Spyware News: Interview With a Virus-Hunter

We bring you an interview with a virus hunter here. Taken from pcworld.com, they recently interviewed the man behind kaspersky antivirus.

Read on....

We recently got the opportunity to interview Eugene Kaspersky, the man behind Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Here's what he had to say about the evolution of malware, the future of cybersecurity, the problems with the Internet, and more.

PCW: You've been in the anti-virus business for a long time. What are your thoughts on the evolution of malware?

Kaspersky: Malware has evolved in three stages. The first stage was more about smart young programmers writing viruses for fun, or to learn about replicating programs. These viruses were more benign, and they were not written with a motive to make money. This has now changed. Viruses and malware is currently written by professionally organized groups with the intention of making money. The current situation of the Internet helps malware creators make money with very little risk, and they aren't out to just have fun anymore. Also, malware writers are increasingly targeting newer devices like smartphones, which have a low security barrier. I feel that cyber-terrorism will increase as well, with countries infrastructure being targeted more and more in the days to come.

PCW: What do you think about the links between cyber-crime groups and organized crime? Are they joining forces?

E.K: I don't think this is true. The cyber-criminals don't have strong links with organized crime groups. They may have some links, but I don't think it's fair to say that all cyber criminals are part of the real Mafia, or other organized crime groups. The mentality of a cyber-criminal is very different from a real-world crook, and it's not true that all cyber-criminals would commit physical crimes, or think like people who are used to more violent lifestyles.

PCW: What can we do to fix some of the problems with malware on the Internet?

E.K: The Internet was never designed with security in mind. If I was God, and wanted to fix the Internet, I would start by ensuring that every user has a sort of Internet passport: basically, a means of verifying identity, just like in the real world, with driver's licenses and passports and so on. The second problem is one of jurisdiction. The Internet has no borders, and neither do the criminals who operate on the Internet. However, law enforcement agencies have jurisdictional limits, and are unable to conduct investigations across the globe. I feel we need an international agency to combat this problem, something like an Interpol for the Internet.

PCW: Won't your suggestion of Internet Passports remove the anonymity from online browsing, thus causing problems for people who may be operating in countries that are not friendly to their views, and so on?

E.K: There is no such thing as anonymity on the Internet, for the average user. It is relatively easy to identify the casual surfer from his IP address and the ISP's logs. Criminals, on the other hand, are professionals who know how to hide their tracks. A passport would be beneficial to law-abiding users, and would make it that much more difficult for cyber-criminals to hide.

PCW: Is your company moving from pure AV solutions to more comprehensive risk-management solutions?

E.K: In any case, there is no point talking about pure AV anymore, even for home users. The minimum you need is Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, and a Firewall. We do have a few risk-management options, but we don't want to dilute our products by broadening our focus too much. We would like to stay focused on security, and make sure we have the best products in that area.

PCW: Here's a more speculative question: Looking into the middle future, say in twenty years, how do you see the internet evolving?

E.K: I would like to answer this in two parts. Firstly, I don't know about twenty years, but I feel in about fifty years, the Internet will be a much more regulated, safer place. Just as society has evolved, so too shall the Internet evolve, with identification, regulatory agencies and all the things that keep society running smoothly. There will always be criminals, but not as many as there are right now.

Secondly, in the near future, say in about ten years, I feel that we may see an increase in cyber-terrorism attacks. Governments right now don't see this as a critical problem, but I fear that there will be some sort of major attack that will change this perception. Also, I think we're going to see more devices such as smartphones, car computers, smart homes and the like come under attack from malware writers.

Spyware News: Extended warranty may be a good idea for laptops

Q: Are extended warranties for computers really worth the money? - Janice

A: This question is one of the most common that I have fielded over the years, and has two potential answers: yes and no!

Much like any "insurance" policy, you get value from it only if you have to use it. So it's helpful to understand what the exposure risks are for what you are buying before you make your decision.

For instance, most desktop computers (with the exception of the nonstandard all-in-one units or those built by Apple) use common parts that are readily available and very competitively priced from hundreds of sources.

Many of the individual parts in a standard desktop computer can be replaced for less than most desktop computer extended warranties (especially if you are comfortable swapping parts yourself). In most cases, unless you have multiple failures during the warranty period, you may not recoup the cost of the extended warranty.

When it comes to laptop computers, the scenario is quite different. Virtually every laptop made is a proprietary design, so you have only one source for most replacement parts; the original manufacturer.

