virus

Massive targeted cyber-attack in Middle East uncovered

A complex targeted virus has been discovered stealing data in the Middle East, security researchers announced today.

The malware -- dubbed Flame -- has been operation since 2010 and appears to be state-sponsored, Kaspersky Labs said today, but it was not sure of its origins. Flame is designed to steal information about targeted systems and stored files as well as computer display contents and audio conversations.

"The complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceed those of all other cyber menaces known to date," Kaspersky Labs said in statement announcing the malware's discovery.

The virus … Read more

Notorious Bredolab virus creator is sentenced to prison

The man who elaborated and then spread the Bredolab virus, which infected roughly 30 million computers worldwide, was sentenced to four years in prison by an Armenian district court yesterday, according to Wired.

Georgy Avanesov, a 27-year-old Russian citizen of Armenian descent, was first nabbed in 2010 after Dutch authorities took down a large Bredolab network made up of about 140 different infected computer servers. Shortly after this seizure, global spam levels fell by 12 percent.

Avanesov confessed that he developed the Bredolab malware in 2009 and made it available to others via computer servers in Holland and France, according … Read more

Malware increases on all platforms, McAfee says

Malware increased significantly across several platforms in the first quarter, with PC malware reaching the highest levels in four years, according to a McAfee report released today.

The first-quarter report (you can read the full PDF below) also noted a huge increase in malware -- short for malicious software -- targeting the Android platform and a rise in Mac malware. The findings indicate total malware could reach the 100 million mark within the year, with the U.S. being the primary source of cyberattacks, according to a press release from McAfee.

McAfee said 8,000 total mobile malware samples were … Read more

'Barcoding' viruses could help detect mutated strains

The influenza A virus ranks among our planet's least-controlled pathogens, resulting in seasonal epidemics and even global pandemics. The H1N1 virus of 2009 -- a new type of influenza A virus -- caused the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But despite the fast and furious spread of H1N1 that year, it turned out to affect the lungs much in the way the seasonal flu does. Using a new type of test developed at the University of Leeds "might have been a way to identify how lethal … Read more

Protect your computer with UVK - Ultra Virus Killer

Based on its name, we expected UVK - Ultra Virus Killer to be an antivirus program. While it can help protect your computer from threats, that's not exactly how it works; instead of detecting and removing viruses, it "immunizes" your computer against them, as well as a variety of other unauthorized changes. Between that and a whole suite of other features, UVK provides a powerful option for protecting your computer.

The "immunization" that UVK provides focuses on three areas: Windows startup and log-on, system registry entries, and Internet and Windows Explorer. Immunization of any of … Read more

Text messages prompting people to get their flu shot

Only about half of kids ages 6 months to 17 years received the flu shot in the 2010-2011 season, which may be one reason influenza remains one of the most common causes of hospitalization among kids today, according to a study in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

So researchers from Columbia University and beyond tested an intervention program on a randomized control trial of more than 9,000 kids of that same age range at four community-based clinics in the United States, where more than 7,500 kids had not received the vaccine … Read more

New report says Flashback infections remain high

Update: 2:05 PM P.T. New concerns emerged Friday about the spread of a malware epidemic that targets users of Apple's Mac OS X.

Last week, Symantec said the number of infections had dropped to 140,000. Another security researcher, Kaspersky Labs, also reported a sharp decline in the number of infected computers.

But a Russian security company named Dr. Web, which was the first to spot the fast-spreading malware infection targeting Mac users, suggests that the estimated declines are incorrect. According to Dr. Web:

817,879 bots connected to the BackDoor.Flashback.39 botnet at one time … Read more

Surf safely in IE with Cocoon for Internet Explorer

Virtual World Computing's Cocoon is a free online security solution with customized extensions for several popular browsers, such as Internet Explorer. With Cocoon for Internet Explorer, you can browse and communicate safely, securely, and anonymously inside IE, at home or on the go. You can log on from public Wireless Access Points and unfamiliar networks, and Cocoon will keep you safe from sites that monitor your online activity. In addition to protecting your privacy, Cocoon also protects you from viruses, malware, and other online threats. It stores your browsing history, cookies, and other data securely in your online account, … Read more

Japanese users of Google Play get played by malware

Japanese users of Google's online clearing house of downloadable entertainment for Android devices are being targeted with a Trojan horse that displays requested videos but nicks personal information in the process.

Antivirus company McAfee posted a blog item this afternoon about the Trojan, which was found lurking in the Google Play marketplace.

The post says applications carrying the Trojan promise, and in some cases deliver, trailers for upcoming video games or anime or adult-oriented clips, but they also request "read contact data" and "read phone state and identity" permissions before being downloaded.

Those permissions give … Read more