Antivirus News

Microsoft's Whitelist Helps Hackers

2010-03-01T22:46:00.000-08:00

Microsoft was trying to help consumers save time while fighting off spam, viruses and hackers. However, it looks like their tips are also helping hackers - far from what Microsoft hoped to be doing.

A Microsoft support article, Virus scanning recommendations for computers that are running Windows, recommends that users exclude certain files and folders from antivirus software to avoid situations where "serious performance problem" could occur as a result of file locking.

Many security experts and software manufacturers, like Trend Micro, have taken exception to this advice noting that "we are concerned by the fact that this was released publicly." David Sancho, a malware researcher with Trend Micro argued that the list will be a boon to hackers, as they can know strategically drop or download a malicious file into one of the folders mentioned in the exclusion list. Sancho admitted that the risk is not immediate, but it is on the way - "Following the recommendations does not pose a significant threat as of now, but it has a very big potential of being one."

It is important to note that Trend Micro has a history of butting heads with Microsoft. Like many other third-party security vendors, Trend has mocked Microsoft's moves in the antivirus market, However, other security experts that don't directly compete with Microsoft have also reaised concerns. Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, backed Sancho on that. "I would agree with Trend that making any sort of whitelisting with your security software is not for the average user or the faint at heart," Storms said in an interview conducted via instant message.

This scenario only highlights the challenges of security. Microsoft wanted to help consumers avoid issues - but any attempt to increase convenience can unfortunately also decrease security.

Source: Google

Boeing 787 searches hijacked by rogue anti-virus

2010-03-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

Today, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet completed its much awaited first flight. As users searched to find videos and news articles related to the story, blackhats quickly moved in for yet another attack against Google search results.

Source: Google

Ten Top Anti-Virus Software Reviews on Topsofts.com

2010-03-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

Topsofts.com has reviewed ten top Anti-virus Software and the champion is Kaspersky Anti-Virus.
Anti-virus Software Reviews

Online PR News – 23-December-2009 – Kaspersky Anti-Virus is a complete antivirus solution with automated real-time protection from a range of threats, including viruses, Trojans, bots, worms, and even spyware. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 is the backbone of your PC’s security system. it provides you with automated real-time protection from a range of IT threats:

Kaspersky Anti-Virus has many features such as:

Real-time scan for files including compressed files, web pages, instant messages, emails, webmails and e-messages and so on.
Basic identity theft protection (IMPROVED!)
Color-code the links to unsafe websites (NEW!)
Disable the links to malicious websites
Block suspicious programs based on their behavior (IMPROVED!)
Protect your PC from hijacking
Self-protection from malware
Regular and emergency updates for always-on protection

Wanna more information about ten top anti-virus software reviews, please feel free to visit the page below.

Source: Google

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 named 'Best Buy' by Computer Shopper

2010-03-01T22:43:00.000-08:00

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 received a five-star rating and Best Buy status following the comparative testing of 11 popular security solutions that included freeware, shareware and commercial versions

Mumbai, Maharashtra, December 23, 2009 /India PRwire/ -- Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, announces that the UK magazine Computer Shopper has awarded Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 its 'Best Buy' rating for an antivirus solution.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 received a five-star rating and Best Buy status following the comparative testing of 11 popular security solutions that included freeware, shareware and commercial versions.

The products were rigorously tested against real threats that are currently live on the Internet - malicious programs that use drive-by downloads to infect users' machines without their knowledge. The protection solutions were installed on identical PCs running the Windows XP SP2 operating system.The products were rated on detection level, quality of system recovery, use of system resources as well as the number of false positives generated by a collection of clean files which, just to make things more difficult, included potentially unwanted programs such as password crackers. How easy the product interfaces were to navigate, the variety of useful functions and the retail price were also taken into consideration.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 passed the test with flying colors, demonstrating the best overall score and deservedly earning the top five-star rating and Best Buy status. The experts at Computer Shopper praised the product for its "outstanding malware protection", "easy-to-use interface" and affordable price.

"We are delighted to receive such high marks from a renowned British magazine. This reflects the popularity of our product in the UK," commented Stephane Le Hir, Vice President of Kaspersky Lab's Consumer Division. "It's particularly important that our products continue to fare so well in proactive protection tests because this is an area that is vital for the end user. It's also good to see that more and more IT publications and test labs are choosing this approach to assess the performance of antivirus solutions."