The laws of supply and demand are in full effect with laptops, which causes most replacement parts for a laptop to be higher than most extended warranties - especially when it comes to the screen or motherboard.

There are several types of warranties that you can buy for a laptop, including some that are called "no fault." That means that even if you drop it (which is very common), you are covered. Once again, you must weigh the cost of the coverage with the potential odds that you will need the coverage.

Road warriors and college students who are constantly lugging their portable computers around have a much higher likelihood of experiencing a "kinetic" event that could render the laptop useless. So coverage may make sense for them.

For those who mainly use their laptop around the house and on the occasional family vacation, your exposure to the additional risks are lessened. Therefore it may be a closer call.

The bottom line is to make sure you understand what is covered and what is not. The exclamation of "but I thought my extended warranty covered that" is all too common because the purchaser did not look at the exclusions before making the decision.

In computers especially, the vast majority of service issues have nothing to do with the hardware, which is generally the only thing that is covered by many extended warranties. Common problems like virus and spyware infections, operating system corruption, miscommunication of devices or inability to get something to function the way you expected it to are expressly not covered by the extended warranty.

Understanding that all "insurance" products must make the supplier a profit or they wouldn't do it, you can bet that the "house" has the advantage when it comes to extended warranties.

If you ever get the chance to chat with an individual whose responsibility is to process extended warranty claims in the computer world, you will likely hear that more claims are denied than approved, mainly because the purchaser of the warranty didn't really understand what they bought.

A final piece of advice: don't take any salesman's word on what is covered and excluded by an extended warranty. Get it in writing, and review it in detail before making a decision. Rarely is the person who is selling you the warranty the same person who is responsible for processing it.

The person selling the extended warranty generally gets a commission or has a quota they must meet and knows that by the time you figure out it wasn't quite what they represented, it's too late for you. So buyer beware!

“Fake Out Products” are going to be banned

Those programs that pop up in your system tray getting you paniced because you have spyware or a virus on your pc. Dont worry they are "helpful" (joke) as they then tell you to purchase the software to get rid of them. They are all fake and now there all to be banned. Not sure if this will stop the people that make them but we will soon see.

Read on..


US (ChattahBox) – The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has taken out a restraining order against Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC., two companies involved in the creation and distrubution of “scareware”, programs designed to create false alerts of viruses, illegal pornography, and spyware.

Court documents state that the two companies tricked websites into hosting their advertisements, and then took advantage of the site’s viewers to tell them they had harmful things on their computer, advising them to click a link to install a software that would get rid of it.

“The popularity of the rogue anti-virus and spyware products has rocketed,” Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer of Finjan, told reporters. “People are paying 40-60 dollars for bogus software which does nothing.”

The FTC hopes to achieve further action by banning the distribution of this software all together.

Study Confirms A Quarter of ALL Antivirus Apps Do Not Work

A study has recently discovered that one quarter of anit virus applications do not do what they are supposed to do. Promisec study says many AV packages are disabled or weren't installed properly in the first place

Read on....

More than one-quarter of business PCs are running antivirus software that has been disabled or was never properly installed, according to a study that will be published on Monday.

Promisec, a company that makes endpoint management tools, conducted the study on 100,000 PCs to prove a point: that antivirus management consoles from leading vendors are not accurately reporting when their software isn't working. The endpoint security tool vendor hopes the report will help drive users to try out its "clientless" management tools, which it says can take a more accurate reading of the status of AV software on remote endpoints.

The study, which was conducted from June to November of this year, tested the status of AV software on 100,000 endpoints in businesses operating in a variety of industries. According to the researchers, more than one-fourth of all computers were found to have missing or disabled antivirus software. But network administrators weren't being alerted to the problem by the vendors' management consoles, Promisec says.

"It's a serious issue, and really a scary situation," says Gary Morse, president of Razorpoint Security Technologies, a penetration testing firm. "Companies rely on antivirus software and assume they're covered. You've got a CIO sleeping well at night, thinking everything is secure when nothing could be further from the truth."

In many cases, users had turned off the antivirus software, thinking that would make their computers run faster, the researchers say. In other instances, the antivirus software was never deployed to certain computers. But the AV management tools didn't pick up the problems, Promisec says.

