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Articles about Anti-Virus
Free anti-virus scanner hits the cloud
Avira has added cloud technology to the latest version of its popular freebie anti-virus scanner.
Version 10 of Avira AntiVir, released on Tuesday, adds cloud-based detection to a free-of-charge security scanner that competes with similar products offered by (Czech-firm ALWIL's) Avast and AVG.
All three firms aim to move …
Apple tells Mac users: Get anti-virus
For the first time, Apple is recommending the use of anti-virus tools to protect Mac systems.
Long something of a phantom menace, strains of malware capable of infecting Mac machines have gradually been increasing in prevalence over recent months. In addition, VXers are making more use of web-based attack and applications …
Freebie Android anti-malware scanners flunk tests
Many free-of-charge antivirus products fail to protect Android smartphone against malware effectively, leaving users with a false sense of security as a result.
Tests by antivirus testing lab AV-Test.org revealed that the best freebie Android anti-virus scanner, Zoner Antivirus, caught 32 per cent of 160 recent Android threats. …
OK, we get the message, Microsoft: Windows Defender splats 1000s of WinXP, Server 2k3 PCs
Microsoft has fixed a snafu with Windows Defender that took down thousands of business PCs and servers running Windows XP and Server 2003.
The software giant responded to sysadmins complaining on TechNet that large numbers of their machines were borked after they’d installed Microsoft’s latest set of antivirus definitions.
Once …
Crooks fling banking Trojan at Japanese smut site fans
Cybercrooks are targeting Japanese smut site aficionados with a new banking Trojan run.
The Aibatook malware is targeting customers of Japanese banks who are also visitors on some of the country's most popular pornographic websites.
Security researchers at anti-virus firm ESET estimated that more than 90 smut sites have been …
L337 crackrz use dumb passwords too
Black hats are just as blithe about the passwords they use as the rest of the world, according to a bit of research by security outfit Avast.
The anti-virus company's Antonín Hýža, writes here that after he'd built a dictionary of hacked hackers' passwords, the most common password was “hack”.
Hýža says his work began because …
iPad anti-virus shield guards against phantom threat
Mac security specialist Intego has begun offering the first antivirus scanner capable of inspecting Apple's much-hyped iPad, despite the questionable need for security scans on the device.
The iPad, which Apple began selling in the US last weekend, runs on the same operating system as the iPhone. Only jailbroken iPhones with …
Whoah! How many Google Play apps want to read your texts?
A security firm has criticised Android's all-or-nothing permission approach, arguing it unnecessarily creates extra privacy risks for businesses and consumers.
Users are obliged to accept an entire laundry list of requested permissions before they can download an Android app. Disagreement on any point means that the software …
Intel ditches McAfee brand: 'THANK GOD' shouts McAfee the man
Intel has announced plans to phase out the infamous McAfee anti-virus brand over the next year in favour of a new Intel Security brand.
The re-branding will begin immediately, but the transition will take up to a year before it is complete with the introduction of new versions of security software products from the technology …
Student promises Java key to unlock Simplocker ransomware
A university student claims he is set to release a Java application to decrypt the first ransomware to hit Android devices.
The Simplelocker ransomware was revealed 7 June by malware analysts at Eset targeting devices in Eastern Europe.
It encrypted via AES large swathes of files on Android device SD cards demanding users pay a …
Tens of thousands of 'Watch Dogs' pirates ENSLAVED by Bitcoin botmaster
Tens of thousands of pirate gamers have been enslaved in a Bitcoin botnet after downloading a cracked copy of popular game Watch Dogs.
A torrent of the infected title, which supposedly has had its copy-protection removed, had almost 40,000 active users (seeders and leechers) and was downloaded a further 18,440 times on 23 May on …
Bad PUPPY: Undead Windows XP deposits fresh scamware on lawn
Cybercriminals have already seized upon the end of support for Windows XP as a theme for numerous scams and fake software updates.
Microsoft pushed out its last ever patches for the 13-year-old operating system last Tuesday (8 April). Numerous YouTube videos "advertising programs and functionality related to Windows XP" that …
Hackers steal trade secrets from major US hedge firm
Criminals have successfully attacked a hedge fund, delaying trades and stealing profitable secrets in a rare direct raid on the financial services sector, according to BAE Systems Applied Intelligence.
