Tag: MALWARE

Keeping the computers on your home network can be a messy business, but Kaspersky has a solution which can make things a bit easier to manage. Their re-tooled Pure Total Security suite offers full-spectrum network protection from malware defense to backups to parental controls. Pure packs a ton of functionality, including malware protection, firewall, spam and phishing protection, backup and ...

In sad and lamentable news, it turns out that mobile users are three times more likely than desktop users to give up their personal details to phishing websites. Even worse, despite only making up 26% of the US smartphone market, 65% of successful attacks are on iPhone users. Android, with 24% of the market represents only 9% of phishing attacks -- but BlackBerry comes on top, with 36% of the ...

Facebook has a massive userbase -- somewhere between 500 and 600 million users at the moment. The vast majority of those people are average users, who aren't as aware of the dangers lurking on Facebook as more security-minded types. That makes it a very juicy target for scammers and malware distributors, and they're not shy about trying to take advantage of unsuspecting users. Viral scams are ...

Over at the Lookout Mobile Security blog there's news of a sophisticated new trojan spreading on Android devices. Dubbed Geinimi, the Trojan has been injected into legitimate versions of Android games (primarily) and apps, and distributed via third-party app stores in China. While Lookout isn't certain of Geinimi's intent, the company believes it to be capable of receiving commands from a ...

Traditionally, Windows' massive user base has made it a juicy target for malware authors, but a new report from McAfee suggests there could be a major shift in 2011. The security company is predicting that attacks on the exploding smartphone segment and Apple devices will increase significantly. Mac trojans have already become increasingly common in 2010, and McAfee finds that "lack of user ...

There's really no question what the most popular, free antivirus program for Windows is here at Download Squad. You, our readers, make it pretty clear whenever we post about the topic that Microsoft Security Essentials is at the top of the heap -- and we tend to agree. With detection rates every bit as good as some competing paid products (and better than many), MSE might just be the best piece ...

Once upon a time, rogue antivirus apps were pretty much one-trick ponies. They tried to closely mimic the interfaces we recognize from apps like AVG and Microsoft Security Essentials and use goofily-combined names like Super Windows Antivirus 2010 Gold Pro. However, as Sunbelt reports on their official blog, malware authors are now branching out into other types of bogus apps in order to lure ...

It's a bit more intense reading than Google's Teach Parents Tech series, but Season's Warnings from Trend Micro is definitely something your less-techy friends and family members should read. Trend's guide covers several important topics, like phishing, giveaway scams, and wireless security. While it's only a dozen pages long, there's still plenty of good information inside that will help your ...

Malwarebytes is one of the most trusted and effective tools for removing all kinds of malicious software. Over at the Malwarebytes forums, there's big news today: MBAM 1.5 has been released, and it's faster, smarter, and better than ever. Startup time has been trimmed to just a few seconds and scanning speed improved by as much as 500%. There's also a host of new detection algorithms which allow ...

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Microsoft has pushed an update to Security Essentials 2, which is currently in beta testing. While there aren't a vast number of forward-facing changes, there is one important one: the re-introduction of context menu scanning. Once again, you can right-click any file on your system to quickly check it for infection with MSE. When Security Essentials 2 is finally released, it will include ...

Straight out of the "you knew it was coming" files, PC Pro is reporting the first public call for a security software ballot in Windows. Panda echoes the shouts from Trend Micro, who were the first to cry foul over Microsoft's recent decision to offer Security Essentials to unprotected Windows users as an optional Windows Update download. Panda's Luis Corrons told PC Pro, "There should be a ...

It never hurts to have a wingman when you're trying to avoid malware on the Web, and VirusTotal has been a trusted companion for quite some time. Its Web-based scanner offers an easy way to check a file for infection prior to downloading, and it's just gotten a lot easier to access in Google Chrome. A new extension called VTChromizer adds two-click analysis via VirusTotal to your Chrome ...

There was a time when Mac users enjoyed "security by obscurity." Because of the much smaller number of Mac users in the world, malware authors didn't bother targeting Apple desktops and laptops. Those days are long gone, however, and new threats that put Mac users at risk are appearing all the time. Fortunately, there are now plenty of good antivirus options for Mac users to combat the rising ...

Bad news for Mac users -- a cross-platform Trojan that can infect the OS is currently being tracked, masquerading as a video. Boonana, official designation 'trojan.osx.boonana.a,' or 'OSX/Koobface.A' depending on who you want to go with, is being spread across Facebook and other social networks with the old 'Is this you in this video?' ploy. Appearing on people's Facebook pages, the link launches ...