"What we're seeing are companies paying Symantec, McAfee, and others for protection that is only working about 75 percent of the time," adds Alan Komet, vice president of marketing for Promisec. "The vendors' management console is simply not a good monitoring source."

Top Tips To Keep You Safe With Online Shopping Through The Holidays

With the holiday season finally here many of you will be doing their shopping online to avoid the hustle and bustle of the shops. We have brought together some safety tips we think you should read to help you out.

Read on....

The allure of Internet deals and the pure convenience of "click and ship" continue to drive shoppers online this holiday season. An estimated $44 billion will be spent online purchasing holiday gifts in 2008, up more than 12 percent over 2007.

Although more money will be spent online this holiday season, consumers are concerned about security risks when making purchases over the Internet. According to a CA-sponsored survey, 72 percent of consumers in North America think retailers do not spend enough on online security and privacy.

To help ease consumer worry, security experts at CA, Inc. offer the following tips to help consumers protect themselves online this holiday season.

- Secure, then shop. Before connecting to the Internet, be sure to install anti-virus, a firewall and anti-spyware programs.

- Update, Update, Update. The bad guys constantly update their techniques, so consumers need to update their protection. Make sure your firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware and operating software are up-to-date.

- Never shop on an open wireless network. Open networks are easy targets for hackers to break into your computer and capture financial information.

- Know who you're dealing with. Get the name and physical address of any online-retailer before submitting personal or financial information. When shopping online auctions, check the track record of the seller before bidding.

- Never e-mail your personal or financial information. E-mail is not a secure method of sending information like your credit card, bank account or Social Security number.

- Look for secure payment processing. When a Web site processes your payment information, be sure the URL address changes from HTTP to SHTTP or HTTPS. This indicates that the purchase is encrypted or secured.

- Be alert and be suspicious. Identity thieves count on the holiday rush to catch consumers off guard with bogus e-mails that seem to be coming from a legitimate organization such as the bank, the IRS or UPS. These "phishing" scams can lure shoppers into divulging personal information. Be suspicious of anyone asking for additional personal information or asking you to click on links in an e-mail.

Koobface Virus Spreads to Bebo

As we have just reported about malware corrupting the world of social netoworks a virus has been discovered on Bebo.

Read on....

A virus that's attacking Facebook users is also infecting other social networking sites, says ScanSafe.

Koobface tricks social networkers into downloading malicious malware onto their PC. Users receive messages that look as if they're videos. Often they say something like "you look funny." When the user clicks to see the video, he is taken to a new website and asked to download special software in order to see the video.

That software is malicious and once installed on a PC, the Trojan will direct users to hoax search engines and other websites, putting them at risk of ID theft.

According to ScanSafe, Koobface has been identified on Bebo and could even spread to other social networking sites including - MySpace and Friendster. ScanSafe also claims that the virus accounts for one percent of all its blocked malware.

"Those who avoid promiscuous 'friending' on social networking sites will be least likely to encounter a Koobface type threat," said Mary Landesman, senior security researcher, at ScanSafe.

An Anti-virus can Also be Vulnerable to Hackers

iViZ, an information security company that offers "Green Cloud Security", has discovered new classes of vulnerabilities in many popular commercial and open source anti-virus software. The company states that these vulnerabilities can potentially allow attackers to gain access to systems using such antivirus software.

According to iViZ, an attacker can craft an e-mail with malicious code that can crash the vulnerable anti-virus and bypass the computer's local security solution.

The iViZ "Green Cloud Security" Vulnerability Research team , using a variety of "file fuzzing" techniques discovered abnormal behavior in several security tools -- especially when handling complex or unusual executable header data. Multiple bugs were found in antivirus software while processing malformed packed executables as well.
Some of these bugs proved to be security vulnerabilities, which could make the antivirus itself a back door for hackers.

The affected software included popular commercial and open source anti-virus software such as AVG, F-Secure (F-Prot), Sophos, ClamAV, BitDefender and Avast. It stated that the list could include other security-based software as well.

iViZ experts advised businesses to perform regular and periodic penetration testing as it can help them combat constantly evolving vulnerabilities and threats.

New virus stalks socialising websites

Back in the days when modems were the only way to get online - this is back in the cyberworld equivalent of the stone age - things were a lot simpler.

Hackers only went after businesses and governments, and viruses were just an annoyance.