The clever hack cost the unnamed US-based hedge fund millions of dollars over two months, the firm alleges. Attackers apparently …
Flaw in MS anti-malware engine poses command override risk
Microsoft has updated its malware protection technology following the discovery of a bug which might, given a plausible but unlikely set of circumstances, allow a hacker to gain root access to vulnerable systems.
Would-be hackers would already need to have access to targeted systems in order to exploit the privilege escalation …
Trend, Sophos and McAfee flunk Vista SP1 anti-virus tests
Top tier anti-virus vendors including McAfee, Trend Micro, and Sophos all failed to secure Windows Vista SP1 in recent independent tests.
Virus Bulletin, the independent security certification body, said 17 of 37 anti-virus products tested failed to reach the VB100 certification standard. McAfee VirusScan, Trend Micro Internet …
Security biz scoffs at Apple's anti-Trojan Gatekeeper
Security watchers are expressing reservations about whitelisting security that Apple plans to integrate with OS X Mountain Lion this summer.
The security feature, dubbed Gatekeeper, restricts the installation of downloaded applications based on their source. Users can choose to accept apps from anywhere (as now) but by default …
Apple anti-virus advice was nothing new
One of the more famous Get a Mac ads boasted that Apple systems, unlike Windows boxes, didn't need anti-virus software. So when an article on an Apple support site encouraged the use of anti-virus software on Macs it seemed like news. In truth the article reiterated long-standing, though little publicised, advice from Apple. …
Dodgy Kaspersky update borks THOUSANDS of NHS computers
A misfiring antivirus update from Kaspersky Lab "effectively levelled several networks" last months including systems at Britain's NHS, The Register has learned.
A Kaspersky update released on 25 October falsely classified a Windows system file, specifically tcpip.sys, as malign and quarantined it. The procedure left Windows PCs …
Brazilian baddies bank Boleto billions
Brazilian bad guys appear to have made an astonishing $US3.75 billion by scraping a tonne of tiny transactions from a popular payment system used by locals, RSA researcher Eli Marcus says.
The carders operating a single fraud ring may have netted enough over the last two years to foot 80 percent of Brazil's $4.7 billion World …
Swayze death exploited to serve up fake anti-virus
Miscreants have moved swiftly to establish malicious websites designed to rip off users searching for more information on the death of actor Patrick Swayze on Monday.
Black-hat search engine manipulation means that many sites that appear prominently in search engine results point to sites slinging fake anti-virus scanners. …
Twitter hit with rogue anti-virus scam
Twitter users over the weekend were the target of a scam that tried to infect them with rogue anti-virus software and other malware, in what is one of the first times the micro-blogging site has been hit by a known for-profit attack, a security researcher said.
The problem started after a flurry of tweets directed users to a …
Hackers seed malware on Indian anti-virus site
Hackers planted malicious script on the site of an Indian anti-virus firm this week. The website of AVsoft Technologies was attacked by unidentified miscreants in order to distribute a variant of the Virut virus.
AVsoft Technologies makes the SmartCOP antivirus package. One of the download pages of the site was boobytrapped with …
Trojan-laden FileZilla clone slurps data, sends it to the UNKNOWN
Cybercrooks have put together a malicious version of popular FTP app FileZilla which works just like the real thing but surreptitiously passes login information to a hacker-controlled server.
The evil twin version has the same look and feel as the genuine programme and is clearly designed to mask its suspicious activities, such …
China targeted by new Android Trojan
Russian security researchers are warning about an Android Trojan called Oldboot that has infected 350,000 devices worldwide.
According to this post at Dr Web, Oldboot has a characteristic that makes it hard to deal with: some of the Trojan's components are loaded into the boot partition of the Android file system. By acting as a …
German freemail firms defend AdBlock-nobbling campaign
German freemail sites deny attempting to "trick" Firefox and Chrome users into disabling AdBlock, the popular ad blocking browser add-on.
