Subscribe in a readerMicrosoft Security Essentials
Today Microsoft launched a new anti-virus program called Microsoft Security Essentials. People who have tested it are fairly happy with it, it’s certainly better than not having any anti-virus. And best of all it’s free. It works on Window XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
Free download of Microsoft Security Essentials: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_essentials/
Now I’ve always said that paid anti-virus programs are generally better. I still believe this because you get more security features such as web page scanning, a personal firewall and fraud detection. And with all the online fraud and scams that happen every day you need all the security you can get and that costs money.
But sometimes you really can’t justify paying for anti-virus, like a computer you’re only going to use for a month. So this fits in nicely. Also keep in mind that there are several other good free anti-virus programs out there.
I’d also like to point out that sometimes internet security companies can be biased. Take Symantec as an example. On the same day that Microsoft launches a free anti-virus program Symantec started a campaign telling people that free anti-virus programs are bad. I see it as a clearly biased argument to protect their business. Marketing is always biased, it’s always best to get an independent opinion (Fraudo is not sponsored by any companies, the ads on the right are dynamic and I don’t get to choose them).
Malware Statistics
Avast! is a company that makes a decent anti-virus program. They recently published some statistics that are interesting:
- Their anti-virus programs blocks 1 billion malware a month. That’s 1,000,000,000 attempts to install viruses, trojans, password stealers, etc on to people’s PCs. A month. And that’s just by one small company.
- 1 in 15 people encounter a malware every day.
- They find about 3,000 new malware each day (that’s new and unique viruses, trojans, etc). They have 2.1 million in their database.
These statistics are not just marketing numbers, they give you an idea of how serious a problem malware is. If you don’t have a good anti-virus system installed on your computer they you need to take action now (today) and install something to protect you. Good anti-virus systems generally cost money – it’s a good investment, the cost of not buying one is usually greater.
And get something from a known vendor. Last week I talked about a comparison of anti-virus programs, you can use this as a guide.
And Macs and Linux computers aren’t safe either.
Inside The Password Stealing Business
McAfee, a large anti-virus company, has published a report called “Inside the Password Stealing Business: the Who and How of Identity Theft”. It goes into the details of password stealing programs and explains the “industry” driving it.
It’s quite detailed and at 17 pages it won’t take too long to read – it’s not very technical.
Password stealing is when a program gets installed on your PC that catches every stroke of your keyboard and sends it back to a criminal. The idea is that it’ll record all your passwords as you type them, no matter how strong they are. It’s a sophisticated piece of technology and a very large problem worldwide. If you’re not constantly upgrading your anti-virus software, web browser and OS then you’re at high risk.
These passwords are then sold off and used to steal money from your bank account or to commit other crimes. Even if you don’t use online banking you still have something to lose – someone can apply for a credit card under your name and use it to make expensive purchases, then you’re left to deal with the credit card company and convince them it wasn’t you (this happens every day).
So click on this link and have a read of the report.
Fake Monopoly Game
An email offering you a game of Monopoly may in fact be an invitation to download malware. The email has the subject “Play Online Together” and the email reads:
… Has Invited You To Play Monopoly
Monopoly Invite
Monopoly2009.com
If you see this email delete it, it’s a trick to get you to download malware. The website asks you to download a file called monopoly.exe – this is the malware, don’t download it.
Antivirus Comparison
There is an organisation called AV-Comparatives that tests antivirus programs and compares their performance. They’re independent from the antivirus vendors making their tests more useful. So it’s good to look through the results and see which antivirus programs are working better than others. Below are their top 7 programs, in no specific order:
Fake Facebook Fan Check Virus
There’s a rumour about a Facebook app called “Facebook Fan Check”. The rumour says that after 2 days this app goes through friends list and somehow infects their PCs.
Some people have been posting messages on Facebook saying:
to all those using FAN CHECK APPLICATION, please delete it & all its pictures, it contains a virus & takes 24-48 hours 2 infect everyone on your friends list please copy and paste 2 your status to let everyone know
Firstly, malicious Facebook apps do exist. The ones I know of are called Posts and Stream applications. They’re not viruses but they try to trick you into providing personal data (called phishing).
Secondly, Fan Check Virus doesn’t exist, but nevertheless there is a danger. What’s happening is that the virus writers have created web pages infected with real malware and fake antivirus programs.
