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Posts with tag malicious

Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Features, Windows, Freeware

Lesser Known Weapons To Trick Out Your Malware Arsenal

Everybody knows the big names in the battle against malware - Adaware, Spybot, HijackThis. Today we're going indie, focusing on lesser known ways to avoid and remove all that bothersome software that your "friend" crapped up your rig with!

First things first. Try not to get infected in the first place.

It's common sense that if you can keep malware from getting its nasty little claws on your OS you won't have to bother with fancy removal tools anyway. But how to do it? Sure, real-time scanning will catch a lot of garbage, but why not give your PC a little extra help? Here are two really simple methods.

Outfox malicious sites using a hosts file. By making use of the lmhosts file win Windows, you can trick your computer into never seeing sites where a lot of malware originates. Our favorite is MVPS.org's; it's one of the most complete, frequently updated files you'll find on the net. All the nefarious domains are redirected to 127.0.0.1 - good ol' localhost - so any links to their evil apps just won't work because chances are pretty good that your PC isn't serving up WinSuperSpyRemover 2008. Gold.

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Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Security, Web services, Google, Search, web 2.0

Google Gmail hijacking

Google Gmail hijackingYour open Gmail account could be in severe jeopardy, thanks to a malicious script that initiates itself when a website is viewed,

The tables have turned from hacking your computer, to hacking your virtually stored information. Supposedly hackers are not seeing the benefits of attacking your protected and firewalled computer these days, and are much happier to go after hacking Web 2.0 API's. Such is the case in a recent exposure of a critical process that executes a filter looking for specific incoming emails, sending them to another email address for snooping and prying. The filter would be in place until the Gmail account owner deletes it from the Settings>Filter menu.

Gnucitizen broke the news on this, and it has been verified by a few sources. He is not planning on demonstrating this process, or releasing more details on findings until Google has fixed this concern. He is also urging that others do not expose anything until they have notified Google and a fix is implemented. But does say that the hacks are out in the open for anyone searching Yahoo or Google.

Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Security, Yahoo!, Troubleshooting

Trojan in banner ad avoided security testing

Trojans in banner adsYahoo! owned RightMedia has been serving ads to popular networks such as MySpace, Bebo and Photobucket that could wreak havoc on visitors' machines.

The Trojan which was reported to have been inserted by a third party ad server, was tracked down to RightMedia. The infected banner ad supposedly ran several million times over a three week period after it was first spotted on August 8th by a web security company before it was removed.

The ads used Flash to load an invisible iFrame which in turn would load content in from another website. RightMedia has said that it has systems in place to test and determine whether ads contain malicious code, and will flag them appropriately. Upon further investigation of the ad, code inserted was actually designed to tell the difference between RightMedia's protection systems and not display the Trojan when the company ran the testing process.

All we can say is, "Hello Firefox with AdBlock!"

Filed under: Business, Security, E-mail, Troubleshooting

Pfizer computers sending Viagra spam?

Pfizer computers sending Viagra spam?Pfizer is a pretty big drug manufacturer is it not? Then why have they been hawking Viagra and fake Rolex watches through their email network?

Apparently some of Pfizers computers have been sending out emails that are not part of their marketing efforts. Malware has infected a number of the drug giant's computers and instructed them to send out spam on behalf a very ingenious hacker that has penetrated their systems that should have been well sealed up. A security based company let Wired into what was happening, and has stated that Pfizer's computers have been sending out spam for the past six months from over 138 different Pfizer IP addresses hawking their own goods, as well as junk stocks and penis enlargement products.

There is no word from Pfizer whether they know what's going on inside their own computer network yet. Maybe they are keeping it a little hush hush for now until quarterly earnings prove that the hacker's efforts are affecting their bottom lines in a good way.

Filed under: Blogging, E-mail, Web services, Google, Troubleshooting

Blogger infections

blogger infectionsSome Google Blogger users have been stung with attacks over the past little while, causing disturbing infections. Or is it just a case of the splogs.

Malicious hackers have supposedly been successful in gaining access to some blogs and posting fake entries with weblinks that lead to infectious downloads on Windows PC's. A security researcher started noticing the corrupt links turning up in Blogger accounts on August 27th. Since then hundreds of blogs have been reported to contain the malicious links. The researcher could not tell how the links were posted. They could have been posted through a Blogger exploit, through a feature that lets users email an entry, or the blogs could have been also set up solely to host spam and no hacking could have occurred at all.

So far the links appear to pose as YouTube links, others are looking for software testers, and others are links to supposed digital greeting cards. No word from Google on the matter.

Filed under: Windows, Yahoo!, P2P

Yahoo! Messenger ActiveX flaw fixed

yahoo messenger flaw fixedYahoo! fixed a little flaw this week in Yahoo! Messenger for Windows that could have been used by hackers. The flaw was in the ActiveX control and allowed hackers to crash a chat session and Internet Explorer. Worse, it could have executed malicious code on the victim's machine. The initiation could have taken place if hackers prompted users to view HTML code that linked to a web site with malicious code.

Not to worry, though--Yahoo! has this "highly critical" bug all fixed, and is recommending that users who downloaded Yahoo! Messenger before November 2nd to install the new 8.1 update.

Filed under: Business, Internet, Utilities, Social Software

AOL badware?

aol badwareAOL has been blacklisted on StopBadware.org due to the main fact that it installs additional software with AOL 9.0 without telling the user. The test of the free AOL 9.0 that StopBadware.org tested, reportedly got the bad grade because AOL did not live up to their "rich legacy" as stated by StopBadware.org co-director John Palfrey. Palfrey says this was the only reason why AOL had got dumped into the same category as malicious badware providers.

AOL has said that they are reviewing the report, and that no company has done more to fight malware than AOL. AOL is taking steps to ensure that the issues are addressed, and that they involve only minor UI changes.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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