Kaspersky Lab's range of personal products, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 and Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, are at the cutting-edge of information security. Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 combines advanced application control technology that assigns a risk rating to previously unknown malware with the innovative Kaspersky Security Network distribution system and unique sandbox virtualization technology that provides a safe environment in which to run suspect applications.

Source: Kaspersky

Using Facebook and Twitter safely

2010-03-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

You and just about everyone else, it seems, are spending more and more time on Facebook and Twitter, updating statuses and checking friends' tweets. That's all well and good, of course, but the amount of personal information that all of you share in real time, and the level of trust implicit with the social networking sites, do pose particular security and privacy problems.

A recent study from Sophos found that Facebook users reveal a lot of personal information to new friends, including ones they really don't even know or have never met. Using fake profiles, Sophos sent out friend requests to 100 random Facebook users, and more than 40 percent blindly accepted, giving the company access to birth dates, e-mail addresses, phone number and addresses--private information strangers shouldn't have.

The openness of Twitter--anyone can follow anyone else, and posts are indexed in search engines--makes it a nirvana for spammers. Kaspersky says there are nearly 500,000 new unique URLs that appear in Twitter posts daily, and of those, anywhere between 100 and 1,000 are malware attacks.

Here's a look at some of the specific threats users of the sites face and what they can do about it.

Source: Google

Microsoft's Whitelist Helps Hackers

2010-03-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

Lookout keeps an eye on mobile-device security (photos)

2010-03-01T22:40:00.000-08:00

Francisco start-up Lookout is launching this week. Shown here is co-founder and CEO John Hering at the company's offices in downtown San Francisco.

The Lookout software runs on mobile phones, offering antivirus and firewall protection, as well real-time cloud-based backup, the ability to locate missing devices, and manage many devices. The service is currently in private beta in more than 170 countries across 400 mobile networks, says Hering.

Source: Google

Avira Antivirus Is the Lightest Antivirus Software

2010-03-01T22:38:00.000-08:00

“Will it slow down my system?”, is a question antivirus vendors are often asked by worried customers. Indeed, antivirus utilities are infamous for having an adverse impact on system performance. A new report released by Av-comparatives – a leading antivirus software testing firm, provides us the answer to this oft-asked question.

Av-comparatives-Antivirus-Performance-Test

Av-comparatives used 16 popular antivirus utilities and measured the impact they had on various activities like file copying and downloading. Fully defragmented hard disks were utilized on each occasion and external factors like network and temperature were neutralized as far as possible.

None of the antivirus utilities had a significant impact on encoding/transcoding and archiving/unarchiving speeds. However, eScan, FSecure, G DATA, Microsoft and Trustport slowed down file copying significantly (more than doubled the time required to copy a file). Thankfully, due to fingerprinting technologies, all of them but eScan performed impressively on subsequent runs.

When it came to slowing down application installations/uninstallations Bitdefender, G DATA and Trustport were the biggest culprits. Trustport also increased application launch times by more than 100%. These three were joined by AVG in the file downloading hall of shame. AVG, Bitdefender, G DATA and Trustport more than doubled file download durations.

Throughout the tests Avira performed admirably and this was reflected even in the WorldBench scores. eScan, Trustport, Bitdefender and G DATA once again found themselves at bottom of the pile.

Thanks to an outstanding all round performance Avira was the overall winner. Kingsoft, F-Secure, Sophos and Kaspersky were the other products which made it to the top five.
Performance Chart

1. Antivirus Name – Score (Higher is better) AVIRA AntiVir Premium 9.0 – 199
2. Kingsoft Antivirus 9 Plus – 196
3. F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 – 195
4. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 – 193
5. Sophos Anti-Virus 9.0.1 – 193
6. Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 – 190
7. avast! Free 5.0 – 188
8. Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2010 – 188
9. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.0 – 183
10. McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010 – 174
11. Norman Antivirus & AntiSpyware 7.30 – 169
12. AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 – 164
13. BitDefender Antivirus 2010 – 154
14. G DATA AntiVirus 2010 – 152
15. eScan AntiVirus 10.0 – 137
16. Trustport Antivirus 2010 – 125

Source: Avira

‘Brittany Murphy death’ searches return rogue anti-virus

2010-03-01T22:34:00.001-08:00

Websense Security Labs’s ThreatSeeker Network has discovered that Google top searches on ‘Brittany Murphy death’ returns rogue anti-virus websites.

The Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy died suddenly during the weekend, causing many to search for more news on what happened.

