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Viruses & Malware

Japan outlaws the creation of computer viruses

posted onJune 18, 2011
by l33tdawg

Japan has passed a law making it a criminal offence to create or distribute computer viruses, plugging an important legal hole in the country's ability to tackle cyber-crime.

The update to Japan's penal code will be a boon for authorities seeking to clamp down on high-tech criminals, having previously struggled to bring the perpetrators of cyber-attacks to justice.

Virgin Media warns 1,500 customers of SpyEye infections

posted onJune 18, 2011
by l33tdawg

Virgin Media has written to 1500 of its broadband customers warning them that their PCs are infected with the SpyEye trojan; the letters include advice on how to cleanse the machine of the infection.

In detecting the problem, Virgin cooperated with the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). While analysing botnet behaviour, the agency identified the IP addresses of computers that had sent personal and banking details back to the controllers of the trojan. These addresses allowed Virgin to identify customers whose machines had been compromised, and then alert them.

SpyEye Trojan attacks Air Berlin and AirPlus travelers

posted onJune 17, 2011
by l33tdawg

Trusteer have uncovered a SpyEye configuration that targets users of two leading European airline travel Web sites: Air Berlin, the second largest airline in Germany (after Lufthansa) and AirPlus, the global provider of business travel services for companies.

SpyEye exploits the user’s machine, not the websites, to carry out this fraud.

Autorun infections drop by over one million after Microsoft security update

posted onJune 15, 2011
by l33tdawg

Microsoft has reduced infection rates for Autorun-related malware by as much as 82 per cent on certain platforms, thanks to a February security update which disabled the feature.

Holly Stewart, of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center, explained in a blog post that the number of infections found by the Malicious Software Removal Tool from January to May 2011 dropped by 82 per cent on Vista SP2, 68 per cent on Vista SP1 and 62 per cent on Windows XP SP3. This amounts to 1.3 million fewer infections on Windows Vista and XP from February to May, she said.

Stealthy Plankton Malware Found in Official Android Market

posted onJune 11, 2011
by l33tdawg

While continuing an Android-related research project after the discovery of the DroidKungFu and YZHCSMS malware, my research team also came across a new stealthy Android spyware in the Official Android Market. This spyware does not attempt to root Android phones but instead is designed to be stealthy by running the payload under the radar.

Apple's Macs Hit By Malware; Are iPhones Next?

posted onJune 6, 2011
by l33tdawg

Apple's computers have been able to avoid most serious hacking attacks, but that era may be over.

As Steve Jobs and his colleagues prepared for this week's developers conference, the company was also taking steps to stop a malware "phishing" program. The ploy, says technology columnist Rich Jaroslovsky of Bloomberg News, uses an infected website to install a piece of software on Apple computers.