malware

Downloading free Android apps could make you vulnerable to aggressive adware, according to San Francisco-based security firm Lookout.

In fact, as much as five percent of those free apps have spammy ads that may be parceling out your information to third parties according to CTO Kevin Mahaffey.

That number may seem small at first, but not after you consider how many hundreds of millions of times those free apps are downloaded. To combat the problem, Lookout has developed its own app that scans other apps to tells you which ones are engaging in bad behavior. It's up to you … Read more

When it comes to security software, there are plenty of perfectly good freebies. Avast Free, Microsoft Security Essentials, Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition...the list goes on and on. You really can safeguard a PC without spending a dime.

That said, why not use a full-featured, support-backed security suite if you can get it for free as well? Every so often I see a deal on one such suite, but today, Newegg has nine Windows security programs for free (after rebate).

Scroll down just a bit and you'll see the various choices, all of which show their regular prices … Read more

Researchers said today that they have noticed some new features and changes to the data-stealing malware Mahdi and have uncovered a reference to "Flame," which could potentially indicate some connection to the malware of the same name that also has numerous infections in Iran.

"Last night, we received a new version of the #Madi malware. Following the shutdown of the Madi command and control domains last week, we thought the operation is now dead. Looks like we were wrong, Nicolas Brulez of Kaspersky Labs wrote in a post on its SecureList blog.

The new version, compiled just … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Researchers have uncovered a huge amount of malware and registered domains being used by criminals linked to China who are conducting cyber-espionage on a wide range of government, industry, and human rights activists.

The growing menace from these "Advanced Persistent Threats" is detailed in a report unveiled today called "Chasing APT." In an interview at the Black Hat security conference here, Joe Stewart, director of malware research at Dell Secureworks Counter Threat Unit, said that over the last 18 months he's been monitoring attacks designed to steal data from organizations around the … Read more

A new script-based malware threat for OS X has been uncovered by security company Intego. The malware, called OSX/Crisis, has so far not been found "in the wild," but it has the potential to do harm.

Apparently the threat only runs on OS X 10.6 and 10.7 machines, and while it does not require a password to install, if a password is provided then the mode of infection changes. Most of the installed files are randomly named, though in all cases the malware appears to install a file called "appleHID" in the /Library/… Read more

Apple will not only be at this week's Black Hat security confab, but also offer a presentation there too.

Bloomberg today notes that Dallas De Atley, Apple's manager of the platform security team, will be on the scene in Las Vegas to host a security briefing on the company's mobile operating system.

"Apple designed the iOS platform with security at its core," the description reads. "In this talk, Dallas De Atley, manager of the Platform Security team at Apple, will discuss key security technologies in iOS."

An Apple spokesperson declined to provide further … Read more

A Windows malware worm has been found embedded in an application being distributed in Apple's App Store for iOS. The worm is a relatively low-threat malware package that will not affect the iOS or the MacOS platform but may be harmful to those who manage the app in their iTunes accounts on Windows machines.

In a recent post to an Apple discussion forum, user "deesto" mentioned he had downloaded the free "Instaquotes Quotes Cards for Instagram" app from the iTunes store and noticed that his ClamXav antivirus program had flagged the downloaded file as containing … Read more

The next big war will apparently be bug-based.

Perhaps some people are putting a lot of practice in.

For this morning reports are emerging that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has been subjected to a particularly malicious form of malware. Yes, the kind of malware that plays AC/DC.

And worse, not merely any old AC/DC, but specifically "Thunderstruck."

I am grateful to Venture Beat for warning me of this possibility.

Conjecture began when an Iranian scientist was said to have e-mailed F-Secure's chief research officer, Mikko Hypponen, with a cry for help. Or, who … Read more

Security researchers testing Google's Bouncer malware detection system for Android apps have managed to submit a benign app and then slowly update it to add malicious functionality, one of the researchers told CNET today.

Nicholas Percoco, head of Trustwave's SpiderLabs, and colleague Sean Schulte will be discussing their research during a session at Black Hat and Defcon next week in Las Vegas entitled "Adventures in Bouncerland."

After Google launched its Bouncer system to protect apps in the Google Play Android market in February, the researchers wanted to see if they could turn a good app that … Read more