However, when searching for ‘Brittany Murphy death’ on for example Google, users can be redirected to malicious domains offering rogue anti-virus software if they click the matches.

The malicious domains try to convince people that they are real anti-virus software websites, so that people will download and execute malware.

“There are now a lot of variants available, typically named install.exe, and at the moment it seems they haven't attracted much attention from AV companies”, Websense said in its security alert.

This article is featured in:
Malware and Hardware Security • Public Sector

Microsoft has the best anti-virus too!

2010-03-01T22:33:00.001-08:00

So Microsoft has the dubious distinction of selling Operating Systems that attract a whole galaxy of viruses, of all types and proportions. This has been an eye sore in an otherwise extremely popular and high selling Windows Operating System. Microsoft on its part has always been pushing regular patches and updates to fix loopholes as and when they are found, either internally, or from external auditors. Taking this one step ahead, Microsoft had come up with their own anti-virus software some time back, which has been made available for download and usage, free of cost – an anti-climax, considering the anti-virus market is huge what with players like Symantec making a killing out of it.

Microsoft’s Security Essentials has been well received by critics and users alike, and now they have another certification from AV Comparatives. As per their recent evaluation of free and commercial anti-virus software in the market, Microsof’t tops the free anti-virus manufacturer’s list with the best performance in removing malware, in addition to being fast. That should come across as some relief to Microsoft which has long been at the receiving end of mischievous programmers.

Source : Google News

Malware Variants Explosion

2010-01-23T05:41:00.000-08:00

Malware Variants Explosion Make Antivirus Programs Inadequate & Ineffective

According to the news published in Emirates Business24/7 on November 19, 2009, given the growth of Internet threats and an overabundant supply of exclusive malware variants during 2009, antivirus solutions don't seem to be enough for protecting enterprises.

According to the "Predictions for 2010" by online security firm 'Symantec,' there is a realization among industry players that conventional antivirus solutions (based on file signatures as well as behavioral/heuristic abilities) aren't sufficient to safeguard from modern threats.

The company also said, certain expected security trends for 2010 point to the fact that anti-viruses will be overwhelmed. Social engineering tactics will play a key role in these expected attacks. Rather than targeting operating systems or system devices, attackers will aim users directly and deceive them by meeting all their demands.

According to Symantec, the Conficker virus, which is a highly-prevalent malware globally, in fact attained its status to some extent on account of certain large antivirus companies' underplaying of the worm's continuity.

At the conference on security forecast for 2010, Orla Cox, Symantec's Senior Manager, acknowledged that the extremely fast propagation of Conficker had found the company off guard. According to her, researchers at Symantec knew that a malware item could potentially exploit the vulnerability, but they thought that people probably knew what to do on the basis of past experiences, as reported by Mxlogic on November 17, 2009.

Moreover, Symantec stated that during 2010, consumers might witness the perpetrators of scareware (or fake security software) move up to a higher level to compromise people's PCs, make their systems inoperable, and then demand money to liberate them. Additionally, a not so severe next move might be software which isn't overtly malicious, but deceptive to the maximum.

Symantec also states that a point has been reached where the creation of new malware is greater than that of quality or good software. Apparently, a point has also been attained where it's no longer sensible to concentrate only on investigating malicious programs. Rather, security approaches which seek for methods to encompass all reputation-based security would be foremost during 2010.

Source Google News

Security Firm Finds Spammers Thriving in U.S.

2010-01-23T05:36:00.000-08:00

Americans love their celebrities, and spammers have gotten wise. Security software vendor McAfee has a new report warning of the activities of U.S. spam purveyors operating under the radar, and eSecurityPlanet's got the story.

McAfee's December spam report suggests that while antivirus and antispyware vendors continue to improve their security software offerings on a daily basis, hackers are still taking advantage of America's technology and fascination with pop culture to spread their spam.

Jan. 1 marked the sixth anniversary of the Federal Trade Commission's Can-Spam Act, a piece of legislation that was supposed to help curb the geometric explosion in spamming and phishing attacks in the U.S. by virtue of a $16,000 fine per incident.

But according to McAfee, the Can-Spam Act as well as other technological and legal instruments designed to rein in spammers have failed to slow the flow of unsolicited e-mails into Americans' inboxes.

"We have seen the amount of spam sent to the average e-mail address rocket upward to peaks as high as 92 percent of all traffic only a few months ago," McAfee researchers said in their report.

