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Tag: malware

  • 6 Essential Public WiFi Security Tips

    6 Essential Public WiFi Security Tips

    safe-on-public-wifi

    There are many risks associated with using a free WiFi network to browse sites that house private information. It’s quite easy to scan a public WiFI network to get a list of all the IPs currently connected. Once a snooper has that list, there’s a large amount of things they can do with that information. They can, for example, install software on your computer which can then be used to capture confidential information such as usernames and passwords, credit card numbers, even emails or search history.

    SaferVPN assembled their 6 fundamental tips for staying safe on public WiFi:

    1. Turn off sharing

    Uncheck all the boxes (music, photos, printers, etc.) from the Homegroup section of Network and Internet Settings on a PC and from Sharing under System Preferences on a Mac.

    2. Use anti-malware / antivirus

    This applies to much more than public WiFi alone – you should always protect your computers and mobile devices from malicious attacks. It’s not much different than getting your annual flu shot. There are some great free and paid solutions out there. PC Magazine has a nice unbiased list of their favorites here.

    3. Use HTTPS

    General rule of thumb: don’t enter sensitive information (credit card numbers, social security number, even a password) on pages that don’t have https at the very beginning of the URL (the full address you see towards the top of your screen). If you are just browsing around, playing a game or catching up on the news, having https won’t matter as much.

    4. Protect your passwords

    If you use the same password for every site, or if you password is featured in the dictionary, you’ve got a problem. In fact, a password’s lifespan really shouldn’t exceed more than 6 to 12 months. But how do you manage all of these unique passwords? Apps like 1password or LastPass will do it for you.

    5. Enable a firewall

    This is a quick an easy task that can be accomplished on both Windows and Mac that prevents undesired web traffic from entering (or exiting) your computer. This adds an extra layer of security and can be used to prevent computers from accessing certain sites and content. You can learn how to configure your firewall here.

    6. Confirm the network name

    Before you try to connect to the WiFi at your local Starbucks, make sure the network is actually called Starbucks and not something suspicious like Stars and Bucks. On top of that, it’s very easy to assign any name to a network so think before you click as there may be more than one “Hotel_WiFi-Guest”. Always gotta be on the look-out for the little things.

    Source: SaferVPN

  • FBI Warns Android Users of Malware Risk

    The news arrived from the FBI via the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) division, warn the owners of Android smartphones about the appearance of new malware targeting this category of devices.

    According to IC3 – the organization responsible for investigating allegations of criminal activities in the online environment, "Loozon" and "FinFisher" are the latest known versions of these forms of malware, each with a slightly different operation mode.

    One of the strategies used to attract victims involves displaying a message that the phone owner is lured with job offers that involves working from home, at a substantial salary and offered in exchange for sending emails. The message contains a link that leads to a website infected with Loozon, the user being instructed to click on the link for more information about the job offer. Once infection has occurred, the malicious app extracts all the information stored in the address book along with the infected phone number.

    FinFisher is a form of spyware that can take control over certain parts of the mobile phone, so that once infection is produced, the device can be controlled and monitored remotely, regardless of the location of the victim. Infection with FinFisher malware can occur when the user accesses using the Web browser a website or an infected link, or opens a text message disguised as an Android update.

    IC3 provides some recommendations for protecting mobile phones, such as turning on the encryption feature in order to protect personal data in case of loss or theft, installing antivirus software for the smartphone, creating an access password and avoiding using untrusted public wireless networks.

  • 2012 Brings 2.5 Million New Viruses. The Main Target: Android Smartphones

    2012 will bring a total of over 2.5 million new viruses, a marked increase in malware dedicated to mobile devices and attacks against large organizations, according to the report released by the German IT security company G Data.

    "One of the emerging issues from 2011, which will develop over the next 12 months, is malware for mobile platforms," said Eddy Willems, Security Evangelist at G Data.

    "Devices with the Android operating system will be increasingly under fire as cyber-criminals are constantly finding new ways to attack its vulnerabilities. 2011 saw a rise in social engineering, where users installed infected apps on their devices, causing many to lose money and personal data. 2012 will be the year of banking Trojans as more people migrate to mobile platforms for online banking facilities. The banking Trojan malware can be bought quite easily and created individually by the attackers, which makes it a widespread threat," he said.

    G Data also predicts an increase in attacks on companies and organizations. Duqu worm appearance in 2011 showed that criminals are interested in spying any company and are not targeting only high level companies as did the emergence of Stuxnet.