Because there were so few threats 20 years ago, few people bought anti-virus programs either. In hindsight, it was kind of silly. If you did buy an A/V program back then, it only worked against the viruses everybody already knew about. If a new virus came out, you had to go buy the update at a store.

Unfortunately, today what most people think they need to be safe online hasn't kept pace with the reality. Neither has most people's understanding of what the dangers are online. Twenty years ago, no one ever had to worry about things like spamming, phishing, malware and botnets.

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A friend the other day asked me about a new virus on Facebook. A new virus? That's odd. New viruses - a replicating programme that usually damages a system - are a rarity these days. I asked if instead it was a new trojan, keylogger or some other type of malware. I think I could have been speaking swahili for the look I got.

The "virus" my friend was asking about was Koobface, which is currently hitting social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and many other. Any confusion over what Koobface "is" has to be excused, since I've several news stories about it that didn't know either. It's been reported as virus, a worm and a trojan. To keep it simple, Koobface is malware (a term used to describe any software that is harmful to your computer). How it works is that you receive an email, which contains a link to what is supposed to be a video, through your social networking account. If you click on the link, you'll soon be prompted to download software that says it will allow you to watch a video. It's bogus. The downloaded software is really a trojan horse, an application that will attempt to steal personal information. The trojan will use your account to send the original email to your friends, who can then get infected themselves.

So what can you do? You can - and probably should - go out and buy anti-virus and internet security software. Today's A/V programs cover bots, keyloggers and most other type of malware you can encounter these days. Most importantly, you should also use your brain. While security problems will stop almost everything from getting through, using a little common sence will stop you from having to put your software to the test. For years secucity companies have been saying "don't open email from people you don't know". That rule still applies and it applies to social networking e-mails just as much as it does to the ones you receive in your Outlook inbox.

The same goes for downloading files. If your computer tells you it needs the latest version of Flash, OK. You will need to update your software occasionally, but pay attention to where you're downloading the file from. If you have to update your Flash player, go to Abode.com and get it from the guys who make it. Don't trust generic websites. The cyberworld is getting worse, and it's getting worse on a daily basis. That doesn't mean you need to avoid going online or know the difference between a worm and a virus. It does mean you need to think before you click that link. This isn't the '80s. It's time start thinking about security.

The "virus" my friend was asking about was Koobface, which is currently hitting social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and many other ... It's been reported as virus, a worm and a trojan.

12 Types Of Anti-Spyware Programs

You can try out each program and get the best choice to protect your computer from the possible threats.

In the market there are many anti spyware and ad ware programs like Ad-Aware SE Pro, Counterspy, Trend Micro, Spy Sweeper, AntiSpy, Spy ware Doctor, PestPatrol, etc. available in the market. Each program has its own identity and method to access the internet. The anti-spyware company’s offers free download or it offers for free trial for certain period of time. There are many free antispyware are also available online for free trial with self-update.

You can try out each program and get the best choice to protect your computer from the possible threats. There are many anti-spy ware programs available for free. There are many free games and video or peer to peer sites also contents various spy wares. It is not advisable not to access the system. Many freeware have give virus or malicious things as gift with the installation.

1. Lavasoft’s Ad-aware SE pro 6. It can give you many good features where we can’t find it in other products.

2. Spy Sweeper launched upgraded version 5.2 with many updates for the customers. The Spy Sweeper 5.2 runs quickly, custom or full sweeps in record time.

3. Spyware Doctor promise real-time blocking and protection features.

4. The Norton Internet Security 2007 offers triple security against antivirus, firewall, and antispyware and. It also gives anti Spam, privacy, and parental control.

5. AVG Anti-Spyware offers the free services as well as the paid one. It gives 30 day trial version.

6. CounterSpy runs in the background and protect from spyware and ad ware.

7. McAfee is an effective anti-virus product. It is user-friendly and provides many different forms of support.

8. Trend Micro Anti-Spyware has unique features. Trend Micro Anti-Spyware covers all types of spyware or ad ware components.

9. The Anti-spy provides customize solution. It can automatically start scanning as defined time.

10. CA Anti-Spyware 2007's active shields recognized and blocked spyware.

11. CyberDefender AntiSpywareis identify and defense invasive spyware on your computer.

12. The Spy Sweeper is user-friendly. Spy Sweeper one of the favorite amongst the anti-spyware tools.

Apart from this there are many anti-spyware available in the market. All have different features and compatibilities.

