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From the monthly archives:

December 2009

Privacy Center Analysis and Removal

by Shanmuga

Privacy Center is the name of a rogue security software that advertises itself as a “Simple one-click solution to protect your PC“. It’s a fraud program that finds non-existent files as security and privacy threats to the user’s computer.

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Microsoft Security Essentials – Real-time protection, Alert levels and Actions

by Shanmuga

This is Part Three of our series on Microsoft Security Essentials, earlier parts dealt with How to download, Install and Update MSE in Part one and How to Set-up Microsoft Security Essentials in Part two. This final part explains the real-time protection, various levels of alert and the actions recommended by Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)

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The botnet ecosystem

by Shanmuga

"Botnets are networks of computers infected by malicious programs called bots.Bots allow cybercriminals to take control of a compromised machine and use its resources for their own goals – distributing spam, launching DDoS attacks, scams etc. Since the advent of botnets, the number of cybercrimes has increased enormously. However, botnets are not just a tool

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Rogue antivirus lurks behind Google Doodle searches

by Shanmuga

"It’s the latest example of just how good scammers have become at manipulating Google search results. For months now, they’ve followed Google’s Trending Topics section and then used search engine optimization techniques to push hacked Web pages up to the top of Google’s search results, security experts say. They do this by flooding hacked pages

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Safety Anti-Spyware Analysis and Removal

by Shanmuga

Once installed this rogue anti-spyware software starts with Windows, runs constantly in the background and uses scare messages about non-existent malicious files to convince the user to pay for activation.

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Project Honey Pot traps its 1 Billionth Spam Message

by Shanmuga

Project Honey Pot – a distributed system for identifying spammers and the spambots they use to scrape email addresses from the Web – received its billionth email spam message on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 06:20 (GMT). It was a United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) phishing scam.

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Adobe Flash security woes: How to protect yourself

by Shanmuga

"Adobe’s Flash Player software is on 99 percent of Internet-connected desktops, offering up multimedia and video capabilities on a multitude of popular Web sites such as YouTube. But the Adobe Flash platform has been beset by a rash of security problems that give intruders potential access to computers running the software.Issues have included one recent

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Security researchers continue hunt for Conficker authors

by Shanmuga

"There are several ongoing investigations attempting to find the authors of the Conficker botnet, one of the fastest spreading worms in history, but those responsible for the worm have proven elusive. Security expert Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at F-Secure Corp., said he is aware of several ongoing investigations, but was asked specifically not to

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Fake antivirus malware gets hoax Microsoft endorsement

by Shanmuga

"A new scareware package tries to sell bogus antivirus software to its victims using an apparent endorsement of the software by Microsoft. A variant of the infection that urges users to buy DefenceLab antivirus software now also directs them to a Microsoft support page where a display describes a new threat and recommends using DefenceLab

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Microsoft Security Essentials – How to Set-up

by Shanmuga

This is Part Two of the series on Microsoft Security Essentials. We have seen How to download, Install and Update Microsoft Security Essentials in Part one. This part explains the options available in the program and how to choose the settings for an optimal scan and Part three deals with Microsoft Security Essentials – Real-time

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Rogue antivirus scammers have made $150M

by Shanmuga

"They’re the scourge of the Internet right now and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation says they’ve also raked in more than $150 million for scammers. Security experts call them rogue antivirus programs. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a warning over this fake antivirus software Friday, saying that Web surfers should be wary

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Amazon EC2 Used as Botnet Command and Control

by Shanmuga

"Trend Micro released a report Dec. 9 highlighting what it expects to see as far as security threats in 2010. Among the more interesting predictions — attacks on cloud infrastructures will increase. Almost as if on cue, a report surfaced the same day that the Zeus Trojan was observed abusing the Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute

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Additional Guard Analysis and Removal

by Shanmuga

Additional Guard scareware -a variant of Windows Protection Suite- pretends to be an all-in-one security suite. This rogue security software uses Javascript and animated gif images to simulate a fake scan and fake security alert to trick the user into installation.

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Microsoft Security Essentials – How to download, Install and Update

by Shanmuga

This is part one of the series on Microsoft Security Essentials. How to Set-up Microsoft Security Essentials in Part two and Microsoft Security Essentials – Real-time protection, Alert levels and Actions in Part three. Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is a no-cost security software for your PC from Microsoft. It can provide protection against all kinds

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Personal Security Analysis and Removal

by Shanmuga

On being redirected to a compromised website, this scareware displays a message ” Warning!!! “Your personal computer needs to install antivirus software! Personal Security can perform fast and free virus and malicious software scan of your computer” The fake scan is simulated with the use of javascript and gif animated images irrespective of whether the

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Malware messes up India’s online test for business schools

by Shanmuga

"The move by India’s top business schools to take their CAT entrance test online turned embarrassing after malware-infected computers left a number of students unable to take the test. Prometric, a Baltimore, Maryland, testing company hired to conduct the CAT (Common Admission Test), said this week that the testing labs faced technical difficulties mainly due

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Botnet continues massive malware campaign

by Shanmuga

"A massive spam campaign that poses as a message from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) asking people to register for H1N1 vaccinations remains a big problem today, a security researcher said. The messages lead unwary users to a convincing-looking CDC site where they’re asked to create a profile in order to receive a vaccination

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Zeus/Zbot spreading through drive-by download

by Shanmuga

"Zeus, or Zbot, recently began circulating spam claiming to come from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), requesting users submit a “tax refund request form” by clicking on a link that is provided. Clicking takes victims to a website that attempts to perform a drive-by download, meaning users do not need to take any further action

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Security Tool Analysis and Removal

by Shanmuga

Security Tool is one of the recent entrants to the family of rogue security software. Once installed the Security Tool scareware makes all the right noises expected from a fraudulent security software. A slew of warning messages in various sizes and colors about non-existent malware constantly bombard the desktop in order to scam the user

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Ad-Aware maker showcases Rogue Gallery

by Shanmuga

Lavasoft Malware Labs, the maker of the popular Ad-aware anti-spyware product, have announced setting up of a gallery of rogue security software. A rogue security software belongs to a family of software products that call themselves as antivirus, antispyware or registry cleaners and often use deceptive or high pressure sales tactics and deliberate false positives

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WordPress Installations Under Brute-Force Attack

by Shanmuga

"There is an ongoing attack against some WordPress implementations that is trying to brute-force the passwords for the administrator accounts on the installations. The attack is being driven by an automated PHP script that tries thousands of possible passwords.

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