Malware, Viruses, Trojans, and Other
Nastiness
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Today's internet is probably one of
the least safe places to be in regards to the health of your
computer and the safekeeping of your personal data. This page
will be continually updated with info on new threats as they
appear. If you have any questions please feel free to
contact us.
Enter your email address in the field on the right and click Ok
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| The following links provide a
continually updated source of info on the latest threats, along
with some general information. Most of the info on this page
is drawn from these websites. |
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The Spyware Guide Greynets Blog
Bill Mullins’ Weblog - Tech Thoughts
Aaron Eidinger - Notes From The Tech Man
ScamBusters.org
- Internet Scams, Identity Theft, and Urban Legends |
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Safe Gaming For Kids |
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| By Christopher Boyd |
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| Did you know your
child's XBox, Wii, and PlayStation have parental controls? Did
you know there is phishing going on that attempts to get your
child to give up their account logon info in exchange for free
stuff? Most parents probably don't.
Read More >> |
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Cell Phone Fraud - Cyber Criminals New Scam |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| According to the
Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. National
White Collar Crime Center, cell phone fraud attacks are on the
rise.
Read More >> |
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| Fake Security Program for Mac's |
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| By Peter Cohen -
Macworld |
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| Intego, makers of
VirusBarrier and other security software for the Macintosh,
issued a security warning for Mac users on Friday advising them
against the use of an application called “MacGuard.” The company
describes MacGuard as “a rogue program.”
Read More >> |
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| Rogue Security Software - It’s All About the Money |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| Cyber crooks are
continuing to develop and distribute “rogue security software”,
at a furious pace; there are literally thousands of variants of
this type of malware circulating on the Internet.
Read More >> |
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| Scammers Hack Email, Target Friends & Family With Request For Money |
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| By Christopher Boyd |
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The scammers in
question hacked a colleagues EMail account, then sent out a
request for money to the people on the hacked accounts contact
list, claiming they were overseas and without cash.
Read More >> |
| And a slight variation,
seems to be spreading!
Read More >> |
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Web Search results are not always what they appear to be |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| I hate being
victimized! Unfortunately, all of us who use the Internet can be
victimized in ways that sometimes defy credibility.
Read More >> |
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Another Email Aimed at Infecting Your Computer |
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There's a new SPAM mail
going around claiming to be from someone that received an email
from you that contains a malicious program. This email contains
an attachment which the sender claims is a log from their ISP
proving that you sent said email.
The subject of the email is "I am wait your reply" (obviously
English is not the persons native language, the IP address
indicates Amsterdam). The message contains a ZIP file which
contains a malicious executable disguised as an Adobe PDF
document. DO NOT open this attachment! |
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| New
Round of Greeting Card Email Spam |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| Here we go again.
Cyber-criminals just won’t quit (but you know that), - so get
ready for another round of greeting card spam email.
Read More >> |
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| Peer
to Peer (P2P) File Sharing (Kazaa, Limewire, etc) |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| Every day, millions of computer
users share files online. Whether it is music, games, or
software, file-sharing can provide computer users with access to
a wealth of information, but there are risks you need to be aware
of. Read
More >> |
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Malware For The Macintosh |
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| By Aaron Eidinger |
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| While there have been some
proof-of-concept exploits out there, malware that affected the
Macintosh operating system has been an extremely rare beast. A
new exploit out there appears to affect both Windows and
Macintosh systems equally.
Read More >> |
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| Note:
It seems the point of this is to trick you into installing a
rogue virus scanner. This portion of the malware exploit won't
affect a Mac, but the clipboard hijack will, no real damage will
be done, it'll just cause some annoyance until you reboot. The
link that get's copied to your clipboard will show you this if
you paste into your browser address bar, which we recommend you
don't do. |
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Ransomware Returns! Oh... You've Never Heard of Ransomware? |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| When we think of kidnapping, extortion
or blackmail, I think it’s safe to say, not many of us would
consider our computer files as a likely victim. That is, unless
we were familiar with a particular form of malware known as
Ransomware.
Read More >> |
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Think You’re Internet Safety Savvy? - Think Again |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| What you don’t know can’t hurt
you, right? I’m not a mathematician, so I can’t vouch for the
relative statistical accuracy of that statement, but I do know
this: what you don’t know can hurt you big time on the Internet.
Read More >> |
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Email claiming to be from CNN pushes fake flash update |
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| By Christopher Boyd |
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| The spam emails contain links to
what are claimed to be CNN's top news stories and video
clips. However, clicking on any link launches a dialogue saying
that the user has an obsolete version of Flash Player and needs
to download an updated version
Read More >> |
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| NOTE:
A new version of this claims to be from MSNBC
Read More >> |
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| Fake
Internet Explorer 7 download email, installs rogue
Antivirus 2008/2009 application |
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| By Christopher Boyd |
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| You may have seen this in your inbox
recently, click the download link and you'll likely end up with
a not so nice surprise. Microsoft DOES NOT send emails to
individuals notifying or offering software or Operating System
updates Read More >> |
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| Antivirus 2008/2009 seems to be
one of the more popular infections, we commented on it below
under "Rogue Security Applications. It can be installed any
number of ways, here's one that pretends to be a Youtube video
Read More >> |
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Phishing scam on Xbox Live, now you can get scammed without a
computer! |
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| By Christopher Boyd |
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You may or may not have come
across these before, but there seems to be a fresh set of phish
messages (most likely from compromised accounts) being fired
around XBox Live using the lure of free Microsoft points as bait
(gamers can use these points to buy games, amongst other things)
Read More >> |
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Email purporting to be from UPS contains password stealing
trojan |
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From the TrendLabs malware blog;
The trojan downloads an encrypted configuration file from a remote site.
Said file contains banking-related URLs which the spyware
monitors in Internet browser address bars. When a user accesses
any of the listed URLs, the spyware logs keystrokes to capture
data entered in login boxes. Gathered data is then saved in a
file, then sent to a remote site through HTTP post. The URLs
listed in the downloaded configuration file may change at any
time.
Read More >> |
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| Note:
This trojan is also showing up in email claiming to be from
Continental Airlines and other well known companies, it is
usually contained within a zip file that looks like a Microsoft
Word document. |
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| Rogue Security Applications |
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| By Bill Mullins |
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| A rogue security application is
an application that uses malware, or malicious tools, to
advertise or install itself. Unless you have had the bad
experience of installing this type of malicious software, you
may not be aware that such a class of software even exists. But
it does; and regrettably it is becoming more widespread.
Read More >> |
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| Don’t believe everything you see on TV
- finallyfast.com advertisement |
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| By Aaron Eidinger |
Recently I’ve been seeing ads on television for FinallyFast(dot)com.
Supposedly a piece of software for Windows which will speed up
your computer. Since I’ve seen many pieces of software of this
type advertised in various media, I was curious, though
skeptical.
Read More >> |
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Note:
One if the interesting things we noticed is that the company
states their product is only for Windows based computers, yet at
the end of their ad they show a guy with a Macintosh claiming it
did wonders for his iMac, apparently their advertising
department isn't very bright.
Tech-N-Go highly recommends you stay clear of
this product. |
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