So if you search for Fan Check Application on Google, you’re likely to end up on the infected web page looking for information, and that’s how your PC gets infected. Clever, right? So all the people writing about Fan Check haven’t done any research and are actually helping to spread the real malware.
There’s a video explaining more about it here.
And it seems this isn’t the first time this strategy was used. Another fake Facebook virus called Error Check System works in the same way, if you Google for information on it you’ll likely end up on a web site with a fake anti-virus product.
Flash Cookies
Some people know what a cookie is, what it’s good for and how it can be abused. If you don’t here’s a very short summary:
- Cookies are codes that web sites save to your computer
- They’re used to help web sites remember who you are. E.g. when you log onto eBay and come back the next day, it remembers who you are.
- Marketing companies use them to keep track of how many of their ads you saw and where you might have seen them
So they’re not really a bad thing but marketing companies use them to track things about you. Then there are programs that try to delete them off your PC. Usually these programs are branded with words like “anti-spyware”, this isn’t completely accurate but that’s where you’ll see them. This is all fine so far.
And you can always delete cookies yourself. In Internet Explorer there’s an option in the Tools menu. All other browsers have similar options, usually in a tools or settings menu.
But there’s another kind of cookie that often gets overlooked – they’re called Flash cookies.
Unlike regular cookies, Flash cookies are not stored in your web browser’s settings. Deleting all privacy data leaves Flash cookies alone. Even deleting all cookie files off your drive skips Flash cookies.
Flash has a feature that lets web sites store a bit of information on your computer, just like a regular “cookie”. By itself this is harmless, but some developers have taken advantage of its features and use them to track you just like regular cookies. This by itself could be seen as a minor annoyance, it’s not dangerous.
But it’s also possible for a web site to restore a cookie that you deleted. Now this is a misuse of privacy. You see, when you tell your computer to delete all privacy data, and it later reappears, things are happening against your will – this is morally bad. The way they do it is developers create some code that uses Flash to store a copy of a cookie and if the cookie is gone it rewrites it.
What can you do about it?
On Windows you can install “Better Privacy” or “Ccleaner”.
On Mac OS X you can install “Flush.app” or delete the Flash cookie files the hard way.
There’s also a great deal more information in this article.
It’s now up to Adobe (the company that makes Flash) and web browsers to treat this as a privacy bug and to improve their browsers.
World Business Guide – Scam
I received the email shown below, Googled it and saw that it’s a scam. Unfortunately I also found that quite a lot of people have fallen for this scam so I’ll explain how it works.
Firstly they send out the email shown, it offers to list your business on a register. Their email mentions the word “free” several times and they never mention a price – but it’s misleading, they’re actually offering a paid service. It’s called deceptive marketing and it’s illegal in most countries.
Then if you sign up to list your business they send an invoice for approx €995 (quite a bit of money).
Now this is when the stress begins for most victims. If you ignore their invoice they start sending a stream of nasty letters threatening legal action. Based on what I’ve read in forums it seems that they’re empty threats (see for yourself here).
So please do a bit of research on any unsolicited marketing offers you might receive. Search on Google, even if you think it’s a free offer.
The email that they sent is:
Ladies and Gentlemen.
In order to have your company inserted in the registry of World Businesses for 2009/2010 edition, please print, complete and submit the enclosed
form (PDF file) to the following address:WORLD BUSINESS GUIDE
P.O. Box 2021
3500 GA Utrecht
The Netherlandsemail: register@wbgtoday.net
FAX: +31 20 524 8107Updating is free of charge!
If you are not the intended recipient, please submit an email to
unsubscribe@wbgtoday.net
Your request shall be dealt with accordingly.
And the attachment that they sent looks like this:
If you see this email just delete it.
Mac OS X Now Comes with Antivirus
Some people make the assumption that Macs can’t get malware, that it’s somehow a Windows-only problem. Unfortunately that’s not the case, any computer can get malware such as viruses and trojans (read here for some examples). And there are some companies that already make antivirus software for Macs.
Further evidence of the need for antivirus software on Macs is given by Apple themselves. They’ve made their own antivirus software for the latest version of OS X (called Snow Leopard). This built-in antivirus software is very limited at the moment:
- It can only scan files downloaded from a small number of programs (so it doesn’t scan “everything”), and
- At the moment it can only detect 2 trojans
If you’re a Mac user you can read more here. My point is that you should do everything possible to protect your computer from malware, scams, etc. Assuming that your computer is somehow superior and invulnerable just doesn’t cut it.
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