Chrome Office Viewer extension, will help you avoid those pesky virus-infected Office files
Google just released a new Chrome extension called the Chrome Office Viewer — it of course let’s you open and view Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint only) directly in your browser. It sounds like just another way to make things more convenient (and make Chrome OS sound more [...]
Read More »24% of PCs worldwide are vulnerable to viruses and cyber attacks, because people don’t update their antivirus
According to the most recent Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, an average of 24 percent of computers worldwide are vulnerable to viruses and cyber attacks. The reason? Simple — the lack of up-to-date antivirus software.
The report says that some people may not realize the importance of installing and maintaining [...]
Read More »‘Badnews’ malware infiltrates several apps on Google Play Store, downloaded up to 9 million times
We’ve all heard the stories about malware and Android. Many believe the claims to be false, especially considering most malware has to be actively installed by the user before it can cause any damage. The biggest problem with malware is that it can be embedded in alternate software, and users [...]
Read More »Bing shows five times more malware websites than Google, according to study
Search engines like Google and Bing index the web. The web contains thousands (millions?) of malware links, either malicious websites or malicious downloads. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that malware links can be found when searching via a search engine. The people at major search engines, including Google and Bing, [...]
Read More »VirusTotal maximum file size limit is now 64 MB, up from 32 MB
As I’m sure most dotTechies know, VirusTotal is an awesome online virus/malware scanner that allows users to scan files and programs for viruses or malware using over 40 different anti-virus/anti-malware engines.
VirusTotal historically had a maximum file size limit of 20 MB. Files above 20 MB were not able to [...]
Read More »AVG Secure Search Security Toolbar is malware, avoid it more than the plague
I’ve been reviewing software since dotTech was born back in October 2008. By now, over four years on, I have become very good at avoiding crapware that comes bundled with many programs, notably toolbars; I can only remember one time in the past few years when I have accidentally installed [...]
Read More »Internet-wide scan reveals millions of devices are exploitable due to use of default passwords like “admin” or “root”
A researcher, who has chosen to remain anonymous, has performed an internet-wide scan to determine the security level of gadgets like printers, webcams, and set-top boxes all across the world.
The scan was done by using the researcher’s custom-written code to send out more than 4 trillion messages. To put [...]
Read More »South Korean banks and TV networks go down in massive cyberattack, hacker displays skulls on-screen
A handful of banks in South Korea have reportedly experienced serious network outages due to a malware attack.
The KBS and MBC networks said that all their computers shut down at 2pm local time, although this did not disrupt or damage their daily TV broadcasts. News channel YTN reported that [...]
Read More »EA’s online video game service Origin is exploitable by bug that lets attackers remotely run malicious code
Video game publisher Electronic Arts recently put out one of the bigger releases of the year in SimCity. The game was plagued with launch woes and continuous server issues as it required an online connection to EA’s Origin service to function. It turns out that’s not the end of the [...]
Read More »Anyone who feels Mac “doesn’t get viruses” hasn’t heard of ‘Pintsized.A’, a new trojan that bypasses Mac security measures
Remember that hack marathon earlier this year that saw Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft compromised? Yeah, well, the breach occurred courtesy infected Macs. And now researchers have identified the malware that infected these Macs — ‘Pintsized.A’.
Pintsized.A is a new trojan that specifically targets Mac OS X. It isn’t entirely [...]
Read More »Android accounts for 79% of mobile malware and iOS 0.7%, according to report by F-Secure
F-Secure, a security firm, has released their Mobile Threat Report for Q4 2012 and the trend is not surprising: Android has a bullseye on its back.
Accounting for a whopping 79% of 301 new malware discovered in 2012, Android is on top of the list when it comes to mobile [...]
Read More »![Computer problems caused by viruses vs problems you think are caused by viruses [Comic]](http://cdn.dottech.org/media/2013/03/virus_vs_no_virus-290x160.png)
NBC website is hacked, visitors are infected with malware via drive-by attack
We have had a lot of hacking stories lately on dotTech simply due to a sudden spike in public cybercrime incidents. However, by and large the most recent incidents were either low-key (e.g. Twitter attack hacked) or aimed at the corporate sector rather than ordinary citizens (e.g. Apple hack). That, [...]
Read More »Is China innocent? New reports claim cyber attacks on Facebook, Twitter, and Apple came from Eastern Europe
After recent cyber attacks on high-profile companies like Facebook, Twitter and then Apple, everyone seemed to be pointing fingers at China. But now reports have surfaced claiming that the attacks on those companies originated from Eastern Europe.
An Eastern European gang, that is determined to sell company secrets like research [...]
Read More »Nobody is safe: Apple is attacked by Chinese hackers through Java vulnerability
In a statement released yestreday, Apple has disclosed that a number of their employees’ Macs have been compromised by malware through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers.
The website that was infected and considered responsible for hosing the malware has been identified as ‘iPhoneDevSDK’, an online forum for [...]
Read More »Facebook was hacked last month and is only admitting it now
The same time the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Twitter were attacked, there was a fourth company that also fell victim to a “sophisticated attack.”
Facebook, which is home to more than a billion users worldwide, was hit by a zero-day exploit that installed malware on [...]
Read More »Adobe Reader is hit with new zero-day attack, avoid immediately to stay safe
Adobe Reader, Adobe’s popular PDF viewer, has a flaw that is allowing hackers to install malware on users’ computers. The exploit affects the latest version of the program (11.0.1), as well as earlier versions. This appears to be Windows only.
Adobe engineers have tried to make malware attacks harder to [...]