Last week security blogger Michael Büker accused web.de and gmx.net of using what he claimed were "deceptive techniques" in order to hoodwink Firefox and Chrome users into removing AdBlock and …
Microsoft's OneCare flunks anti-virus test
Microsoft's Live OneCare placed last in a test on the effectiveness of anti-virus security packages by Austrian researchers.
AV Comparatives put 17 security packages through their paces to see how well they recognised a battery of nearly half a million items of malware.
Winner G Data Security's AntiVirusKit (AVK) identified …
Dancing Sepp Blatter on 'World Cup site' creates security flap
The appearance of an animated Sepp Blatter dancing on what appeared to be a World Cup website caused confusion in anti-virus circles on Tuesday.
Tweets such as "Brazil 2014 website hacked to show a dancing Sepp Blatter on the home page http://www.fifa-brazil-2014.com" were forwarded to El Reg's security desk, sports subsection …
eBay slammed for daft post-hack password swap advice
eBay has been criticised for its advice to consumers on choosing a strong password in the wake of a megabreach that prompted it to tell millions of users to change their passwords.
The online tat bazaar admitted on Wednesday that a database containing "eBay customers’ name, encrypted password, email address, physical address, …
Symantec retires low-end security software
Symantec has quietly retired its PC Tools range of security products.
Acquired in 2008, PC Tools offered consumer-and-micro-business-grade anti-virus and network security tools dubbed “Spyware Doctor”, “Internet Security” and “Spyware Doctor with Antivirus”. Buying the Australian company that created the products gave Symantec a …
QinetiQ mail virus patent attracts barbs
An anti-virus expert has poured cold water on a patent from British technology firm QinetiQ that supposedly offers a new technique for tackling malicious email attachments.
New Scientist reports that the researchers at the defence technology firm have patented a technique for blocking malware in email attachments without relying …
Microsoft launches anti-virus public beta
Microsoft has released a free beta of its upcoming anti-virus application.
According to Microsoft, the new anti-virus application known as Windows OneCare Live consumer beta is "like taking your PC in for a tune up at the service station". The release is part of the forthcoming Windows OneCare set of deliverables, and yesterday …
Life support's ABOUT to be switched off, but XP's suddenly COOL again
Windows XP has enjoyed a second resurgence in popularity, despite its looming end-of-support date.
Net Applications' data for desktop operating systems in January showed Windows XP had increased its market share by a fraction.
It marked the Windows Vista predecessor's second bounce in its slowly declining market share, which …
Rogue US-Israeli cyberwar weapon 'infected Russian nuclear plant'
Stuxnet - the famous worm widely credited with crippling the Iranian nuclear weapons programme for several years - also infected the internal network of a Russian nuclear plant. Unspecified malware has even reached the International Space Station, according to the boss of Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab.
Eugene Kaspersky …
Cybercrook? Bent on mischief? WE'LL GET YOU, vow Facebook and pals
Internet heavyweights have teamed up to form a non-profit organisation designed to supply internet infrastructure operators with free tools and intelligence in the fight against cybercrime.
Facebook, security intelligence firm Crowdstrike, Verisign, ESET Anti-Virus, Verizon and the Anti-Phishing Working Group, among others, are …
Android antivirus apps CAN'T kill nasties on sight like normal AV - and that's Google's fault
Android users expecting Windows levels of performance from Android-specific antivirus packages are likely to be disappointed because only Google can automatically delete dodgy apps on Android devices, say malware experts.
Anti-malware bods agree that antivirus programs on Android can’t remove viruses automatically, meaning that …
Antivirus update broke our interwebs, howl Win XP users
Thousands of Windows XP users were blocked from accessing the internet this week after they applied a misfiring antivirus update from Kaspersky Lab.
The issue affected both consumer and business versions of Windows XP. Vista or Windows 7 users were untouched by the snafu.
Even so, Kaspersky's support forums quickly filled up …
False positives run amok in Vista anti-virus tests
The first independent tests of anti-malware products on 64-bit Windows Vista revealed a rash of false positives.
Of the 20 products submitted for testing to independent security certification body Virus Bulletin, six generated false positives when scanning a set of known clean files.
