Viruses & Malware

According to media reports, Kaspersky is trying hard to damp down the effects of a warning about a new trojan for Symbian-based smart phones. Earlier this week, Kaspersky warned of a trojan which was able to transfer small sums, of between 45 and 90 cents, by texting. To do so, it makes use of a prepaid service from an Indonesian mobile phone provider. The malware, which has been christened SMS.Python.Flocker, spreads via Bluetooth and is written in Python.

The hackers behind the Conficker virus may also be responsible for a worm which takes advantage of Valentine’s Day. Speculation about the link comes as security experts continue to wonder when the Conficker creators will exploit the network of infected computers.

The new worm, dubbed Waladec, is a true old-school virus: it spreads through exploiting human gullibility more than system bugs. The scam involves people receiving e-mails, supposedly from people they know, which direct them to a web page containing a selection of 12 different images of hearts.

According to Trend Micro, the Indian Embassy in Spain was found serving malware through an injected malicious iFrame that leads to a file detected by Trend Micro as BKDR_TDSS.CG. Trend Micro researchers are currently analysing file to identify its routines.

The second Trojan threat to Apple Mac users in less than a week had been found, this time in pirated copies of Adobe Photoshop CS4.

It is a new variant of the original trojan found in Apple iWork 09, and like the previous malware is found on BitTorrent sites which have links to pirated software. The actual Photoshop CS4 installer is clean, but the crack application needed to serialise it and run the program circumventing its copy protection contains the trojan.

Security software firm K7 Computing has created a solution to the internet worm ‘Downadup’ that has already infected millions of computers around the world. Downadup, also known as Conficker and Kido, exploits the Microsoft Windows Server Service.

With an estimated 15 million PCs infected by the virus, security experts fear that the worm could effectively create a massive ‘botnet’ network that hackers could exploit to steal personal and sensitive data.

Spam trumpeting the power of love is nothing more than an old trick dressed up in new clothes, more evidence that the backers of the Waledec bot Trojan are the same bunch that hammered users last year with Storm, security companies are warning.

Multiple security vendors, including MX Logic Inc., Trend Micro Inc. and Panda Security, have issued alerts about new Valentine-themed spam campaigns that try to dupe users into installing the Waledec bot.

President Obama supporters wanting to view videos made by other fans of the newly inaugurated leader might soon find themselves infected with a virus.

Researchers said this week that malicious individuals have been creating bogus accounts at my.barackobama.com, a social networking site where supporters of Obama can interact and create their own blogs.

Who said Macs are immune to viruses? Some malware makers aim to bust that myth with a Trojan horse that's being downloaded across the Internet.

Mac security software firm Intego identified a Trojan on Wednesday that affects computers running Mac OS X. The malware was found on some pirated copies of Apple's new iWork 09 productivity suite on peer-to-peer sites. iWork is Apple's answer to Microsoft Relevant Products/Services Office.

Computer networks in Asia and Latin America are the most susceptible to a fast-spreading computer worm, which has infected between 6 million and 9 million PCs worldwide, security experts said.

If you're wondering where most malware comes from, check the "favorites" list in your Web browser.

According to Websense Security Labs' newly published "State of Internet Security" report for the second half of 2008, 77 percent of Websites that carry malicious code are legitimate sites that have been compromised. This figure rose by almost 3 percent over the first six months of the year. The number of sites carrying malicious code grew by 46 percent over the course of 2008, Websense says.