Sony needs a common-sense czar

With so many czars running around trying to solve the nation's problems in tech, auto and drugs, perhaps Sony should consider hiring a common-sense czar.

Is there any major consumer company around that seems to understand basic customer relations less than Sony? Isn't rule No.1 in the CR manual, "Don't spy on customers?" If so, then rule 1-A must be: "Take extra care to avoid spying on customers' children."

The latest example of Sony's disconnect with the masses came this week when the company's music division was fined for surreptitiously collecting information on children under 13-years old.

On Thursday, Sony agreed to pay $1 million to the Federal Trade Commission for collecting information on 30,000 children without obtaining parental consent. According to the Associated Press, Sony violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act when it collected the data from hundreds of fan sites, including those of such musical acts as Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Sony representatives declined to comment.

Sony's growing list of scandals raises the question of whether anyone at the conglomerate has an ounce of public relations savvy. If they don't, the company should find someone fast and that person's mission should be to smack down overly zealous marketing types who come up with lamebrain ideas like this one.

Or how about the one for last year's promotional party for the PlayStation 2 game God of War II that turned into an international embarrassment for Sony. In keeping with the video game's Greek mythology theme, comely women were hired to prance around topless and feed grapes to partygoers as part of the "theatrical dramatization." If that wasn't over the top enough, the centerpiece of the festivities was a butchered goat that was dressed up to look like the animal's entrails were falling out.

Across the world, animal activists howled and critics blasted the company's "bad taste." Sony apologized and yes, returned the goat carcass to the butcher. (I'm not kidding, that was their response).

Then there was the company's supreme blunder, which also came from the music division.

Before Sony, even some hardcore techies were unfamiliar with rootkits. Now, the two are synonymous. In 2005, Sony loaded MediaMax CD 3 and Extended Copy Protection (XCP) software on music CDs to help boost copy prevention. The software loaded a rootkit malware onto the PC of anyone who loaded the discs. Rootkits are programs designed to hijack control of a computer.

Texas' attorney general filed suit against the company and accused it of loading spyware onto computers. Class action suits were also filed in New York and California. The fallout lasted years.

The rootkit debacle makes this latest child-spying case all the more mind-boggling. Even if you give Sony the benefit of doubt and discount the possibility the company is evil, then what are you left with? Yes, that's right: incompetence.

I have met a lot of smart people from Sony and I have to believe that some of them realize the company is developing a nasty reputation as an enemy of consumer privacy.

Firefox: Most Risky App to Businesses in New Study

The good old FF browser gets little love when it comes to security

Firefox has its plate full when it comes to security. It has grown a substantial enough market share to place it in a strong second after Microsoft. This gives it a high profile and leaves it a desirable target to be exploited by hackers and malware writers. Worse yet, it has less money to fund security efforts that Microsoft, and according to some experts, less focus as well.

While small market share browsers like Opera and Chrome have built a reputation on their security (with Safari, being a noticeable exception, have a reputation for insecurity), Firefox continues to plod along in a day to day fight, trying to remain a secure platform while dealing with the challenges of browser celebrity.

Perhaps for this reason, Bit9, an application whitelisting firm that helps employers block employee access to certain apps, placed Firefox on the top its list of most vulnerable apps. The remaining spots on the list were filled out with more familiar names, with two through twelve respectively being: Adobe Flash & Acrobat; EMC VMware Player, Workstation, and other products; Sun Java Runtime Environment; Apple QuickTime, Safari, and iTunes; Symantec Norton products; Trend Micro OfficeScan; Citrix products; Aurigma and Lycos image uploaders; Skype; Yahoo Assistant; and Microsoft Windows Live Messenger.

The Bit9 study looked at several factors in ranking vulnerability. One factor was how popular the applications were. Another factor was how many known vulnerabilities existed, and how severe they were. Lastly, it looked at how hard patching was for the particular application.

In order to make the list, programs hand to run in Windows and not be centrally updatable via services such as Microsoft SMS and WSUS. Many say that the survey was unfair to Apple products because it kept easier patched Microsoft applications off the list.

In some ways, though Bit9's list is a useful benchmark. It aptly points out that many networks have Firefox installations running on machines, without the system administrator being fully aware of the instance of these installs. Thus, despite the fact that most of the vulnerabilities looked at have been patched, the installs may not receive these patches immediately, until the employee upgrades to the next edition of the browser.

