Rootkits: They’re sneaky, But are they a major threat?

"Frank Boldewin had seen a lot of malicious software in his time, but never anything like Rustock.C. Used to infect Windows PCs and turn them into unwitting spam servers, Rustock.C is a rootkit that installs itself on the Windows operating system and then uses a variety of sophisticated techniques that make it nearly impossible to detect or even analyze.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Microsoft’s Stance on Piracy Affects Us All

"As it stands today, Microsoft’s policy allows pirated copies to receive patches automatically through AutoUpdate, yet forbids them from downloading them directly from Microsoft’s Web site. Despite some tweaks to its policy, however, the company continues to make it difficult for users of pirated versions of its operating system to patch reliably.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

25 years of the computer virus

"A stressed e-mail from a friend once read: "A worm has just eaten my kid!" Thankfully, the message was not referring to infanticidal earthworms, but rather to a type of computer virus, a "worm", that had just infected some files (known as KID files) on his computer.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

US-CERT: Using Caution with USB Drives

"Because USB drives, sometimes known as thumb drives, are small, readily available, inexpensive, and extremely portable, they are popular for storing and transporting files from one computer to another. However, these same characteristics make them appealing to attackers.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Malware Detection Goes Hybrid

"What do we do about malware? The long term solution, at least for managed networks like enterprises, may be whitelisting. But in the meantime we’re still drowning in new variants every day. In the 2009 generation of their products Symantec is trying a new approach: file reputation.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

New Malware Family Took Off in October

"According to Sunbelt Software’s monthly listing of the most ubiquitous malware and spyware attacks, an entirely new family of threats emerged rapidly during October.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Researchers Hijack Storm Worm to Track Profits

"A single response from 12 million e-mails is all it takes for spammers to turn annual profits of millions of dollars promoting knockoff pharmaceuticals, according to an unprecedented new study on the economics of spam.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Firefox 3.1 passes major milestone

"Mozilla has completed work on its private browsing mode, the feature the organisation delayed the launch of 3.1 to implement. Private browsing mode allows users to surf the web without leaving any traces of their session on the computer. The company was initially reluctant to include the feature, putting it on hold for four years.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Adobe patches 8 bugs in popular PDF apps

"Adobe Systems Inc. patched its Reader application for the fifth time this year, plugging eight security holes, including one that was reported to the company more than five months ago.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Firefox hits record market share

"Firefox has been playing with the 20% market share mark for some time now. Back in July we reported that the browser has begun jumping over 20% on several days and this trend has solidified since then. In October, Firefox’ average market share as measured by Net Applications was 19.97%, up 0.51 points from 19.46% in September.
Read more

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!