    Duqu can be used in different ways to compromise data and to infiltrate a network with specialized attacks. Thus, the possibilities of using it to steal data or key information are vast, from spam to espionage, specialized targeted attacks or sophisticated phishing attacks, the report also shows.

    Major events of the year, such as the Olympic Games, the 2012 Football European Championship or the U.S. presidential elections, will provide a perfect environment for offenders.

    "We expect to see a steep incline in fake online ticket shops, website defacements, attacks at the venue sites and much more," says Willems.

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  • BitDefender Launches Mobile Security for Android Smartphones

    BitDefender, one of the leading antivirus vendors in the world, has launched BitDefender Mobile Security, an application specially designed for Android smartphones.

    The solution proposed by the Romanian company protects the users of smartphones and tablets against all the malware for Android, expanding BitDefender’s technological competence from desktop solutions to security applications for mobile devices.

    In terms of technological solution, BitDefender Mobile Security is based heavily on the in-the-cloud scanning, so that the process of scanning the application to be made with maximum efficiency and only when necessary. This is why the fingerprint of the security solution is minimal in terms of hardware resource consumption, fact certified in the “real life” by the more than 120,000 beta testers of BitDefender Mobile Security.

    Apart from the minimal impact on processing speed, the battery of mobile equipment is the second major beneficiary, the application having very little influence on energy consumption. "BitDefender Mobile Security is an excellent example demonstrating that an application can be very strong in the level of protection and also amazing when it comes to economic resources or battery," said Alex Balan, Senior Product Manager at Bitdefender .

    "The very high performance of our application is guaranteed by the years of experience in the malware field, BitDefender technologies being certified and awarded internationally. Finally, we are among the most experienced in-the-cloud developers, so that our security solution extensively uses this resource, the concept of "mobile security" becoming truly mobile," he added.

    BitDefender Mobile Security includes features such as Application Audit, Anti-Theft or Web Security, which help the user preserve privacy, to protect themselves against all the threats or even to recover a lost or stolen mobile device.

    Commercially speaking, the BitDefender security solution is a “freemium” type of product, meaning the application can be downloaded for free from the Android Market.

  • New Mobile Malware Droid Dream Affected around 120,000 Android Users Badly

    It is informed that approximately from 30,000 to 120,000 Android smartphone users are recently affected by a malware named as Droid Dream. It is believed that this malware is not a new thing and it is the same one that affected 50 applications earlier in March. According to Lookout Security, the latest malware was found in 25 and above mobile applications, which were removed earlier from Android Market by Google.

    Lookout Security also informed that this Droid Dream variant is a naked version of the original Droid Dream. This malware will be automatically active whenever user invokes the receipt of “android,intent.action.PHONE_STATE intent” like an incoming call. This is indicating that this variant doesn’t need any manual response in order get triggered into action. This malware is more malicious and requires no user actions to launch.

    The malware was seen light through a tip informed by a developer. This tip enabled security team of Lookout to verify instantly and found the malicious code which is almost as same earlier Droid Dream sample. It is identified that this malware was distributed from four different developers’ accounts. Some of apps that were affected due to this malware are below:

    Magic Photo Studio:
    • Sexy Girls: Hot Japanese.
    • Sexy Legs.
    • Hot Girls 4.
    • Beauty Breasts.
    • Sex Sound.
    • Sex Sound: Japanese.
    • HOT Girls 1.
    • HOT Girls 2.
    • HOT Girls 3.

    Mango Studio:
    • Floating Image Free
    • System Monitor
    • Super StopWatch and Timer
    • System Info Manager.

    E.T Tean:
    • Call End Vibrate.

    BeeGoo:
    • Quick Photo Grid.
    • Delete Contacts.
    • Quick Uninstaller.
    • Contact Master.
    • Brightness Settings.
    • Volume Manager.
    • Super Photo Enhance.
    • Super Color Flashlight.
    • Paint master.

    As a precautionary measure, it is suggested every Android smartphone user to consider installation of apps from trusted source and it is essential to verify the reviews and developer name. It is essential to give more concern towards the permissions that are prompted by the app during its installation process. It is also vital to observe the unusual behavior of the phone and keep the device well equipped with a mobile security app.

    The latest situations with Android Market is clearly informing all the Android smartphone users the necessity of a mobile security app. Definitely end user is suffering a lot though the situation is affecting badly the developers too. Developers are automatically kept at responsibility when their apps’ were ripped off and used for the malware distribution.

    You may also want to read:
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