Source Google News

Windows 7 still needs anti-virus, susceptible to 8 out of 10 viruses

2009-11-16T01:06:00.000-08:00

During the launch of the new Windows 7, Microsoft had a lot to say about the safety features it offered, and especially protection from viruses and malware. While it was always meant to be taken with a pinch of salt, the guys at security firm Sophos decided to put the operating system to the test.

Chester Wisniewski of Sophos writes that they loaded up a machine with a fresh version of Windows 7, and left all the User Account Control options at default. Then, they grabbed the next 10 unique virus samples that arrived in the SophosLabs feed to see how well the newer, more secure version of Windows and UAC held up.

“Unfortunately, despite Microsoft's claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows. The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, 2 would not operate correctly under Windows 7,” Wisniewski writes.

Lesson learned? You still need to run anti-virus on Windows 7. A viable option could be the new, free Microsoft Security Essentials suite that the company has launched recently. Ars Technica reported a few days ago on an antivirus comparison by AV-Comparative that puts Microsoft Security Essentials as the best free anti-virus solution out there, ahead of names like AVG, Avast and Avira.

Windows 7 debut is a hit
Meanwhile, market analysis firm NPD has released a report that says Windows 7 has done extremely well since its launch on October 22. According to NPD’s weekly tracking service, Windows 7 software unit sales in the U.S. were 234 per cent higher than Vista’s first few days of sales.

“Microsoft’s program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles.”

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Source Google News

PC Tools Forays into the Indian Market

2009-11-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

New Delhi PC Tools today announced its entry into India along with the release of its 2010 security portfolio, which includes PC Tools Internet Security 2010, Spyware Doctor 2010, and Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010. Using an advanced multi-layered approach, PC Tools has delivered a security portfolio for the “digitally active” customer that integrates multiple layers of technology to block threats at every entry point. With leading detection rates of 100% for wildlist and behavioral protection and 99.46% for scanning , the digitally active consumer can be confident in the powerful protection our 2010 security portfolio provides.

PC Tools 2010 security portfolio is available online at www.pctools.com and in local retail stores or through affiliate and reseller programs across the globe. Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus is available for INR 500 and Internet Security for INR 800.

“IT in India will continue to grow dynamically. The proof lies in the penetration of IT at the grassroots level with consumers having an exposure to IT not only in the big cities but smaller towns within India,” says Tom Powledge, General Manager, PC Tools “As India increasingly becomes more IT savvy the chances of a virus attack increase exponentially.”

“Unlike other security software companies
, PC Tools’ 2010 security portfolio uses multiple layers of protection so customers can be confident in clicking on whatever they want without fear of infection or financial loss because our purpose-built security portfolio blocks threats at every entry point” said Tom Powledge, General Manager, PC Tools.

Recent customer research showed that customer satisfaction was first driven by the ability to detect and fix, followed by providing intuitive and easy to use security solutions and as such, in addition to delivering powerful protection, the 2010 portfolio includes a range of ‘’state awareness modes’’, to ensure the new products are intuitively aware of computing behavior. In addition, new power-saving, idle and game modes allow our products to provide maximum protection, with minimal interruption.

A diverse combination of technologies provides powerful multi-layered protection at every entry point and is intuitively aware of computing behavior:

-- Behavior Guard (ThreatFire) behavioral technology blocks new threats faster than traditional signature methods

-- Multi-layered browsing protection from Site Guard and Browser Guard incorporating dynamic content analysis to protect against web exploits, rogueware scare tactics and drive-by downloads, for example

-- Power Saving mode protects by minimizing impact to battery power and can extend battery life by delaying power-intensive actions

-- Idle mode automatically runs PC consuming tasks including scans and updates when customers aren’t using their PCs to minimize impact

-- Game mode provides an uninterrupted gaming, movie or presentation experience

-- Windows 7 Compatibility

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Source Google News

Kaspersky Lab Releases Antivirus App

2009-11-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

If you want make a Mac user mad, just sidle up and whisper the words, "Mac security software." Then step back as the incensed sputtering ensues.

Well, get your sputterer ready: Following in the footsteps of McAfee and Open Door Networks, Kaspersky Lab has announced its first Mac security software. (There, I said it.)

To Kaspersky's credit, the company is pitching Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac primarily as a prophylactic to prevent Macs from spreading malware to Windows PCs via e-mail, file-sharing, and other networked activities. With 85 percent of Mac users also owning a Windows PC, that pitch isn't entirely implausible.

