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Facebook Malware Preys on User Fears of Losing Site Access

February 2nd, 2011 | No Comments

Three new scams play on a variation of users losing Facebook access, whether its because Mark Zuckerberg is shutting down the site or because the account has been suspended, said security researchers. – Security researchers have
identified several new malware strains claiming to take away users access to
Facebook over the past few days.
Users receive messages,
either via instant message, e-mail or on Facebook, claiming that their accounts
will be shut down. However, the scams promise to restor…

Carberp Trojan Removes Antivirus Scanners, Other Malware from Host

January 28th, 2011 | No Comments

The latest banking malware Carberp has gone through three versions since it came on the scene last year and continues to add on new features. – A piece of banking malware is evolving more sophisticated capabilities to
stay hidden on victims’ PCs, according to several security researchers.
The information-stealing malware Carberp, discovered last October, can steal
a range of data, disguise itself as a legitimate Windows file and remove a…

Stuxnet: Hunting for the Malware’s Origins

January 28th, 2011 | No Comments

The Stuxnet worms origins have been a hot-button topic since it was first detected last summer, and it continues to be gnashed over, as evidenced by events in the past two weeks. There are reports this week that Russias envoy to NATO has called for organization members to join Moscow in investigating who launched Stuxnet. Before that, there was a Jan. 15 article in The New York Times in which unnamed sources said Israels Dimona complex in the Negev desert was a testing ground for the worm. Earlier this month, there were discussions at Black Hat DC about the worms code, which Securicon security consultant Tom Parker noted during a presentation contained basic errors despite having elements of sophistication. Peeling back the layers of Stuxnet has been a long and winding road, an effort that is sure to continue. Its not hard to understand why the worm has captured so many peoples attention. The prospect of malware being able to disrupt a nuclear facility set off the bells of cyber-security experts, politicians and the public alike. It was cited by U.S. lawmakers as a justification for legislation, and by others for better industry regulations. With questions still open, Stuxnet remains a mystery. Here, eWEEK takes a look at some of the recent revelations about the worm and its impact on cyber-security. – …

Facebook, Google Chat Used as Control Sites for Malware Attackers

January 28th, 2011 | No Comments

A sophisticated group of malware attackers often categorized as "Advanced Persistent Threats" are increasingly using Web services and social networking sites for command and control operations. – An increasing number of sophisticated cyber-criminals are
using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to manage targeted
attacks, according to report from security firm Mandiant.
In Mandiants latest Â“M-TrendsÂ” report, released Jan. 27,
researchers observed more examples of Â“Advanced …

NetWitness Spectrum Appliance Automates Malware Detection and Analysis

January 25th, 2011 | No Comments

The NetWitness Spectrum appliance examines all inbound and outbound traffic to determine whether the network traffic is malicious, performs damage assessment and prioritizes potential threats. – NetWitness announced on Jan. 24 a malware analysis appliance
that works with the companys network monitoring platform.
The appliance automates malware analysis so that IT managers
get real-time monitoring, immediate feedback on threats in the network and
prioritization on which issues to address…

Facebook Privacy, Malware and Data Breaches Lead Security News

January 23rd, 2011 | No Comments

A recap of security news from the past week includes a Facebook privacy controversy and arrests in the hack of AT&T last year. – Malware threats, Facebook privacy and criminal charges all made their way
into various security stories in the past week.
The week started out with another battle tied to privacy and security on
Facebook, this time stemming from the social network’s decision to allow
applications to access user…

Mac Malware Mainly Low-Risk Proofs of Concept in 2010

January 22nd, 2011 | No Comments

Despite the number of Mac-specific threats and proof-of-concept code that appeared in 2010, Mac security risk remains relatively low. However, Mac users need to become more security-savvy to keep the risks low. – There were a number of Mac-specific threats in 2010, and security
researchers became more vocal about Mac security. In fact, Intego, a Mac
security vendor for Virus Barrier x6, published its first annual review of Mac
threats on Jan. 20.
Calling 2010 a quot;busy year quot; for Mac security and…

Spam Declined, Trust-Based Malware Increased in 2010: Cisco Survey

January 22nd, 2011 | No Comments

While spam declined dramatically in 2010, social networking threats, identity theft scams and phishing campaigns increased in sophistication and complexity, according to Ciscos Annual Review. – Spam volumes decreased dramatically even as users fell for
increasingly sophisticated social-engineering scams in 2010, according to
Ciscos Annual Security Report, released Jan. 20.
2010 will be known as the Â“year the tide turnedÂ” for spam, Henry
Stern, Cisco senior security researcher, told eWE…

Facebook Spam Speeding Growth of Mobile Malware: BitDefender

January 10th, 2011 | No Comments

There is no need to wait for the appearance of mobile malware, since spam links on social networking sites are infecting a significant number of mobile devices, according to an analysis of a recent Facebook scam. – Malware
from social networking sites are a bigger security threat for mobile devices
than for hacked applications or mobile Trojans, according to antivirus software
provider BitDefender.

