Hello readers!

I know it’s been a while, but things have been busy with this influx of viruses.  I’ll keep this short and sweet but one of the main concerns I have are phishing schemes. There are many various rouge anti-spyware programs like “Antivirus 2008″ or “Antivirus 2009″ or “XP Antivirus”.  There are just too many to name!

Anyways so those of you who have already seen this have hopefully not signed up to pay for it. If you have QUICKLY CALL YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY AND PUT A STOP ON IT AND GET THEM TO ISSUE YOU A NEW CARD!!!!!

If you have not seen it yet and do sometime in the near future be sure to not sign up for it. Consult your nearest PC support centre to get it removed. Chances are if you have one infection, there are plenty more lurking in the background.

Though there may not be something blaring out at you in the open, there might be cases where you type in an address into Internet Explorer, it opens a totally random site, or something related but not quite the one you wanted. This is also a sign of an infection. Another common sign is pop-ups. Lots and lots of (or a few here and there randomly) pop-ups. They do get annoying, so if your pop-up blocker is going nuts or if you notice yourself closing a lot of random windows, there is a good chance you have a lot of infections.

So keep an eye out, practice safe surfing and if you notice anything suspicious, it’s a good idea to get some professional help.

Hope that helps!

malware annoying, antivirus, help, malware, Phishing, popup, scheme, spyware, virus

Hello to all you Apple users!

As many of you have probably already heard, Apple had a post on their website saying that users should use some sort of anti virus software for their Mac computers. Macs are still affected by viruses but they are not as wide spread as Windows as Windows boasts nearly 90% of the market share for home computers. However, Mac advertising is getting better, and therefore they are gaining a higher market share and malware authors are starting to lean more towards creating malware for Macs.

According to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Apple has been known to be slow at patching their zero day vulnerabilities (when a security problem is publicly disclosed without a patch). Thus, the well known antivirus companies (Symantec, Mcafee, Kaspersky, etc) have been working on anti virus programs Macs. A free one similar to SpyBot for PC is ClamXav. There is also a free download from Apples website.

One of the key vulnerabilities released recently is a trojan downloader called OSX_JAHLAV.A. A trojan is essentially a program that looks real but isn’t. A downloader essentially downloads files onto your computer.

This file in particular is loaded through a spam message. It links to a video that doesn’t play. The error that comes up says you need to download a video codec to play the file. The file that downloads is called ‘install.pkg’.

This package opens to code-live7000.dmg, an install file for the malware. Don’t be fooled by thinking there is only one possibility for the name. It is easy for the file to be changed to any other name to cause confusion.

The install looks incredibly real as seen by the screenshots courtesy Trend Micro.

Anyways, to sum it all up, nothing beats a users intuition. If it looks too good to be true, don’t click it. If it’s not from a trusted source, don’t open it! A good anti virus scan every couple of weeks is a good idea. I wouldn’t use the common programs that are available on the market, as those are generally the ones malware authors try to get around first.

Hope that helps!

malware antivirus, Apple, Mac, malware, spyware, Trend Micro, virus

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick note here.  The Websense Security Labs Threat Seeker has released information on fake coupons that are coming in e-mails.  The email address is spoofed to make it seem like it’s coming from somewhere legitimate. The coupons are coming in the form ‘file.zip’.  Notice that the files are a .zip file meaning an archive that when opened installs a virus on your system. The file in the archive is either promotion.exe or coupon.exe. Again notice that it is a .exe extension, which means an executable file. Coupons are usually in a .jpg which is an image file.  Either that or a link to the company’s website with the coupon image is there.  Just keep an eye out!

The full story with pictures is available here I strongly suggest you take a look at the images so you know what to look out for.  Keep in mind, spammers like to use various companies to trick you into paying them, so be careful!

General

Hello again readers,

I apologize for not having anything posted sooner.  For those who are going to be shopping this holiday season, watch out for things that look too good to be true.  TrendMicro just released their top ten things to watch out for this holiday season. The full article can be found here but here’s a shortened version of it as well as some other details.

10. Bargain Hunter Scams – If the price seems way too low, check to see if the store is an authorized retailer, they may not be selling you the real product.

9. Fake Charity Sites – From hurricanes to terrorist sieges, everyone is wanting money for something.  Ensure charities you are donating to are authorized non profit charities, and not some random website. (Some site still look good so be careful as explained later in this article, I still prefer to give cash or pay in person)

8. Fake Greeting Cards – Ensure the messages from e-cards look real and don’t contain gibberish, sometimes they may come a friend or relative but contain malicious code that could be harmful to your computer.

7. Malicious Advertisements – Those annoying pop ups may start looking appealing when holiday shopping, but careful not be lured to sites that look real but are actually not.

6. Malicious Search Results – When typing something like “holiday shopping” into a search engine, one might come up with some website that can be harmful to your system.  Use something like McAfee Site Advisor to give you a better idea as to what is good and what isn’t (though results are not always 100% accurate, it’s still better than nothing).

5. Compromised High Traffic Websites – Attackers during the holiday season try to focus their attacks on sites that shoppers go to and insert malicious code that can download things to your system.  Keep your Antivirus program up to date!

4. Mining Personal Data – Bogus Gift Card Promos – Surveys that say they are going to give some awesome prizes can look legitimate but can get you to put in your credit card numbers saying they’ll give you money when they’re actually doing the opposite.

3. e-Commerce Phishing – eBay is the most phished website as it is was listed the most visited in 2007.  Amazon is also among the top.

2. Bogus Courier Receipts Delivering Trojan Viruses – Emails that say you have an undelivered package and requesting money when you don’t recall buying anything is a good sign showing that it’s a fake.  Use your best judgment!

1. Shopping Invoices for Ghost Transactions – Ensure e-mails saying you have a receipt in the attachment to a purchase you made are from the site you purchased it from.  Don’t open the attachment, most retailers as far as I know make the receipts available once you log in securely to their websites.  They don’t send them in attachments.

Well now you know the top ten.  Some common e-mails people mistake for being legitimate look something like this. Then they ask for personal information like this.

Some of the common e-mails are spoofed from McDonalds, Walmart, and, a personal favourite, some random old lady that passed away left you her fortune and you have to pay money to get it. What an idea!

Well I hope after reading this you will practice safe shopping, remember a good antivirus program helps, but nothing beats your common sense!

Phishing danger, internet, Phishing, scam, shopping