At the same time, Kaspersky Lab argues that the Mac platform isn't inherently invulnerable and that, as Macs gain market share, malicious hackers could begin to see it a juicier target. So Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac will protect against Mac-specific malware, too, should such a thing ever exist in significant quantity.

Kaspersky Lab says the software scans and disinfects files--including e-mail attachments and Web downloads--in real-time. It also claims that it'll take up just one-percent of your CPU's resources when idle. (Though if the program is scanning every file you receive or download, how often will that be? And how many of your CPU's cycles will it suck up when it's scanning? We'll have to get back to you on those questions.)

Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher and an Intel processor. A 1-year license for a single Mac is $40; for three Macs, the 1-year license is $60. A 30-day free trial version (which can be upgraded to the licensed version) is available for download from the Kaspersky e-store.

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Source Google News

Fake Antivirus: 5 software titles you should definitely NOT install

2009-10-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

Bogusware, scareware or rogueware - whatever you prefer to call them, are all different names given to describe roughly the same thing: rogue security products that masquerade as the real thing.

According to numbers published by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), more than 485,000 rogue security samples were detected for 2009 - an astoundingly large figure, when you consider that is more than double the statistical total for 2008.

More so, June was a watershed month for malware: 152,197 examples of anti-malware products were analysed overall.

The APWG estimates more than 200 gangs throughout the world are responsible for the bulk of rogue security software applications floating around the internet, although only 10 of these gangs are responsible for more than 77% of the rogue malware infections.

How they work

Generally, web surfers are prompted to download rogue security software via an advertisement that pretends to offer authentic anti-virus or spyware scanning tools.

Other methods also include drive-by-downloads via infected websites and fake BitTorrent downloads carried over popular P2P networks.

In some cases, the extent of infection only extends to credit card fraud: users are asked to register for a lifetime product licence by entering their credit card details.

But in other more sinister cases, fake malware products can install hidden Trojans onto the user's computer unsuspectingly and then log email actions, bank account passwords and other personal data by sending it covertly back to the gang operating the scam. This data is often used in numerous identity and banking fraud schemes.

Where will you most likely come across rogue security software?

At first, it was assumed that most of the software applications were only showing up on porn, P2P and warez sites. Now that's changing. In recent months, mainsteam websites such The New York Times came under attack for hosting an advertisement on its site that redirected readers to a fake anti-virus package.

Google plays a key part in the dissemination of not-so-honest links. Fake anti-virus applications still routinely show up in the pretext of Google adwords and in search results when you ssearching out new anti-virus suites to download.

Downloading antivirus products over Bittorrent or P2P can be just as dangerous - many so called genuine products (such as Norton 2009 for example) can contain Trojan horses that work in the same way to infect machines.

A quick Wikipedia search will often tell you plenty of things about your program of choice. It comes down to a great deal of common sense, including downloading from trusted sites, reading reviews and taking some time to consider why a flashing ad is prompting you to install a mysterious antivirus scanner. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

Removing and cleaning rogue invaders

Not all mainstream software security packages will pick up and detect the latest scareware. This has much to do with the concept of polymorphic malware, a type of viral threat that constantly changes its own binary structure to evade detection, making it extremely difficult to be picked up by traditional signature based scanning.

As most rogue security titles are polymorphic by nature, their malware signatures are often dynamic, which makes it very hard for some antivirus software to detect.

To keep one step ahead of the security companies, malware programmers regularly change their name and logo to keep up with the latest signature scanners. As a result, many of the same rogue software titles compete under different titles, names that sound much like the real thing including "MS Antivirus".

Smaller spyware scanners tend to do a good job specialising in removing the fakes and these include programs such as Malwarebytes Anti Malware and Spyware Doctor. Combo-fix is a bare-bones piece of freeware used for catching spyware and malware and is a effective free alternative to cleaning vulnerable machines. HijackThis can sometimes be used to delete registery information if spyware scanners cannot clean all aspects of an infection.

5 rogue security software titles to avoid:

1) SpySherrif

How it works: This piece of malware does it best work by informing computers of false threats to their system. It's mostly found via web typo's (Toggle) and via infected software downloaded over P2P networks.

Threat value: SpySherrif is extremely difficult to remove by traditional security scanners. In additional to credit card fraud, this piece of crafty spyware can block internet connections, create multiple administration accounts, stop critical programs from responding and block access to several useful websites that might be used to clean any malware infection.

