Tag: virus
Prevx develops Internet Explorer 7 fix for latest threat
Anyone who ignored this morning’s warning to abandon Internet Explorer 7 (and let’s face it, there are better things to be doing over lunch than changing your web browser) can instead rejoice that the first patch for the problem has been released by Prevx.
The web site states:
Prevx have developed a utility that users can run to enable and disable Microsoft’s suggested workarounds. This utility will allow you to disable the affected component of Internet Explorer until Microsoft release a patch via their windows update software.
Trend Micro has it in for Internet Explorer – advises switching to another browser IMMEDIATELY
Trend Micro has upgraded its alert status to DEFCON 1 regarding Internet Explorer, telling internet users to stop using it or face having to call out a man to make your computer start working again and set your home page back to something that isn’t porn.
Apparently, some 10,000 web sites are hosting the newest Internet Explorer-exploiting virus, which attempts to steal online gaming accounts by tricking the easily-trickable into signing into fake accounts hosted on Chinese servers…
Malicious Firefox add-on steals banking passwords
Yet another reason to be extremely vigilant when accessing financial web sites: researchers have discovered an add-on for Firefox which lies in wait for the user to log in to a banking or online payments site and then sends the username and password to a Russian site.
It’s a bit of a blow for those who have trumpeted how secure Firefox is, but of course we all know that no piece of software is completely secure…
Shock! Macs can get viruses too. Apple advises antivirus
Hands up all you Mac owners who don’t run any antivirus software on your computer?
Thought so.
The message that’s been drip-fed to Mac users, and is now self-perpetuating, is that Windows PCs get viruses while Mac users don’t.
Leaving aside the self-righteousness issue, it’s fair to say that there are currently a lot less viruses for the Mac, partly because it hasn’t been such a big target (Windows variants take around 90% of the operating system market) and also because it is built on a more solid, but not invincible, framework…
AVG antivirus falsely accuses critical Windows file of virality
I’ve been a long-time fan of AVG Free Antivirus, until recently when I had to swap to Avast because it worked with Vista 64, and AVG didn’t. That said, with free antivirus software you’re always running the risk of ‘getting what you paid for’ and experiencing a show-stopping bug.
Well, AVG’s show-stopping moment occurred on Sunday. It somehow got it into its head that user32.dll – a critical Windows file that lets users interact with programs – contained one of two Trojan Horses – PSW.Banker4.APSA or Generic9TBN. AVG, hilariously, recommended deleting the file, which would cause a system to either fail to boot, or get stuck in a continuous reboot cycle.
Microsoft on viruses and malware: It's not our fault, guv.
Turns out that the vast majority of virus attacks are against badly-written third-party software, rather than Windows itself. So claims Microsoft, anyway, in the graph to the right. In XP, 58% of attacks target third party software, and in Vista, 94% target third-parties. The most popular targets are Apple’s Quicktime, Realplayer and Winzip.
When you drill down to the top ten browser vulnerabilities, Microsoft admit that they account for half of the biggest flaws on XP, including by far the top one, but on Vista, they don’t feature in the top ten at all – the number one place goes to a bit of software called Baofeng, which I suspect is a toolbar of some sort…
Virus alert! Asus Eee Box ships in Japan with malware
Asus, suddenly faced with an extremely popular product, has been slapping the Eee badge on everything it possibly can. Earlier this year, it announced the Eee Box, a small, low-cost desktop PC. The company has just admitted, however, that the version of the product shipping in Japan contains a virus…
FEATURE: Modern Day Malware & Organised Crime
Quarter past nine on a Monday morning. I’m staring at the thick oak beam of long polished table wondering what the hell I’m doing at briefing about internet security. My last journalistic foray into this turgid corner of the tech world had me stuck talking anti-virus software with one of the chief marketing officers at a leading company. I recall a solid 40 minutes of the internet neighbourhood watch warnings as the canapes passed just out of reach behind his back. The hungrier I got the more it sapped my soul. My last conscious thought was “never again”. Never again; until today.
I’m not sure if it was the lure of the Soho House, the charm of the invitation or, more likely, the promise of breakfast but somehow, between them, they short-circuited that old memory in my brain; they silenced its voice. Down went that corner of my neural net; a localised blackout and now here I am in my trainers and jeans, most others with a collar at least. Quarter past nine on a Monday morning. Fifteen minutes before I’m usually at work.
Ed Gibson begins the day more upset than I am that his cooked breakfast hasn’t arrived but that’s probably where the similarity ends. Edward P Gibson is Microsoft’s chief security advisor and a former operative with the FBI. He takes comfortable control of the room of assembled journalists with the warmth and ease of his Midwest drawl. I wonder if that manner served him well at the FBI. I wonder if he’s enjoying his retirement, but by the end of the morning I’ll have changed my mind about how much rest he’s getting in his new profession…
"Norton, we have a problem": Virus on-board the ISS
The following is probably quite a scary sentence if you’re several miles up and outside the Earth’s atmosphere: “A computer virus has made it’s way on to the International Space Station”. That’s right – up in space, where no one can hear you scream and where there are no rescue missions, there’s a virus threatening to wreak havoc…
New viruses pretend to be your Facebook / MySpace friend
Your social networking account is being targetted by destructive new viruses, which sneakily invade your computer by sending messages supposedly from your friends. Or the people you added as ‘friends’ to look more popular.
Win32.Koobecaf.a attacks MySpace users, if there are any left, by sending malicious content to their accounts. Similarly, Win32.Koobecaf.b (they’ll have to come up with more catchy names if they want to make it big) does the same on Facebook, in message format, meaning it’s even more irritating than getting 23 ‘Which Spice Girl are you?’ application requests each week.
