Items tagged with Malware
Google on Thursday revealed a new service that's been working behind the scenes to protect Android users from malware. It's called "Bouncer," which Google developed to automatically scan the Android Market for potentially malicious software without getting in the way of the end-user. It's Google's way of juggling an open marketplace where...
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Mobile malware hasn't been a huge problem up to this point. It certainly exists, but wielding a smartphone and downloading apps from an official market place isn't like running Windows, where multiple new threats emerge every day. Perhaps things are beginning to change. Security firm Symantec discovered over a dozen malicious apps in the Android...
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If you should happen to run across a USB flash drive on the subway, you may want to leave it there, assuming you weren't planning to take it to lost and found to begin with. There's a good chance it's infected with malware, and that doesn't just apply to USB keys you find on the ground, but ones you buy at auction...
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The bigger your market share, the more your platform will be targeted by malware writers, and that could spell trouble for Android. According to data from research firm Gartner, Android in the third quarter of 2011 landed on three times as many smartphones as iOS, which isn't surprising when you consider everyone and...
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Apparently, another one of the somewhat all-too-common malware-related problems in the U.S. military has resulted in the systems used by pilots who control U.S. Air Force drones being infected by a "keylogger." Although detected by the military's security systems, they've been unable to wipe it off their systems, at least permanently. A source...
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The Mac Security Blog from Intego, a Mac security software developer, has posted a security memo warning users of a new Trojan, dubbed Flashback, that is infecting OSX based systems. The Flashback Trojan masquerades as an Adobe Flash Player installer, and if an unsuspecting user downloads the file package and ultimately installs the Trojan,...
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The folks at Lookout Mobile Security released the 2011 Mobile Threat Report, which offers a sobering look at the current state of mobile threats. According to the report, mobile users are more likely than ever to experience a malware attack, and the tactics that cybercriminals are employing are increasingly...
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A newly discovered Android Trojan can record not just the times and numbers for incoming and outgoing calls like its predecessors did, but the actual calls themselves. The malware, which was uncovered by a CA Technologies researcher, records calls in AMR format, and then stores the recorded call in a directory listed as shangzhou/callrecord...
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Apple has finally responded to the Mac Defender malware that has infected a number of Mac users, but while Apple took considerable time before it took any action, the malware writer did not: he already has a new variant available that is more dangerous than the original. The new malware has a new name for its fake antivirus component: MacGuard....
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A pirated version of an Android app is actually a Trojan that "shames" someone who installs it by sending an SMS message to all his contacts telling them of his piracy. The original app is called Walk and Text, and costs $2.10 in the Android Market. The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming...
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Security firm Sophos warned on Friday that the new Android Market website, as currently configured, could present a security hole for Android users. However, given the way this website works, in reality it's not really that much of a concern. As noted by Sophos, when you select an app from the Android Market...
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Security firm Imperva reports that a hacker is selling access to military, educational, and government websites for bargain basement prices ranging from $55-499. Imperva, which reported on the hacker on Friday, believes that he was able to gain access to the sites through a SQL injection technique. The priciest hack is access to the homepages...
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Ever the crafty (and malicious) bunch, malware writers added a new trick to an old scam, and it appears to be working. According to the Internet Crime Complain Center (IC3), a recent FBI analysis reveals that cyber crooks are targeting employers with fake job applications capable of wreaking havoc. "Recently, more than $150,000 was stolen...
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Google has served up noticed for malware-infested sites for years, but they've gone one better with their latest feature. The company has altered its search results notifications with a “This site may be compromised” link to help in safer searching. According to Google's blog post, the company uses "a variety of automated tools...
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Social networking: It's all fun and games until some scuzzball infects your system with malware, but that's not a concern on Facebook, right? Wrong, says security firm BitDefender, which claims that malware is mucking around in news feeds of some 20 percent of Facebook users. When you're talking about a userbase of more than 500 million members,...
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Sophos on Tuesday released free anti-virus software for Macs. While it's not hard to find free antivirus software for Macs (ClamXAV has been at it for years) by all accounts this is the first commercial grade tool available for nada. That means no strings attached, no trial period that descends into perpetual requests to upgrade and no major...
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It's always hilarious when a security firm has its site hacked or has some other security-related SNAFU occur that you would think their own products could prevent. Such is the case with Kaspersky Labs, which recently saw its site not just hacked, but serving up malware. Reports first came from users on Kaspersky's own support forums. The...
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We’re back for the latest installment of our weekly video podcast. In this episode, we talk about Zotac’s sleek, new, Blu-Ray equipped ZBox nettop, malware riddled GPUs (not really!), the OCZ IBIS high-performance solid state drive, and RIM’s upcoming Blackberry Playbook tablet. We also take a couple of reader questions,...
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For the past 3.5 years or so, NVIDIA has ardently advocated the GPU as a computational platform capable of solving almost any problem. One topic the company hasn't targeted, however, is the tremendous performance advantage the GPU could offer malware authors. The idea that a graphics card could double as a security hole isn't something we've...
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A sophisticated computer virus that targets solely Siemens SCADA, or "supervisory control and data acquisition," systems, has infiltrated systems across the globe, and has hit Iran "very hard." The Stuxnet virus has reportedly struck industrial sites throughout Iran, including its nuclear facilities. SCADA systems are commonly used to...
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Like something straight out of a Hollywood action movie, foreign spies managed to swipe sensitive information from the Pentagon by plugging a dirty flash drive into a U.S. military laptop, according to reports. This actually happened some two years ago, but is just now coming to light now that it's been de-classified by Uncle Sam. "It was...
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Malware has been implicated as a contributing factor in a Spanair plane crash that killed 154 people two years ago Friday. The crash of Spanair flight JK 5022 occurred just after takeoff, two years ago, on August 20, 2008. The crash was Spain's deadliest in 25 years. Only 18 of the 172 passengers and crew survived. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas...
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