As a result, the product failed to earn …
Dodgy anti-virus update bunfight goes to court
Chinese anti-virus firm Rising Tech has hit back at claims by larger Russian rival Kaspersky that it engaged in anti-competitive practices. In response to a 2 July lawsuit, Rising Tech says that Kaspersky made "six serious mistakes" involving anti-virus definition files over the last two weeks, Interfax reports.
The …
How to stop intruders without knocking out the workers
For a sysadmin, fighting malware feels like an uphill battle that you are never going to win.
Security software vendors are in a constant catch-up game, trying to create definitions to protect their customers from the latest round of malware. Sysadmins have the tough job of using their various security software and devices, …
Daddy, what will you do in the new security wars?
A senior figure at the anti-virus giant McAfee once told this writer the security industry was a mess. There were too many vendors trying to do too many things. But what the industry mirrors is the threat landscape it is trying to calm down.
Just look at what’s happened in the past six months. Two of the most significant …
Cybercrooks spur anti-virus market growth
The anti-virus market will grow to reach $7.49bn by 2012, according to market analyst Frost & Sullivan (F&S). Last year, the market was worth $3.27bn.
Increasinlgy, Malware is written as a tool to obtain confidential user information by phishing fraudsters and the like. Greater awareness of this trends will drive enterprise and …
Anti-virus hacking contest polarizes vendors
Security firms have split over the merits of a hacking contest aimed against anti-virus packages planned for August's Defcon conference.
Anti-virus firm Sophos reckons the exercise will serve only to increase the volume of malware in circulation, further taxing the resources of already hard-pressed security firms. However, net …
Malware-flingers do it back-to-front : scaM snaps, spans Macs
Miscreants have brewed up an exceptionally sneaky strain of Mac malware that uses back-to-front trickery to disguise its true nature.
Janicab, which is written in Python, takes advantage of the right-to-left (RTL) U202E Unicode character to mask the malicious file’s real extension. The U202E marker applies a right-to-left …
Nasty holes found in Belkin's home automation kit
Insecure firmware handling, poor communications practises and API vulnerabilities are among a range of vulnerabilities security company IOActive has identified in Belkin's WeMo home automation systems.
In its advisory, here, IOActive says it's discovered that the systems leak a hard-coded key and password that Belkin uses to …
Anti-spammers urged to gang up
The combined efforts of anti-spam products outperform any individual products alone, according to an experiment by Virus Bulletin, the independent security certification organisation.
In a comparative test, almost 200,000 sample emails were sent to 14 different anti-spam products that were required to filter out spam messages …
Anti-virus suites still can't block Google China attack
The vast majority of consumer anti-virus products are still failing to block the Operation Aurora exploits used in the high profile attack against Google and other blue-chip firms last December, according to independent tests.
NSS Labs evaluated the effectiveness of seven popular consumer endpoint security products to see which …
McAfee all-in-one security suite covers PCs, tablets, and smartphones
McAfee has launched an all-in-one cross-platform security suite for consumers that incorporates online storage through biometric authentication as well as a host of other security technologies. Equally importantly, the Intel security division is trying to shake up the way security software is sold to consumers.
The McAfee …
Devs angrily dismiss Absolute Computrace rootkit accusation
Developers have denied accusations that their Computrace anti-theft software poses a remote wipe risk for the computers the program is designed to protect.
However security researchers at Kaspersky Lab are standing by their warning that Absolute Software's Computrace anti-theft technology poses a hidden threat that might be …
Deep desert XP-ocalypse averted as Reg man returns
Yesterday was day three of my XP-ocalypse aversion mission to upgrade the PCs at the remote Wirliyatjarrayi Learning Centre.
The day started with the dew on the ground and the desert sun struggling to penetrate a low, hazy, layer of cloud. The air was just a tad sticky and I wondered if it might rain. I hoped not: the road to …
Security researchers plot revamped anti-virus tests
Security researchers are close to formulating plans to overhaul anti-virus testing amid growing concerns that current tests can be misleading.
Anti-virus packages are traditionally tested for their effectiveness in detecting a sample of malware packages known to be in circulation. Products that fail to detect a sample get a …