While
there is a lot of focus on mobile malware such as Geinimi,
the Google Android Trojan, or malicious
…

Nine New Malware Threats that Grabbed Attention in 2010

January 5th, 2011 | No Comments

Looking back at 2010, a significant number of alarming new threats emerged on the malware landscape, such as the merger of Spy Eye and Zeus Trojans, Koobface-variant Boonana targeting Macs and sophisticated botnets that collected financial data instead of just spewing out more spam. While some viruses stole millions of dollars and others caused untold amounts of damage and downtime as enterprises struggled to clean up the infection, there were also some that were just downright annoying. Some of these herald more variants looming on the horizon, such as Mac-malware, threats to specialized industrial equipment, and counterfeit software. Here is eWEEKs take on the list of unique and noteworthy viruses of 2010, with the help of the anti-virus experts at Panda Labs. While they may not have been the most widespread malware examples, the most sophisticated (although some were very novel) or the most damaging to computer systems, they were well beyond the run-of-the-mill threats that most of us encountered over the past year. – …

Malware Campaign Cyber-Espionage or Cyber-Crime?

January 3rd, 2011 | No Comments

A malware campaign that infected government computers with the Zeus Trojan has prompted some to ask whether this is an example of cyber-espionage. – The crew behind the Kneber botnet that made headlines last year may
have surfaced again in a malware campaign targeting employees of
various governments.
The botnet, which pushes out the Zeus Trojan, was spotted around
Christmas time spamming out malware through a phony holiday
message from th…

Microsoft Word’s RTF Bug Targeted by Malware

January 3rd, 2011 | No Comments

Microsoft is reminding users to update Microsoft Office to eliminate a flaw in how RTF documents are handled. The company posted the latest warning after seeing actual malware in the wild. –
Malware that is exploiting a bug in Microsoft Word is programmed to download
additional malware onto Windows PCs, according to a warning issued by
Microsofts Malware Protection
Center.
The problem was actually patched in Novembers
Patch Tuesday, but after detecting the first pieces of malwar…

Apple, Google TV, Foursquare to Face Malware Attacks in 2011, Says McAfee

December 28th, 2010 | No Comments

Cyber-criminals will target Apple products, Google TV, geo-location services such as Foursquare and Gowalla, and other social media sites in 2011, far more than traditional e-mail methods, said McAfee Labs researchers. – Researchers at McAfee Labs predicted on Dec. 28 that
cyber-criminals will target the latest and talked about online platforms,
including Google TV, Apples iPhone, and foursquare, in 2011.
Noting that the threats landscape has quot;changed
considerably quot; in 2010, McAfee Labs 2011 Threat Pred…

Tuesday Most Active Day for Malware Distributors, Says SonicWALL

December 28th, 2010 | No Comments

SonicWALL researchers analyzed the malware and threat landscape of 2010 and found several global trends, including the intriguing finding that Tuesday is typically the most threat-heavy day of the week. – After analyzing the malware and online threats of 2010,
SonicWALL security researchers said they found that Tuesday was the most
threat-heavy day of the week.
Monday was a close second for threat-related traffic, Ed
Cohen, Sonic Walls vice-president of e-mail security, told eWEEK. It wasnt
clea…

Internet Explorer Leads on Malware Security: Report

December 23rd, 2010 | No Comments

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 beta Web browser beat the competition on malware protection, an NSS Labs report finds. – A malware security report by NSS Labs found Windows Internet
Explorer 9 beta caught an Â“exceptionalÂ” 99 percent of the live
threats, leading the non-IE pack by 80 percent. Mozilla Firefox 3.6
caught 19 percent of the live threats, down 10 percent from the NSS
Labs test conducted in the first qua…

Malware Posing as Fake Desktop Utilities Instead of Phony Antivirus

December 20th, 2010 | No Comments

In the past two months, fake antivirus scareware has morphed into variants pretending to be generic security products, disk utilities and the trusty defrag tool, according to researchers. – Recently, researchers at GFI Software
have noticed an increase in the number of fake security software scams
purporting to be disk utilities that fix disk errors. Instead of
listing Trojans, these security alerts pretend to find disk
fragmentation or file system integrity problems.
Â“Fake AV au…