The study's conclusions only marginally apply to the consumer market. However, when it comes to the business market, the study argues that picking or allowing employees to run Firefox, even with its security plug-ins, is a ticket to the IT danger zone as malware increasingly targets application layer targets such as Firefox.

Security in Recession

With the National Bureau of Economic Research in the United States announcing last week that the U.S. has officially been in recession since Dec. 2007, IT budgets are highly likely to be strictly controlled both in the U.S. and in other parts of the world. I had a conversation with a friend over the weekend, and he asked me if I expect redundancies in the IT Security industry, as companies could no longer afford to have dedicated security personnel on their books.

To be honest, yes I think there will be. However, I also think that the overall IT security industry will continue to grow in 2009 - bad guys are not going away anytime soon, and a lot of their existing scams work really well in this economic climate. Companies who choose to think otherwise may well end up regretting it in the long term, and here are my thoughts on why:

At the end of the day, security boils down to risk management. The three core values every organization needs to protect are often shown in the acronym CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability). Different organizations prioritize on different areas, but I think when it comes to economic downturn, confidentiality, and availability are obviously the most affected.

In terms of confidentiality, we are talking about an organization’s private data being protected. I’m based in Ireland, where 17,000 people had their jobs slashed in November. This is a drop in the ocean compared to other countries, particularly the half a million employees who lost jobs in the U.S. Insider threats have long been one of the largest risks facing organizations, especially in the case of the so-called “disgruntled employee.” With large number of employees made redundant, having their salaries cut, etc., there are a lot of incentives for these same employees to engage in data theft.

When people feel hard done by their employers, they are more likely to relax their morals. In these cases they may no longer consider taking confidential company information outside of the company as stealing. They feel an entitlement to this information, after all, they’ve put years of work into helping the company grow. The very fact that there are so many Data Leak/Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions on the market should give you an idea of just how big this problem is - and I think the risk of Data Theft/Loss is going to increase in the current climate

Which brings us to the other big factor - Availability. Almost every company is currently engaged in examining their costs, and reducing them wherever possible. Whether it is in terms of head count or even simply lowering all of the thermostats in their buildings by five degrees (my hands are going blue typing this), a lot of companies are walking a very fine line trying to keep afloat for the next two to three years - even the smallest misfortune could tip the ship.

This is where malware comes in. The recent WORM_DOWNAD.A attack was quite successful in infecting unpatched Windows machines, with a quite a few companies having thousands of machines infected by the threat. Cleaning a threat like this costs a lot of money - a company may need to pay their IT staff overtime to fix the problem, or they may have to bring in external contractors. That’s not where the real loss is, however. Picture a company of 4000 employees. Now picture all of those employees being unable to use their machines for three hours while the systems are being cleaned, patched and tested. That is 12000 man-hours of work which that company is paying for, and getting nothing in return. To put it another way, that’s about 6.5 employees’ salaries for the year which sums up to around 200-250K. There are very few companies that have that kind of money to burn at the moment.

So, to any organization thinking of cutting their security budgets, think long and hard about weighing the short term savings with the potential losses. I wish I could say that there won’t be companies that would go under because of a malware attack in the next couple of months - but optimism is not exactly in large supply at the moment.

Microsoft: Hole exploit endangers all IE versions

An unpatched security hole in Internet Explorer that is being exploited affects all versions of the browser, making it more serious than originally believed when it was first publicized two days ago, Microsoft says.

Microsoft is investigating reports of attacks against a new vulnerability in IE but said in an update to a security advisory issued late on Thursday that all versions of IE are potentially vulnerable.

The company recommends setting the Internet zone security setting to "high" and using access control lists to disable Ole32db.dll to provide the most effective protection against an attack.

"Our latest information is that there are still limited attacks seeking to load malicious software on vulnerable systems," Christopher Budd writes in the Microsoft Security Response Center blog.

Microsoft has seen several hundred detections of exploits from around the globe, though the sites taking advantage of the vulnerability appear to be hosted on Chinese domains, Microsoft said in a Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog.

"The exploit sites we've seen so far drop a wide variety of malware--most commonly password stealers like new variants of game password stealers like Win32/OnLineGames, and Win32/Lolyda; keyloggers like Win32/Lmir; trojan horse applications like Win32/Helpud along with some previously unseen malware which we generically detect as Win32/SystemHijack," the Malware Protection Center blog says. "We fully expect the variety of malware being dropped by this exploit to broaden as the exploit code starts to circulate around the Internet underground."

