Viruses & Malware

Researchers have identified an "insidious" threat affecting Yahoo Messenger. A self-propagating worm, named yhoo32.explr, installs a piece of software called 'Safety Browser' and then hijacks the Internet Explorer homepage, leading users to a site that puts spyware on their PCs.

Because Safety Browser uses the IE icon to identify itself, users can easily mistake it for the legitimate Internet Explorer. This is the first recorded incidence of malware installing its own web browser on a PC without the user's permission, according to security firm FaceTime.

Security experts consider the need for security solutions in India is on the rise with the growth of broadband in the country and increasing traffic in cyberspace. The number of viruses is increasing everyday. At present, there are a total of 181,000 viruses and around 150 new viruses are added everyday. Besides the PC market, virus writers are now looking at the mobile market also.

Net citizens still need to be wary of being targeted by malware, spreading via an online poker website, according to anti-virus vendor Sohpos.

Anti-virus vendor Sophos detected the rootkit as Troj/RKProc-Fam and other components as the Troj/Keylog-GO Trojan horse last year.

Sensitive information about Japanese power plants has leaked online from a virus-infected computer for the second time in less than four months. Data regarding security arrangements at a thermoelectric power plant run by the Chubu Electric Power in Owase, Mie Prefecture in central Japan spilled online this week as a result of an unnamed virus infection, the Japan Times reports.

The bug in Exchange that Microsoft disclosed on Tuesday is too juicy a target for hackers to pass up, security companies warned Wednesday, and users should expect to see a worm pop up any time.

Tuesday, Microsoft patched a flaw in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003's calendaring function. According to Microsoft's security bulletin, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability simply by sending a specially-crafted email to the server.

Users of the popular role-playing game "World of Warcraft" are the target of a new trojan that aims to steal gamers’ passwords.

The trojan, called PWSteal.Wowcraft, affects Microsoft Windows operating systems and injects msdll.dll code into certain processes before emailing the game's passwords back to the trojan's author. The malware also attempts to disable a number of processes, according to Symantec Security Response.

World Cup fever is on, however the event could be marred by a new trojan horse that poses as a match chart for the soccer event.

According to anti-virus software vendor, Sophos, the Troj/Haxdoor-IN trojan horse has been spammed out to computer users in a message offering a free wall chart for fsoccer fans who wish to follow their favourite teams in the international tournament.

PC users tempted into running the malicious program risk allowing hackers to gain access to their computer for criminal ends.

Sophos has warned Internet users of the Troj/Haxdoor-IN Trojan horse that poses as a wallchart for the soccer World Cup tournament due to take place in Germany this summer.

A new password-stealing Trojan targeting players of the popular online game "World of Warcraft" hopes to make money off secondary sales of gamer goods, a security company warned Tuesday.

MicroWorld, an Indian-based anti-virus and security software maker with offices in the U.S., Germany, and Malaysia, said that the PWS.Win32.WOW.x Trojan horse was spreading fast, and attacking World of Warcraft players.

Early reports of malware distribution in April show that viruses are swiftly declining as a threat in comparison with other malicious software.

Separate research from Fortinet and Sophos shows that the top viruses were mainly old timers, and that Trojans and spyware are coming to the fore in their place.

Fortinet in particular reported that Adware/BetterInternet was its top threat last month, accounting for nearly one in eight attacks.