Tag: virus
Facebookers phished in hack-attack
200 million facebookers have they’re accounts targeted by hackers. Facebook were yesterday frantically identifying compromised accounts and blocking their asses.
Infected users had their passwords ‘phished’ and then their accounts were used to spam their friend lists.
Facebook-chap, Barry Schnitt, wouldn’t say how many accounts had been compromised but confirmed those that had were being blocked.
It’s not the first time facebookers have found themselves on the sharp end of a hackers keyboard; last year the Koobface virus hit the site, tricking people into downloading it to their computers.
Security experts say the problem is that all too often passwords are all too simple, the names of pets, old school, football teams and spouses which tend to be on profile’s frontpage.
It’s lucky then that my account is private and my cat is called (shnucky[21mittens%
(Via BBC)
Twitter gets the 'all-clear' after a weekend of virus antics
In a metaphorical ‘get your own back’ situation, everyone’s favourite bird-themed microblogging website, Twitter, was assaulted by worms over Easter weekend. Four waves of assaults hit the site, with those infected spamming out a link to a Twitter clone called StalkDaily.
The creator of StalkDaily, 17-year-old American student Michael Mooney, has admitted he was responsible, saying:
“I really didn’t think it was going to get that much attention, but then I started to see all these stories about it and thought, ‘Oh, my God’.”
While the attack could have been considerably worse if it had been more malicious in intent, security experts said they were surprised it had even been possible on the site, as Facebook and MySpace saw similar assaults quite some time ago. Twitter has promised to conduct a ‘full review’ of what happened.
Old viruses take note of Conficker's successes
Despite Conficker’s relative no-shown on April 1st, its impact hasn’t gone unnoticed in the virus creators community. An updated version of Neeris – which dates from 2005 – is now doing the rounds exploiting the same flaw as last week’s media darling.
Security experts don’t think that the creators are related, just that Neeris has undergone a redesign after seeing Conficker’s success. As ever, if you’re fully patched up with the latest versions of Windows, then you’re probably safe. The quickest way to check, though, is visit an anti-virus site. Most viruses will stop you doing that.
(via eWeek)
Top ten things we wish the Conficker worm would do (but it won't)
On April 1st, the infamous Conficker worm will unveil the full extent of its power. The virus, which has squirrelled away inside something like 15 million PCs, will ‘activate’ by receiving instructions from a mysterious central server.
It could spam, begin DDOS attacks, or just access all your files for identity theft purposes. But those are boring. Let’s have a look at what else it could do. Click through to the full post to begin.
Microsoft offers $250,000 reward for information leading to capture of Conficker worm virus creator
If you happen to inhabit the same deadly underground hacking world (forum) as the creator of the “Conficker” virus that’s been wreaking havoc on PCs since last October and even left France vulnerable to aerial invasion, you might be in luck.
Microsoft has put up a $250,000 reward for information leading the the capture of the creator of the worm/virus, hoping that some of the man’s internet friends might be a bit keen on grassing him up and bringing him to justice…
Purelight XD Magic Wand offers fast, safe, sterilisation of surfaces
A “light wand” that uses ultraviolet radiation in the UV-C band to sterilize surfaces has been made available by Purelight UK. The wand should be able to knock out 99.9% of bacteria, including the rather nasty MRSA and C.difficile bacteria.
UV-C is higher-energy than the UV-A and UV-B wavebands, and it cleanses viruses and bacteria by breaking down the DNA of the microbes. After exposure of no more than 20 seconds, only 1 in 1000 bacteria remain.
There’s three versions of the wand available – the XD, which is rechargable and costs £120, the MD which is more compact and costs just £35, and the more hardcore, industrial “ClearCare” system, which costs £500 and up. None of those prices include VAT.
Purelight UK
Computer virus leaves France DEFENCELESS from the air
Now let this be a lesson to you in what happens if you forget to keep your McAfee subscription updated. France’s Air Force has been grounded due to the ‘Conficker’ computer virus.
Despite forewarning from Microsoft themselves, the Air Force failed to prevent the spread of the virus, and now several Dassault Rafale fighters are out of commission. I just hope that the British Navy is better at keeping things up to date. Oh, wait.
(via Silicon Valley Insider)
More virus antics: Virus infects Royal Navy computers; sailors lose vital access to Facebook | Introducing the virus that farts at you, fool
Knockoff of iWork '09 contains Mac-unfriendly Trojan Horse
There’s a new Trojan Horse for Mac in town and it’s riding around in pirate copies of iWork ’09.
OSX.Trojan.iServices.A secretes itself in otherwise fully-functioning copies of Apple’s latest office software. It installs itself in a startup directory and gives itself full root privileges (in other words, it’s God to your Mac).
Security firm Intego is warning anyone who has downloaded installer software from filesharing/Torrent sites that they could now be infected. Intego’s latest updates for VirusBarrier X4 and X5 will now protect against and disinfect the virus…
Virus infects Royal Navy computers; sailors lose vital access to Facebook
It seems there’s been a nasty virus floating around some of the Navy’s finest warships — and no it’s not something one of the crew caught during their last shore leave, but in fact a computer virus that’s caused the loss of email and Internet access.
The affected computers are part of the Fujitsu-supplied NavyStar N* system and also handle storekeeping and various support functions…
Introducing the virus that farts at you, fool
Programming computer viruses must be a fairly mundane job at times, which is why I’m not surprised that some have decided to inject a bit of humour into their work.
According to customer calls to Panda Security, there are some new bits of infectious code becoming installed on PCs that either hurl insults — repeatedly calling the owner a fool — or else make squelching or farting noises.
One customer, who clearly has an extensive knowledge of what it sounds like when body parts are removed from foodstuffs, said that the noise was similar to “taking a foot out of jelly”…