Internet Explorer Malware Protections Ahead of Rivals, NSS Labs Contends

December 14th, 2010 | No Comments

A new Microsoft-commissioned test by NSS Labs found IE8 and IE9 have boosted their malware protections ahead of browsers from Google, Apple and others. – A new
NSS Labs report puts Internet Explorer way ahead of rival browsers
from Google, Apple, Mozilla and Opera in the fight against malware.
The report, which was commissioned by Microsoft, is
the fourth analysis by NSS Labs aimed at
testing the ability of Web browsers to block quot;socially …

Malware, Hacks and Leaks: The Top 10 Security Stories of 2010

December 13th, 2010 | No Comments

The last 12 months have offered a cornucopia of cyber-security stories. During 2010, there was no lack of data breaches, hacks and malware attacks. There were tales of international cyber-espionage and warfare in such far-flung places as China and Iraq, U.S secrets spilling onto the Internet thanks to the controversial site WikiLeaks& which found itself under attack as it prepared to release thousands of documents& and leaked e-mails. But it wasn’t just the bad guys who were busy. As usual, law enforcement and security researchers were active as well, and the year saw botnet takedowns and arrests as attackers and the people who hunt them crisscrossed the globe. Beyond that were acquisitions, some of which& like Intel’s $7.68 billion purchase of McAfee& reverberated throughout the security industry. And it didn’t stop there. Security issues related to topics such as cloud computing generated high levels of interest as well. In addition, both Facebook and Google& collectors of vast amounts of customer data& were the target of criticism revolving around privacy issues. So without further ado and in no particular order, here’s a look back at the top security stories of the 2010, with the hope that there will be no major attacks between now and Jan. 1. – …

Botnet Boon: How Scammers Cash In

November 30th, 2010 | No Comments

There are several well-known botnets, including Kneber, Rustock and Koobface, pushing out spam and malware each day, clogging up inboxes and compromising Websites. For cyber-criminals, botnets are just business tools that help them make money. Malware is a lucrative business, as Melih Abdulhayoglu, founder and CEO of Comodo, likes to point out& the money is no longer only in drugs, but in creating malware, and the goal is to spread it as far and fast as possible to catch unsuspecting victims. According to Symantec Hosted Services, a botnet’s rental fees can range from $9 an hour to more than $65 an hour. How do the criminals renting the botnets to spread their malware make their money? Here is a rundown of some of the more common botnet-based attacks, as described by Martin Lee from Symantec Hosted Services. Just remember: The scammers don’t need everyone to fall for their attacks. Considering the hundreds of thousands of messages pushed by the botnet, if even 1 percent falls for the scam, they’ve made back the cost of renting out the zombies and gotten a tidy little profit as well. – …

Zeus Trojan Merger with SpyEye, Other Banking Malware Worry Researchers

November 30th, 2010 | No Comments

A slew of Zeus Trojan variants and a merger between the two largest botnets have security researchers worried about future banking malware attacks. – The developers behind the Zeus and SpyEye Trojans have joined forces to
create one major botnet, with sophisticated capabilities to attack user bank
accounts, according to security researchers.
Malware authors aren’t sitting still as law enforcement
officials arrest
cyber-gangs stealing milli…

Posts Tagged ‘malware’

Facebook Malware Preys on User Fears of Losing Site Access

Carberp Trojan Removes Antivirus Scanners, Other Malware from Host

Stuxnet: Hunting for the Malware’s Origins

NetWitness Spectrum Appliance Automates Malware Detection and Analysis

Facebook Privacy, Malware and Data Breaches Lead Security News

Mac Malware Mainly Low-Risk Proofs of Concept in 2010

Spam Declined, Trust-Based Malware Increased in 2010: Cisco Survey

Nine New Malware Threats that Grabbed Attention in 2010

Malware Campaign Cyber-Espionage or Cyber-Crime?

Microsoft Word’s RTF Bug Targeted by Malware

Apple, Google TV, Foursquare to Face Malware Attacks in 2011, Says McAfee

Tuesday Most Active Day for Malware Distributors, Says SonicWALL

Internet Explorer Leads on Malware Security: Report

Malware Posing as Fake Desktop Utilities Instead of Phony Antivirus

Internet Explorer Malware Protections Ahead of Rivals, NSS Labs Contends

Malware, Hacks and Leaks: The Top 10 Security Stories of 2010

Botnet Boon: How Scammers Cash In

Zeus Trojan Merger with SpyEye, Other Banking Malware Worry Researchers

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