Read More »Watching porn on your smartphone or tablet is dangerous, according to study
A new study says that watching porn can be bad for your smartphone or tablet. The reason for this? Malware. Visiting mobile porn sites will bring up the chances of downloading malware three-fold — it’s worse than e-mail spam, malicious websites and fake apps combined.
The study, which was done [...]
Read More »32% of computers around the world are infected with viruses and malware, according to Panda Security
Most anti-virus companies like to release yearly reports based on their findings throughout the year. Panda Security is no exception and has released its ’2012 Annual Security Report’. In this report you will find some stats that may or may not shock you.
Of all the computers scanned by Panda [...]
Read More »Beware of fake Java update patch — it contains malware
There are two groups in this world that are notoriously quick to react to technological change — the porn industry and hackers. The porn industry is known for pioneering new technology to try to increase revenue. For example, porn websites were one of the first websites that started accepting payments [...]
Read More »‘Red October’ is global espionage malware that targeted governments around the world (USA, Iran, Russia, etc.) for 5 years… without being detected
Researchers from antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab have discovered something that sounds like it came straight out of a spy movie. A massive, on-going espionage network targeting hundreds of governmental, diplomatic and scientific organizations in at least 39 countries. Before you start pointing fingers at who might be responsible this time [...]
Read More »Malware targeting Windows does damage in a novel way — using Google Docs
Backdoor.Makadoc — a trojan that has been floating in the wild for a while now, attacking Windows, and has recently been updated to target Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 — is a clever piece of malware. What makes this malware clever, you ask? Simply the way it goes about [...]
Read More »New malware (ransomware) locks your computer claiming you violated the law under SOPA, asks for $200 if you want your files back
Ransomware is a type of malware that locks your computers, encrypts your files, etc. to prevent you from accessing your data and asks for money if you want to regain access. In other words, your data is held ransom, hence the name ransomware.
A new ransomware is floating around the [...]
Read More »US Navy develops malware for smartphones that will “steal your life”
PlaceRaider. The name sounds like a gamer tag someone would use on Xbox. It isn’t a gamer tag, however. (Well it might be but not in the context of this article.) PlaceRaider is the name of a new malware developed by Robert Templeman from the US Naval Surface Warfare Center [...]
Read More »New malicious Android app is spreading through Facebook, do not click every random link you see
You know how you are always cautioned about clicking on any and all links you see? The reason behind this is you simply don’t know what may be behind the URL, and by the time you find it out it may be too late. Although this (good) advice is typically [...]
Read More »Password stealing trojan hits Mac OS X and Linux, declared “first in history” to affect both platforms
Russian security firm Doctor Web is reporting the discovery of a password stealing trojan that is taking aim at Mac OS X and Linux. (Should have bought a Windows.)
According to Doctor Web, the maker of Dr. Web Anti-Virus and related products, the BackDoor.Wirenet.1 trojan (a name Dr. [...]
Read More »New type of malware: website links (the links themselves, not the websites they lead to)
We all know what URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) are; put in popular jargon, a URL is the address to a web page. URIs (Uniform Resource Identifier) are similar to URLs but are one level above; URIs point to a resource and are [...]
Read More »Be careful of trojan disguised as e-mail from Facebook
You get an e-mail that looks like it is from Facebook. The e-mail says you have been tagged in a photo by a friend and the photo is attached to the e-mail. You open the attachment and BAM you are infected by a trojan known as Troj/Agent-XNN. Or at least [...]
Read More »New malware ‘Mahdi’ targets Iran and Israel, shows Flame who is boss
Did you think the Stuxnet and Flame were the end of geographically targeted malware attacks? Yeah, you wish. A new malware has been detected roaming in the Middle East, targeting ‘sensitive’ organizations and stealing e-mails, passwords, files, and nearby conversations.
Dubbed ‘Mahdi’ by researchers at Kaspersky Lab and Seculert due [...]
Read More »Thousands will lose Internet connectivity from July 9; but fix is easy
Thousands of Internet users are expected to face an Internet blackout from July 9, 2012 (this coming Monday). Whom will be affected, you ask? The users who’s machines are infected by the DNSChanger malware.
DNSChanger is a piece of malware developed by six Estonian cybercriminals. Over the past five years [...]
Read More »Flame malware confirmed to be a product of US and Israel to slow Iranian nuclear efforts
Recently, ‘Flame’ had become a very familiar word to almost all among us. Flame has been named by security experts to be the most complicated malware the security world has ever encountered till now. Flame makes use of a vulnerability in the computers running Windows operating system, enacting itself to [...]
Microsoft releases Automatic Updater and Fix It solution to counter Flame malware
As reported earlier in a post which pointed out the connection between Flame and Stuxnet, Flame has been named to be one of the most complicated malware ever written. Security analysts have also made clear that it might be a state-sponsored attack.
As Locutus reported earlier, some Gmail accounts have [...]
Read More »Flame is state-sponsored malware, connected to Stuxnet
Flame, a malware detected just recently, spreading havoc all over, currently flagged to be one of the most complex ones ever, has been targeting computers running Microsoft Windows operating system in the Middle East nations. CERT had announced it’s discovery on 28 May 2012, and it was categorized as [...]
BitDefender QuickScan: Lightning fast cloud-based malware scanner for quick, on-the-fly security checks
Ever try to use traditional, clunky online malware scanners to try to get a second opinion as to if your computer is clean or infected with malware? I have, and I can attest to the fact that it isn’t pretty. While in theory online malware scanners can be useful, in [...]