Tag: TROJAN

Symantec is reporting that they have detected a malicious Android app doing the rounds on file-sharing sites in the US and Asia. The fake application impersonates a pirated version of an app called Walk and Text, which lets you overlay a keyboard on a live feed from your phone's camera to avoid crashing into things while walking and texting, and is currently available in the Android Market ...

Tragedies like the massive earthquake which recently hit Japan are bad enough, and they're compounded online by nefarious types who want to profit from the inevitable increase in search engine queries. It's a common way to trick users into installing malicious programs like fake antivirus or fake system maintenance tools. By getting in quickly on new search terms as the become popular, ...

It's been widely reported that the world's millions of smartphones are the next juicy target for malware creators, and we're beginning to see the shift. Trojanized apps recently infiltrated the Android Market and now Trend Micro is reporting that a Zeus trojan variant has begun infecting BlackBerry devices. The trojan installs silently and then notifies its administrators that the compromised ...

When we first reported on applications in the official Android Market being infected with a Trojan backdoor, 21 malicious apps were found. After the dust had settled, the total was closer to 60 -- and Google has now announced what it is doing to undo the damage and prevent future outbreaks in the Market. For starters, Google is remotely wiping the rogue applications from users' devices and ...

A new backdoor Trojan virus that targets Mac OS X has emerged, Sophos reports. Interestingly, the new virus, which is called BlackHole RAT (or OSX/MusMinim-A in virus definition speak), is a variant of the 'legitimate' Windows Trojan DarkComet-RAT. Fortunately, the virus doesn't seem to be very malicious. It allows a remote controller to reboot or shutdown an infected computer, or pop up a ...

Microsoft recently delivered a patch for its malware and antivirus tools, including Security Essentials, Windows Defender, MSRT, and Forefront -- its enterprise antivirus solution. The patch addresses a flaw in Microsoft's scanning engine which could allow an attacker who had a valid username and password to gain elevated rights on a system. As is often the case with these flaws, the fact that ...

After only a few weeks in beta testing, Avast 6 is now ready for download. If you're looking for a good, free antivirus program for your Windows computer, Avast is still one of the best options -- and version 6 adds one very powerful defense mechanism. Sandboxing -- which allows your computer to run unknown and untrusted programs in an isolated spece where they can't harm your operating ...

One shortcoming of previous versions of Immunet Protect -- the upstart cloud antivirus recently added to the Google Pack -- was that it needed to be plugged into the cloud in order to provide meaningful protection. That's not a big minus since most of us are online 24-7, but with Immunet's acquisition by Sourcefire it became important to address the needs of network administrators. And ...

You may have noticed Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool in your list of available Windows Updates. Heck, you may even have seen it in your Add/Remove Programs and wondered where it came from. The MSRT can actually be quite useful, and it's a fast, simple way to remove a number of common malware infections. In an update pushed yesterday, Microsoft added Cycobot to the list of malware ...

Now, we don't need fancy graphs to tell us that malware is all over the place -- but it's certainly eye-opening to see just how bad the problem has gotten. Unique samples gathered by AV-Test Labs this year nearly doubled in 2010 -- to almost 20 million, up from 12 million in 2009. That's no doubt due to the ever-morphing horde of rogue applications, which now include bogus system tune-up software ...

AV-Comparatives spends all year evaluating antivirus applications, and their recommendations are always worth paying attention to. The company's 2010 summary report has been posted, and F-Secure has been declared the top Windows antivirus program. AV-Comparatives also states that it was extremely difficult to choose a winner this year -- which is a good thing, because it means that security ...

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 ...

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 ...