Anti-spyware - Infoworld

Update: Internet Explorer aces security test as Google faces accusations

InfoWorld Tech Watch — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:42:15 +0000

Internet Explorer 9 should be the go-to browser for organizations concerned about protecting machines from malicious downloads, according to a new study from NSS Labs: Microsoft's browser trounced rivals Chrome, Firefox, and Saf

Security pros slam Cnet Download.com's bundling

InfoWorld Tech Watch — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:32:17 +0000

Programmers have a strong sense of ownership for the software they create.

Peer-to-peer update to Zeus Trojan confers resistance to take-downs

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:42:52 +0000

The Zeus financial malware has been updated with P-to-P (peer-to-peer) functionality that makes it much more resilient to take-down efforts and gives its controllers flexibility in how they run their fraud operations.

The new version of the infamous banking Trojan was discovered and analyzed by Swiss security expert Roman Hüssy, the creator of the abuse.ch Zeus and SpyEye tracking services.

Update: SpyEye Trojan morphs to defeat online banking defenses

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:58:03 +0000

Banks are facing more trouble from SpyEye, a piece of malicious software that steals money from people's online bank accounts, according to new research from security vendor Trusteer.

SpyEye is a particularly nasty piece of malicious software: it can harvest credentials for online accounts and also initiate transactions as a person is logged into their account, literally making it possible to watch their bank balance drop by the second.

Prepare for advanced persistent threats, or risk being the next RSA

Roger A. Grimes — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Just a few years ago, the media was publishing daily stories about website defacements or even bank theft. How I wish for those halcyon days. Now APT (advanced persistent threat) attacks are grabbing media attention on a near-weekly basis -- and IT security teams must take heed and prepare.

20 years of innovative Windows malware

Jason Snyder — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Windows PCs have been under siege for 20 years. What a difference those two decades make.

EU Parliament approves once-secret ACTA copyright treaty

admin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:15:51 +0000

After 11 rounds of international negotiations, the final text of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has overcome its biggest hurdle yet when it was welcomed as a step in the right direction by the European Parliament, which voted 331-294, with 11 members abstaining, to approve the measure.

Microsoft Security Essentials: Free, so what's the catch?

J. Peter Bruzzese — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Personally, I didn't like Microsoft's Live OneCare security software; every time I worked with it on someone's computer, there was a problem of some sort. Windows Defender, however, as an antispyware tool has gained my trust over the years.

8 essential privacy extensions for Firefox

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:08:08 +0000

They say privacy doesn't exist on the Web -- but that doesn't mean you can't try to safeguard your personal information. Our computers are loaded with details about our personal and business lives, and it's definitely not acceptable to reveal them haphazardly. With hackers becoming ever more sophisticated, you have to take precautions.

Welcome to Samy Kamkar's zombie cookie factory

InfoWorld Tech Watch — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:06:03 +0000

No doubt you know about browser cookies -- pieces of text stored on your PC and retrieved by programs running on a website.

Block 'Flash cookies' to thwart zombies

InfoWorld Tech Watch — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:27:32 +0000

With two high-profile class-action lawsuits filed in the past month against such heavyweights as Disney, MySpace, and NBC Universal, "zombie cookies" have entered the water cooler lexicon.

FTC cracks down on spyware seller

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:17:01 +0000

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with Florida spyware vendor CyberSpy Software, two years after suing the company for selling "100 percent undetectable" keylogging software.

Busted! FBI nails notorious scamware artists

InfoWorld Tech Watch — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:49:51 +0000

Four-year-old rootkit tops the charts of PC threats

InfoWorld Tech Watch — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:35:42 +0000

Microsoft just released its May Threat Report, and the results should give you pause.

Fraudsters hone their attacks with spear phishing

Roger A. Grimes — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 +0000

In my previous column, I said that the No. 1 way to reduce IT security risks in your organization is to "simply" prevent end-users from installing stuff they shouldn't. This, of course, is much easier said than done.

Symantec software hits end-of-decade snafu

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:16:44 +0000

Symantec is warning that its Endpoint Protection Manager server product is erroneously marking signature updates issued this year as out of date.

Symantec's issue is one of few scattered reports of software problems related to the end of the decade, including one allegedly involving Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS.

2009 marked another bad year for IT security

Roger A. Grimes — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Long-time readers know of my annual tradition of reviewing the improvements (or really, the lack of improvements) in the IT security world over the past year. This year had its share of good stats tempered by a hefty dose of stark reality.

How to fight malware

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:59:55 +0000

Two distinct and important new security trends emerged in our testing of anti-malware gateways.

First, the current crop of anti-malware gateway products are migrating from the classic approach of referencing a local (customer premises) database of malware signatures and instead using a "just-in-time" approach of querying a central (vendor site) malware database in order to deal with brand new malware instances.

Microsoft's Security Essentials scores 'very good' with independent tester

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:07:06 +0000

Microsoft's free Security Essentials antivirus software identified 98 percent of over half a million malware samples, an accuracy rating an independent testing company called "very good" today.

Germany-based AV-Test.org tested Security Essentials, the free software Microsoft shipped Tuesday, on Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), Vista SP2 and the final code of Windows 7, against two different collections of malware, said Andreas Marx, one of the firm's two managers.

Microsoft free security software ships Tuesday

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:00:24 +0000

Microsoft confirmed that it will launch its free security software suite, which has been in development for almost a year, Tuesday morning.

"Microsoft Security Essentials, their highly anticipated no-cost consumer security offering, will be released to the public tomorrow, September 29," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail reply to questions.