Category Archives: Malware

Malware Statistics

Posted by on 27 September, 2009 No comments

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.

Fake Monopoly Game

Posted by on 23 September, 2009 No comments

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.

Fake Facebook Fan Check Virus

Posted by on 8 September, 2009 No comments

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.

PDF Reader 2009 Spyware

Posted by on 31 August, 2009 3 comments

I just received this email – it’s a scam. If you click on the links it takes you to a site letting you download some spyware. Below is the text of the email. If you see this, delete it. Don’t click on the links, don’t download the program they have.

PDF Reader 2009 – New Version for Windows and Mac
The latest PDF Reader: Open, Edit & Create PDF Files
http://www.adobe-pdf-update.info
Included in this package:
Open Office Suite – Get things done more quickly and improve your work efficiency.
-Open, edit and view all PDF files.
-Enhanced performance with faster loading and zooming.
-Collect your data and combine it into a high quality document.
http://www.adobe-pdf-update.info

Download the complete Office solution today and also receive free updates
and 24/7 customer support.
"Since the 90′s, PDF has become the standard file format for document exchange." – Adobe
http://www.adobe-pdf-update.info

Thank you for choosing us, the worldwide leader in PDF Reader Solutions.
Best Regards,
Mary Norman
PDF Reader 2009

Adv Media Ltd  | 890 Avenue| Sydney | 1002 | Australia

Click here :
http://www.listmanagerservices.com/unsubscribe.php?M=
to Unsubscribe out of mailling list.

PC Antispyware 2010

Posted by on 29 August, 2009 No comments

This product is a scam. It’s made to look like a real antivirus or antispyware program but all it does is ask you for money. It’s not a legitimate program, it doesn’t stop spyware, viruses or do anything useful.

It’s called PC Antispyware 2010, a name that sounds a bit serious (and misleading). The screen looks pretty fancy, maybe people trust things that look nice or shiny – don’t be fooled by it.

Antispyware 2010

If you see the screen above then don’t click on the download link, don’t install it. You can see a larger screenshot by clicking here. Only use antivirus products from known and trusted vendors.

iPhone SMS Vulnerability

Posted by on 3 August, 2009 No comments

There was a vulnerability in the iPhone that could allow it to be hacked by sending it an SMS. In theory this would allow hackers to take control of your iPhone quite easily.

Apple has responded with a patch (called 3.0.1) that fixes the vulnerability. It can be downloaded and installed using iTunes.

Apple has more info here.

Koobface worm using Twitter to spread

Posted by on 15 July, 2009 No comments

A new worm (a kind of malware similar to a virus) is being spread using Twitter. It appears as tweet that says:

My home video :)

If you click on the link it takes you to a video page and asks you to download a new codec. I’ve written about the dangers of installing  new codecs, read about it here.

So don’t click on these Twitter messages.

Where Does Spam Come From?

Posted by on 30 June, 2009 1 comment

The technology spammers use is always changing. A report released by MessageLabs in June 2009 shows that 83% of spam is currently being sent from botnets. Now let’s explain what a botnet is.

There are people out there who hack into people’s home PCs (the PCs of ordinary people like you and me). They usually write a virus to do this, or pay someone to write the virus. Then when they’ve hacked into a home PC, they add it to a list.

After a few days they can get about 500,000 home computers on their list (yes, they work very fast). So once the hacker has hundreds of thousands of computers on their list, he writes a program that can control them all at once.

Now keep in mind that most home users won’t know their PC has been hacked. Everything still looks normal.

The hacker then sells this list of PCs to a spammer. The technical word for this list of controlled PCs is called a botnet.

A spammer buys this list of hacked computers and the program that controls them all at once. He uses also buys an email list from someone else (a list with millions of people’s email addresses). He presses a button, and all of the home PCs he’s controlling start sending out spam.

Again, home users don’t know their PC is now being used to send out spam. They might notice their internet go a little slower but most people don’t have the technical skill to work out why. It just gets ignored.

The spammer then sits back, relaxes after doing his 5 minutes of work. If anyone gets caught for sending spam it’ll be the home user, not him. The home user is ignorant of what’s going on. The hacker made his money and will do it again. And the cycle repeats again after a few days.

botnet percentageSo how much spam are we talking about?

The largest botnet in operation in June 2009 is sending 74 million spam emails a day, all of this from people’s home computers. That’s a lot of spam.

 

What can you do?

Don’t let your own computer become part of a botnet. Use a good antivirus product, scan for malware, and fix up any problems.

Can USB Drives Carry Malware?

Posted by on 24 June, 2009 1 comment

USB drive USB Drives are so popular these days nobody thinks much about them anymore. They come in all sizes (up to 128GB these days) and don’t really cost that much. They’re cheap enough that some people give them away.

mp3 playerSo can they spread malware such as viruses? Yes, they certainly can. On many Windows computers, when you plug in a USB drive it does a quick search and it can run programs installed on them. Microsoft calls this a feature.

But malware authors (bad hackers) know all about this and they write malware that runs as soon as the device is plugged into a computer. You won’t know it’s happened, malware can install itself quietly in the background without getting in the way of your work.

So what do you do about it?

  • Be cautious about what you plug into your computer
  • Have a good anti-virus package installed that can scan these devices for you
  • You can disable a feature in Windows that automatically runs programs on these USB drives
  • In an office environment a good system administrator can lock down this feature across the entire network

What else can plug into your USB port and carry malware?

  • USB Flash drives (also called flash drives, pen drives, thumb drives or USB sticks)
  • Digital cameras
  • MP3 players (including iPods)
  • Mobile phones (cell phones)

camera And if you’re thinking how can malware get onto a camera, I’ve seen it myself. A friend took their camera to the local shop to print some photos, then lent me the camera so I could help them with something, I detected a virus that installed itself on it from the shop.Yes, it really happens. Take care with USB devices.