Some Web browsers can be tricked into using so-called "malicious extensions" that can give hackers the ability to hijack the user's session, spy on webcams, upload and download files, and in the newer mobile-device area, hack into Google Android phones.
The prevalence with which hackers are handing out headaches to IT security pros will have a big upside for vendors in the coming year, according to new figures from Canalys.
As with your computer, the best defense against malware is a good offense in the form of security software. Paid mobile security apps are much better at detecting malware in Android devices than free antivirus applications, according to a study by AV Test today. If your business relies at all on smartphones, make sure that you and your employees are protected with the right mobile security package.
Facebook's fake account detection mechanisms can be defeated 80 percent of the time with the help of automated tools, researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) have found after an eight-week test.
Hackers apparently can be just as careless as their victims.
The Zeus financial malware has been updated with P-to-P (peer-to-peer) functionality that makes it much more resilient to take-down efforts and gives its controllers flexibility in how they run their fraud operations.
Officials in a number of German state governments have owned up to using the Quellen-TKÜ Trojan Horse software in criminal investigations to intercept encrypted telecommunications on PCs. At least one state said it has suspended use of the software, after the Chaos Computer Club discovered that it could be controlled by anyone, not just law enforcement officers.
It's the last thing McAfee would want users to hear about one of its products, but the Firefox browser is advising users to disable McAfee's ScriptScan software, saying that it could cause "stability or security problems."
Besides the fraudulent security certificates Dutch authority DigiNotar issued for Google.com, more were made for Yahoo.com, Mozilla.org, torproject.org, wordpress.org and an Iranian blogging platform, Baladin, according to a Dutch report.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 is hands-down superior at detecting security threats delivered by malicious websites, according to testing company NSS Labs.
Standards body the IEEE has called for proposals to build a catalogue of people using binary “packers”, the software tools often used by malware writers to hide executable files from antivirus products.
Malwarebytes this fall expects to release an enterprise-grade anti-malware platform that it says doesn't compete directly with traditional antivirus software because it relies more on observing how the malware acts and less on seeking code signatures.
Google has started to move e-mail security features from its Postini service directly into its Google Apps collaboration and communication suite.
Google has released an experimental extension for its Chrome browser that developers can use to scan their Web applications and flag code that could make them vulnerable to malware attacks.
Apple says it has a fix in the works for the Mac Defender fake antivirus app that has plagued a surprising number of Mac users in recent weeks. The company recently posted a Mac Defender support page explaining how you can remove the malware from your system. Apple also says it will roll out an OS X software update to protect Mac users from future attacks.