Also known as: System Security, SpywareStrike, SpyShredder and Spybot - just to name a few.

2) WinFixer

How it works: Frequently launches pop-ups that offer trial versions of anti-virus suites that can scan machines for non-existent infections. To remove the fake Trojan, users must purchase the program.

Threat value: Used mainly to extort users through credit card fraud.

Also Known as: WinFixer goes by many names, titles that sound much like genuine security suites. These include WinAntiSpyware, AVSystemCare, WinAntiSpy and Windows Police Pro. There are among 20 other given names for WinFixer.

3) MacSweeper

How it works: Known as one of the first rogue security applications to target the Mac Operating systems. It's easy to catch too: web typos, drive-by downloads and piggyback downloads hidden in other applications.

Threat value: This one has been busted by the big security firms already and there are instructions for removal available online. The usual credit card fraud aspect applies and encourages users to pay for a full trial version.

Also known as: KiVVi Software, Cleanator.

4) Green Antivirus 2009

How it works: Green Antivirus is unique because it places a spin on the traditional fake anti-virus suite, by adding a moral incentive to users. The fake program often promotes to donate $2 of each downloaded software title to a particular charity in need. This is done to make the software appear more legitimate.

Threat value: Credit card fraud warning.

Also know as: Green AV.

5) MS Antivirus 2009

How it works: With a name bearing the false credentials of the biggest software company in the world, this particular rogue security suite is particularly well positioned to take advantage of number one branding. Works in same manner of other rogue security suites by offering to scan computer for free.

Threat value: It's Microsoft OS dependent, so you'll need to be on a Windows machine to be a viable target. However, once downloaded, the malware can disable genuine virus scanners and make it difficult to remove.

Also known as: Extremely popular and ever changing its name, it's also known as Windows Antivirus, Win Antivirus, Antivirus Pro and Antivirus Pro 2009 - among many many others.

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Source Google News

Beware of fake 'Ondoy' antivirus

2009-10-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines – Cybercriminals are again taking to the Internet, this time exploiting the recent natural calamity that hit Manila.

Software security firm Trend Micro warned against malicious software lurking in infected websites that utilize the key words related to tropical storm “Ondoy” (international name Ketsana).

In a statement, Trend Micro Senior Threat Analyst Joseph Pacamara found several malicious websites that when visited, will take the user to other landing websites that contained the executable file "soft_207.exe".

This file contains a hidden Trojan called TROJ_FAKEAV.BND, which masquerades as a fake antivirus application.

The Trojan apparently checks the IP address of visitors if they are within a specific region, most likely from the Philippines where “Ondoy” hit.

The words “Ondoy” and “Manila flood” were among the most talked about topics in social networking sites and blogs in the aftermath of last weekend's storm.

Many turned to Facebook.com and Twitter to report what is happening in their locales. Some also uploaded videos on YouTube.

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Source Google News

Facebook shuts down malicious fake profiles

2009-10-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

Facebook on Thursday fended off an attack in which multiple identical profiles were created to spread malware.

Antivirus provider AVG Technologies said users of its LinkScanner service detected numerous profiles that were identical except with different names and each included a link to what was represented as a home video but which instead displayed a fake antivirus alert when clicked. The scams are designed to trick people into paying for software they don't need, to get credit card information from victims for identity fraud purposes, and often to install spyware on the computer.

"Clearly, the Data Snatchers have found a way to automate the creation of Facebook accounts, which means they've found a way to bypass the Facebook Captcha," Roger Thompson, chief of research at AVG, wrote in a blog post. Successfully translating a Captcha, a hard-to-read image of letters supposed to ensure that a human is involved, is required for a new account .

The malicious link was blacklisted by the major Web browsers and Facebook was blocking the URL from being shared on its site, said Facebook spokesman Simon Axten. Meanwhile, the company was working to identify all the fake accounts and disable them, he added.

Axten disagreed with the AVG speculation that the Captcha system had been broken.

"We're looking into how these accounts were created, but it's very likely that the sign-up process was manual, or that the person behind the attack farmed out the Captchas to be solved by humans for a price," Axten wrote in an e-mail.

For its Captcha system Facebook uses ReCaptcha, "which was recently acquired by Google and is about as well-regarded a Captcha provider as there is," he said.

When the link in the fake Facebook profiles is clicked a fake alert pops up that tries to convince the user that the computer is infected.

