Tag: MALWARE

In June, security experts first discovered a dangerous new worm called Stuxnet, which, to the horror of many, possessed the ability to wreak havoc upon real-world industrial systems. The virus affected servers all over the world, but seemed to be especially focused on networks in Iran, as the country absorbed a major attack over the summer. This Iranian focus led many to speculate that Stuxnet ...

We've all seen our fair share of Facebook-based viruses, but a newly released study from security software manufacturer BitDefender reminds us just how vulnerable we are when using the social network. According to the study, 20-percent of all Facebook users are exposed to malware as they troll through their friends' news feeds. The report defines "malware" as any post that, when clicked, ...

OMG, guys! Justin Bieber punched a girl! No, he didn't. But -- from distracting beach babes to 'Dislike' buttons -- every Facebook scam targets our deepest desires, and this latest one is no different. Whether you're a tween 'Tiger Beat' fan or a gentleman who takes his teen pop with a side of schadenfreude, you would probably not be able to resist a link that promises to show you Bieber ...

Sophos rolled out some free anti-virus software today, giving Mac users a brand new way to guard against the small percentage of malware actually designed to target their systems. While the company's new Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac is designed to detect and defuse malware aimed at Mac operating systems, it can also pick up on malware that's written for Windows, and is spread via USB drives ...

If you come across any software claiming to be 'Microsoft Security Essentials,' you might want to double-check before downloading it, because it may very well be a trojan. Known as 'Win32/FakePAV,' this trojan reportedly does a pretty good job of disguising itself, and features many of the same displays and messages you'd see on an authentic version of Security Essentials. Once downloaded, ...

If you've received any suspicious-looking e-mails from LinkedIn recently, you may have been targeted by the latest Trojan attack to hit inboxes. The malicious e-mails, which targeted billions of Windows users yesterday, seemed like normal LinkedIn invitations from random contacts. And, like most LinkedIn invites, the messages asked users to click a link to confirm the request. Instead of sending ...

Officials in Iran have confirmed that the Stuxnet super worm has infected personal computers at one of the country's nuclear power plants, just a few days after cyber-security experts warned the public that the malware might be targeting Tehran's nuclear facilities. Mahmoud Jafari, who leads Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, told the IRNA news agency that authorities at the plant are currently trying ...

An awe-inspiringly complex piece of malware named 'Stuxnet' has some security experts openly wondering whether or not it's the most sophisticated worm ever to hit the planet. Others are speculating that it may be used to target a nuclear plant in Iran. Although the worm originally popped up in June, when it attacked Windows PCs operating industrial control systems, cyber experts are only now ...

Describing a piece of code as the "best malware ever" seems a bit oxymoronic, but Stuxnet might actually fit the bill. The malware has been operating undetected since early this year. In June, it was finally identified by a small security company in Belarus called VirusBlokAda. By early August, Microsoft had confirmed and patched an exploit that Stuxnet was using to target PCs running Windows, but ...

According to a new study from McAfee, searching for "free" things online can significantly increase your chances of landing on a site with malicious software. In the report (PDF), McAfee addresses the "true cost of free entertainment," suggesting that searches for free music or ringtones can increase the chances of finding a malicious site by 300-percent, while searching for the lyrics of a ...

Share Yesterday afternoon, a massive virus hit e-mail accounts across the world, including those at major corporations like ABC/Disney, Google, Coca-Cola and NASA. According to ABC News, the trojan virus spread through e-mails with subject lines that read 'Here You Have,' while other versions of the worm were hidden under subject lines like 'This is The Free Dowload Sex Movies,you can find it ...

There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web. The Web's biggest sites get visualized and weighted by this search-able square of favicons. Ego check: yes, Switched is in there. [From: Nmap.org, via: The Daily ...

Cameron Diaz has won an award! (And no, we're not talking about her Teen Choice Award for Most Disgusting Scene in 'There's Something About Mary.') Computer security giant McAfee has named Diaz the most dangerous celebrity on the Internet, due to the massive amount of malware associated with her name. According to McAfee, you have a one in ten chance of stumbling on adware and viruses when ...

Never let it be said that computer hackers don't have a sense of humor. Masato Nakatsuji has been arrested by Tokyo authorities for authoring the Ika-tako virus, which replaces the files on a target computer with images of squid, octopi and sea urchins. The virus has infected somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 computers through the Winny file-sharing network. The malware disguises itself as a ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... It's time to refresh those data protection skills (even for Macs users apparently), because security firm McAfee contends that malware production reached a record high during the first half of 2010. [From: Reuters] The HP/Palm offices are growing increasingly barren, and Peter Skillman (reportedly the man behind the Pre) has ...