Critical Patch Tuesday flaw easy to exploit
Guess what today is? Yes, it is Fat Tuesday--the official kick off of Mardi Gras.
Guess what today is? Yes, it is Fat Tuesday--the official kick off of Mardi Gras.
The Android world is still reeling from the DroidDream invasion of the Android Market. Google has flipped the kill switch to wipe out apps associated with DroidDream, but the work of investigating how this Android Trojan infiltrated Google, and how to prevent similar attacks in the future is just beginning.
NetQin Mobile has captured 2 new spyware programs that have been infecting Android phones. The two programs, "SW.SecurePhone" and "SW.Qieting", can release an unsettling amount of personal information from an infected phone.
It is no secret that mobile platforms are ripe targets for malware. The explosion of smartphones and tablets, combined with the lack of security awareness or tools for mobile platforms makes them particularly attractive targets. Apparently, Android has caught the attention of mobile malware developers because the number of threats is on the rise.
Attention! Dear Depositor -- the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) is not sending you an e-mail with a mysterious ZIP file attachment. If you receive such a message claiming to be from the FDIC, don't be fooled. The e-mail is a phishing attack, and the attachment is actually malware.
At a keynote speech delivered at the RSA Security Conference, Scott Charney -- Microsoft corporate vice president for Trustworthy Computing -- reiterated a vision for the future of Internet security. Charney painted a picture of a collaborative approach to Internet and PC security modeled after the processes used to respond to global health epidemics.
There have been a number of attacks recently against high-profile social networking accounts -- French President Sarkozy, teen pop star Selena Gomez, and even social network wunderkind and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have all fallen prey. Web surfing and social networking are here to stay, so the trick is figuring out how to protect your computer and your personal information while you're online.
Spammers are people too...apparently. They have families and want to take a vacation to spend quality time with them over the traditional holiday break just like everyone else. Or, at least that is the way that it appears if you follow the trends in spam traffic.
Most users are already aware of the risks presented by cookies, the small data files that browsers save on our computers to remember things like login details, or Website preferences.
One of the easiest ways for attackers to lure victims is by planting malware on seemingly innocent-looking Web sites, or actually compromising legitimate Web sites. Google is doing its part to help users make informed decisions about the sites they visit, and avoid having their PCs infected with a new hacked site identification feature being added to Google search results.
A new report from NSS Labs studies how various Web browsers perform when it comes to blocking socially-engineered attacks. The startling results show that Internet Explorer isn't just better than rival browsers like Chrome and Firefox -- but leaves competitors completely in the dust.
McAfee today revealed its McAfee Threat Report for the third quarter of 2010. Information like that provided by McAfee in these quarterly reports is valuable for IT admins -- enabling them to keep a finger on the pulse of malware, and to stay in touch with emerging attack techniques and trends.
With Black Friday quickly approaching, and retailers racing to outdo each other with earlier and earlier deals, it is safe to say that the holiday shopping season has begun. If you're shopping online, though, and paying with PayPal -- be warned. There is a phishing attack targeted just for you.
Microsoft has offered free protection with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) for some time, and it recently expanded the availability of the antivirus protection for small businesses. A recent move to push out Microsoft Security Essentials to Windows systems that don't have any antivirus protection, however, has some rival security vendors up in arms. From Microsoft's perspective, though, it's a little "damned if you do, damned if you don't".
Last week a malware threat emerged that impacted both Windows and Mac OS X systems. To be fair, the attack is more social engineering than PC exploit, but it impacts Mac OS X users just the same. ESET's David Harley has written a more detailed analysis of the Boonana threat, and identified some elements that are contrary to initial reports.