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Source Google News

Symantec Launches Norton 2010, Slashes Prices

2009-09-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Symantec has launched new versions of its anti-virus and Internet security range of products, based on cloud-based security to increase virus and malware detection. The Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010 will leverage a new model of security, codenamed Quorum, to attain better detection of new malware than the traditional signature and behavior-based detection.

Symantec also plans to slash the prices of its products up to 20 percent.

David Freer, Vice President, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec Asia-Pacific and Japan said, “With the introduction of new reputation-based security in Norton 2010, we have raised the bar for Internet security and set new standard for the industry. Harnessing the power of millions of users united against cyber crime, the faster, safer and smarter Norton 2010 gives consumers the power to deny digital dangers and allow a safe online experience.”

“The expanding number and sophistication of security threats can no longer be contained through signature files and behavioral heuristics alone,” said Jon Oltsik, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “Symantec’s reputation-based security technology for 2010 represents a new and important safeguard in a multi-layer antivirus defense. I believe it’s likely that the Internet security industry will be building on technologies like Quorum for the next 10 years.”

“In India one-third of computer users do not use any form protection for their computers. This means they are not using any sort of anti-virus of anti-malware. And of the two-third of the people who are using security, are using outdated software updates, which cannot protect them with millions of new viruses,” Freer added.

The competition in the anti-virus market is quite fierce with increasing cost pressures on the vendors. Symantec has thus taken a decision to reduce the prices of its products up to 20 percent with the Norton 2010 launch. For eg, Norton Antivirus 2010, 1-user, 1-year license now comes at an MRP of Rs 1,125, while the 2009 version was launched at MRP of Rs 1,645 MRP. The same product (Norton Antivirus 2010) costs $39.99 in the US market (close to Rs 1,900).

There would, however, be no difference in the product skew from the previous ones.

The prices have been slashed throughout the Asian market. India is also the only market where the company is selling a single user license in order to offer a reduced cost product (and considering an average of just 1 PC per household in India), while other markets still have a minimum of 3 user license.

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Source Google News

Verizon Extends Antivirus, Storage Support to Macs

2009-09-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Verizon on Monday announced that it is offering a Mac version of its Internet security suite and online backup service.

Customers can order the services independently or as part of a Verizon FIoS phone, Internet, and video bundle.

Verizon Internet Security Suite (VISS) offers virus protection, a firewall, and parental controls, while Verizon Online Backup and Sharing (VOBS) offers between 5 Gbytes and 250 GB of storage for a monthly fee.

"Mac users are an important and growing segment of the broadband community and Verizon is becoming more and more focused on providing them with services that enhance their online experiences," Susan Retta, Verizon vice president of consumer product management, said in a statement. "We want Mac fans to know they can turn to Verizon for online security they can't get from cable."

Customers who sign up for a Verizon Internet, TV, and voice bundle can also subscribe to VISS and VOBS for $8.99 per month, which will provide security coverage for up to three computers and 25GB of online backup and storage.

New customers will get VISS and VOBS free for 30 days.

Verizon broadband service is not required to sign up for VISS and VOBS, however. For those who want to subscribe independently, VISS is available for $5.99 per month for up to three computers, for $10.98 for up to six computers, and $15.97 per month for up to nine computers.

Storage starts at $1.99 per month for 5GB and $4.99 for 25GB, and goes up to 50GB for $6.99 per month, 150GB for $12.99 per month, and 250GB for $19.99 per month.

Apple users will need Apple Mac OS X 10.5 or higher, a Mac with an Intel Core processor, 100MB of available hard drive space, and Safari 3.0.4 or above.

Apple made headlines this summer when the company admitted that the latest version of OS X had built-in malware protection. Though security protection on a computer might not seem like major news, one of Apple's selling points had always been the fact that it was seemingly impervious to such threats.

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Microsoft Security Essentials Launches Tuesday

2009-09-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

If you can't wait to get your hands on Microsoft's upcoming free antivirus app, and you missed the limited public beta period, you won't have to wait any longer. Microsoft has confirmed that its Security Essentials antivirus software will be publicly available from today, September 29.

The download isn't yet available as of this writing, but you'll be able to get it from Microsoft's Security Essentials site. It'll be avaliable for users of Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Microsoft first announced Security Essentials--code-named "Morro"--late last year, as a free replacement to the paid Windows Live OneCare. The announcement shook up the free antivirus market, and led some to wonder if Microsoft would ultimately end up dominating the desktop security market.

