Category Archives: Software

VirusBarrier: Antivirus for iPhones

Posted by on 13 July, 2011 No comments

A French security company called Intego has released the first antivirus app for iPhones, called VirusBarrier. This is news because so far iPhones have not needed antivirus programs, there are currently no viruses on iPhones. Here’s a breakdown of what VirusBarrier is:

What VirusBarrier does:

  • it can scan email attachments – but it’s not automatic, you need to go into VirusBarrier and tell it which email attachment to scan (and only one at a time)
  • it can scan files on DropBox

What VirusBarrier does not do:

  • it does not scan all files or apps on the iPhone. It can’t because of Apple’s sandbox model.
  • it does not do automatic scans
  • it does not do scheduled scans
  • it does not scan apps
So overall it seems more of a publicity stunt, it’s not something I’d spend $2.99 on.

Passwords Compromised on JIRA, Bugzilla & Confluence

Posted by on 25 April, 2010 No comments

If you are a user of the Apache hosted JIRA, Bugzilla, or Confluence, a hashed copy of your password has been compromised. There was a targeted attack on these systems on the 9th April 2010.

These are services used by developers, most “normal” people would not have accounts on these services. If you do use these services please read the full incident report here.

McAfee Stinger

Posted by on 27 March, 2010 No comments

McAfee Stinger is a program to clean malware from PCs. It detects and removes more than 1300 types of malware – that’s pretty useful.

It’s not a replacement for a good antivirus product, but if it’s too late and your PC has been infected then this could help clean it.

Download it directly from McAfee’s web site and follow their instructions.

Facebook Un Named App

Posted by on 28 January, 2010 No comments

Here’s a combined hoax and malware. Let’s start from the beginning.

People have been posting notes on Facebook about something called “un named app”. It tells you to remove something from Facebook. It’s a hoax. Don’t believe what it says, don’t follow the instructions, and don’t pass it on.

Below are some quotes of the hoax:

ALERT >>>>> Has your facebook been running slow lately? Go to “Settings” and select “application settings”, change the dropdown box to “added to profile”. If you see one in there called “un named app” delete it… It’s an internal spybot. Pass it on

this is real.. i checked and found this app and deleted it… hopefully, my facebook will run better now.

Cannot believe how much quicker mine is running after doing this….

I don’t have this app on my Facebook account but if you do, don’t worry. It’s a normal part of Facebook and you shouldn’t delete it.

Now the second part of this hoax is a real trojan. If you go to Google and search for “facebook unnamed app” you’ll see quite a few results. Some of these results are fake antivirus programs.

A fake antivirus program is actually a trojan. It pretends to scan your PC and quietly installs malware in the background. It goes under the name of Security Tool, it has a fancy detection screen and everything. But it’s definitely bad.

The rule of thumb is that if a web page tells you that your PC might be infected, don’t trust it. Go and get your own antivirus program, not something that pops up on your screen (see here for a good free antivirus program).

There’s a lot to learn here. Basically, be careful who you trust. These days scammers have to trick you into installing malware and they’re good at it (it’s called social engineering).

IE6

Posted by on 19 January, 2010 No comments

Internet Explorer 6 is still used in many large organisations. It’s because large organisations invest heavily in technology then expect to keep using it for many years to increase their returns on investment. Usually their internal programs won’t work on newer browsers, and it’s a major task to upgrade them.

But Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) is quite old and very vulnerable to being hacked. It’s so vulnerable that it’s the main (technical) cause of the recent hack attack by China against Google (read here). In short, it seems that the Chinese government (or agents working on their behalf) hacked certain people’s Google accounts. They were able to do this because these people weren’t using the latest version of Internet Explorer.

So any organisation that refuses to upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer is also at risk.

Microsoft have made an official statement that IE6 is vulnerable and they want everyone to upgrade to the latest version.

Update: The Australian Government has also asked people to stop using IE6.

Update 2: Microsoft has made a patch available to all IE6 users to fix the problem. Download it from here.

Some Personal Firewalls

Posted by on 13 October, 2009 1 comment

A personal firewall is a program you install on your computer. It stops unknown programs talking to the internet. Why is this important?

Just say some malware gets installed on your computer. It wasn’t picked up by your antivirus program for whatever reason (maybe you don’t even have antivirus). It starts watching you type in your passwords and tries to send details to a criminal’s server. This actually happens every day to some people.

A personal firewall would detect that an unknown program is trying to send information to the internet and bring it to your attention. It blocks the program and asks you if you want to allow it to proceed.

It’s different to a normal firewall because it runs on your PC instead of on the network. And it doesn’t just keep people from hacking into your computer, it stops malware connecting out to the internet. So overall it’s a good thing to have, it’s just a bit more defence against online fraud.

Below are some new deals I’ve come across. I haven’t tried these programs and can’t comment on how well they work – I suggest you ask around.

ZoneAlarm Pro – this program has been around for many years. The Pro version, which usually costs USD39.95, will be free for today only (13th of October 2009). Go to their web site here.

Online Armor Premium – I haven’t heard of this product before but it’s legitimate. It usually costs $39.95 but it’s free to PayPal members, until the 19th of October 2009. Click here, then on the button to buy now, then proceed to pay with PayPal, it will be discounted to $0.

Windows also has a firewall built in but in my opinion it isn’t very good and it’s difficult to configure. And most antivirus packages, the kind that cost money, include a personal firewall.

Patch Tuesday

Posted by on 12 October, 2009 No comments

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 13th October, Microsoft is releasing several critical updates to Windows. They fix known security problems so it’s important for all Windows PCs to download these updates.

Microsoft tries to release these updates on Tuesdays, tomorrow’s batch will be larger than usual. So as always, make a backup of your PC’s data today in case the patches cause any problems.

Microsoft Security Essentials

Posted by on 30 September, 2009 No comments

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).

Antivirus Comparison

Posted by on 21 September, 2009 No comments

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:

G Data
Symantec
Avast
F-Secure
BitDefender
eScan
ESET
Full details of their tests are here – click on the August 2009 report. I was surprised to see Trend Micro was missing from the tests. I tried contacting them about it but I haven’t received a response.

So when you’re ready to invest in a good antivirus program for your PC you can use the results of their tests to base your decision.
Also keep in mind there are fake antivirus programs out there, they pretend to do a scan but actually install malware.