People visiting trusted sites could be affected as well from sites targeted by SQL injection attacks through which malicious code is injected into sites, Microsoft says.

A Microsoft spokesman said he could not say when a fix would come. The next Patch Tuesday is scheduled for January 13.

Microsoft's updated advisory lists a number of mitigating factors: Protected Mode in IE 7 and IE 8 in Windows Vista limits the impact of the vulnerability; IE on Windows Server 2003 and 2008 runs in a restricted mode known as Enhanced Security Configuration that sets the security level for the Internet to high; the attacker could only gain the same user rights as the local user; known attacks can not exploit the issue automatically through e-mail.

Remove Antivirus 360 - Antivirus 360 Removal Instructions

We have bought you something that most of you have been pulling your hair out over. Those annoying fake anti spyware programs that claim to be real. They fake scan your system and "find" spyware on your PC that you can only remove if you purchase the software to then find out it does not work.

Well get rid of it now with our steps.......

Antivirus 360 is latest rogue anti-spyware program which uses scare tactics to promote itself using terrible false scan results, pop-ups, security alerts e.t.c.
Antivirus 360 uses Vundo Trojan in order to install itself on your computer without any informing and approval. Once installed Antivirus 360 will configure itself to run automatical scan each time you turn on your computer. Once you turn on your computer, Antivirus 360 will say that it is seriously infected with different types of malware. Moreover, Antivirus 360 states that legitimate Windows files are “dangerous threats”. And the only way to remove all detected trash is to purchase licensed version of this pseudo-security software. Also Antivirus 360 may put your data and privacy on risk. So we recommend you to remove Antivirus 360 manually or using our removal tool (Spyware Doctor + antivirus).



How to remove Antivirus 360 manually:
It's possible to remove Antivirus 360 manually , but you have to be very experienced in dealing with registry entries, program files and .dll files.


The files to be deleted:

* %Program Files%\A360\av360.exe
* %UserProfile%\Desktop\Antivirus 360.lnk
* %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 360\Help.lnk
* %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 360\Registration.lnk
* %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 360\Antivirus 360.lnk
* %UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Antivirus 360.lnk

Remove registry entries:

* HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\13376694984709702142491016734454
* HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “13376694984709702142491016734454″

Please be careful because manual removal of Antivirus 360 may seriously damage operational system and sensitive data. Also there is a big possibility of incomplete removal, because some files could be hidden and program could re-install itself after you delete files and registry entries.

In Midst of Economic Meltdown, Malware Business is Booming

1.9 million job losses, a dollar worth less than the Canadian and Australian dollar, the collapse of the auto industry, the complete meltdown of credit. What a year it’s been for we working stiffs!

If you, as many ‘mericans already have, find yourself on the job hunt in the near future, forget about real estate, investment, Avon sales or tool and die work. Apparently, the boom industry in 2009 will be in the crimeware sector. Hopefully, with corresponding spikes in the antivirus industry (please don’t leave me to the spammers!).

According to industry insiders, 2008 saw a 258% spike in the URLs spreading contagions via phishing tactics. Classic scams like emulating login portals to harvest valuable personal data, passwords and usernames are becoming more common as cyber criminals perfect their craft. Malicious tapeworms, retroviruses, MoBo-VD, circuitry eating zombie nets and Trojan donkey-kits are proliferating rapidly.

If you do a lot online banking, social networking, or even MMORPGing think twice before throwing your social security number, birthday, maiden name and blood type around the internet. Phishing tactics are no longer as transparent as the koobface worm we’re still seeing on Facebook.

These dweeb and nerd criminals manage to make some convincing mimic logon pages and tricky programs. Red flags to look for include any obviously ex-Soviet URLs (.ru, .az, .kz, .by .cz, .tm et al), key misspellings (think Homtail, hotmale, or hottamale instead of hotmail), and anything that has a .exe within a hundred feet of it.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking to get involved in the profitable crimeware industry, there are great opportunities out there. Why not work as the overlord of a zombie botnet? Trading in stolen credit card numbers would be a refreshing career change, no? Just be prepared to feel my wrath, and the wrath of anyone else who has ever lost personal information!

If you’re not feeling ambitious enough for a fast track career in malware development, you’re probably going to want arm yourself with up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software. Check out our software reviews to keep your identity secure.