In late June Microsoft offered a limited public beta of Security Essentials. In my initial hands-on, I found the Security Essentials beta to be well designed and easy to use. The main interface uses a single window with four tabs, and a color-coded status bar across the top, so you can see if your PC is protected at a glance.

The Security Essentials public beta also took fourth place in our recent roundup of free antivirus software. Microsoft Security Essentials beta detected 97.8 percent of malware in tests conducted by AV-Test.org, which is decent score compared to other, similar free antivirus tools. Malware scans were a bit on the sluggish side, though, taking longer to scan than a number of competing products.

But Security Essentials has a lot going for it, though it isn't perfect. As our reviewer Erik Larkin put it when he looked at the beta, "If Microsoft can improve the detection rate a bit--and rev up the scan speed more than a bit--before the program's final release, Security Essentials could turn out to be a real contender in the free antivirus arena".

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Download Free Norton 2010 Internet Security

2009-09-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

Download Free Norton 2010 Internet Security [90 Days Subscription]

Norton has made huge improvements in its Antivirus software over the years making it much more lighter and meaner in the process.

Norton 2010 Internet security offers protection from viruses, hackers, spammers and other privacy threats by providing a comprehensive solution in a single product.

In addition to that Norton will also scan all incoming and outgoing emails for spywares and viruses.

Overall definitely a good product to use to secure your system. If you want to give Norton 2010 Internet Security a try you can download it for free and use it for 90 days.

This will give you free subscription and virus definition downloads for 90 days.

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New Microsoft Antivirus To Roll Out Soon

2009-09-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

Microsoft will roll out its new antivirus software, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) in the coming weeks.

Microsoft expressed satisfaction on the development of the software and thanked its beta testers for their co-ordination. The company also told that, the polished edition of Microsoft Security Essentials will be launched in the coming weeks.

Microsoft also asked beta testers to upgrade to the newest version of the test software as soon as possible to make a smooth transition to the final version.

According to the sources, MSE will be good enough to provide real time protection against spyware, rootkit and Trojans for Windows versions like Windows XP 32-bit, Windows Vista/7 32-bit and Windows Vista/7 64-bit systems.

The new antivirus software is codenamed as Morro after Brazil's Morro de Sao Paolo beach, was leaked in June much before its release prompting the developers to put a new beta version(1.0.1407.00) for that.

The new announcement is expected to affect the security suite developers like Symantec and McAfee, who generate billions of dollars of revenue a year protecting Windows PCs from attacks by hackers.

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Microsoft's 'Norton-killer' out this week

2009-09-27T23:36:00.000-07:00

Micrsoft will launch its free antivirus software on Tuesday, US time, a source close to the company has revealed.

Microsoft Security Essentials will protect against viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans and can be downloaded to computers running Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.

Windows business group manager Ben Green says the software alone will not protect against all web threats, but when used with a secure web browser such as Internet Explorer 8 and a fully updated Windows operating system will provide a total security solution.

People also need to be aware of threats and act sensibly. "It doesn't protect against user behaviour."

Vendors of paid anti-malware software are dismissive. McAfee spokeswoman Melanie Cole says Microsoft's software "will compete against other free solutions by offering limited security functionality".

Symantec spokeswoman Natalie Connor says it is a "thin defence" and does not offer antispam and identity safeguards.

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Norton AntiVirus 2010 (1 User, 1 PC)

2009-09-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Dramatic improvements to Norton over the past two years indicate that Symantec has been listening to the needs and complaints of consumers. Strong and surprising changes to Norton's effects on system performance introduced last year are maintained in this new version, and a new behavioral detection engine called Quorum shows that Symantec can juggle both performance and protection.

Pros:

Norton AntiVirus 2010 treads lightly on your CPU.

While bolstering last year's reputation-based detection engine with a new behavioral detection system.

Cons:

Despite dramatic performance improvements in the past two years, Norton still doesn't leave the smallest footprint on your CPU.

New efficacy results show that while it continues to be in the top five at detecting malicious software.

It still doesn't have the highest rate of detection.

The bottom line:

Norton AntiVirus 2010 builds on the immense progress made in last year's version, maintaining a low
system profile while strengthening its security framework. It's not perfect, but even Symantec's detractors should check it out.

Specifications:

License qty: 1 user ; License type: Complete package ; Min processor type: 300 MHz or higher.

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