Mac OS X Trojan horse aims to make money off Macintosh users Posted by STOMP on 31 Mar, 2008 15:17
Singapore. March 31, 2008 – Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centres, have advised the Apple Macintosh community not to panic following the discovery of another Trojan horse for the Mac OS X platform. Instead, Apple Mac lovers are advised to ensure that they continue to take personal computer security seriously and have a secure defense in place.
The Trojan, named Troj/MacSwp-B (also known as Imunizator), tries to scare Mac users into purchasing unnecessary software by claiming that privacy issues have been discovered on the computer.
“Windows users are no stranger to scareware like this, but it is rarer on the Apple Macintosh. Nevertheless MacSwp-B's discovery does follow fast on the heels of other malware that has been identified on the Mac OS X platform in recent months,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. “Cybercrime against Mac users may be small in comparison to Windows attacks, but it is growing. Apple Macintosh users need to learn from the mistakes made by their Windows cousins in the past and ensure that they have defenses in place, are up-to-date ...
25-year-old mega-spammer arrested by Tokyo police Posted by STOMP on 20 Feb, 2008 16:35
Man arrested in Tokyo for allegedly sending 2.2 billion spam messages
Companies are reminded to abide by anti-spam laws following the arrest of a man suspected of sending over 2 billion unwanted commercial emails.
According to media reports, police in Tokyo, Japan, have arrested 25-year-old Yuki Shiina following a complaint last year by an internet service provider (ISP) that he was sending huge amount of spam emails advertising gambling and dating websites. Police believe that Shiina bought 600,000 email addresses off the internet for 100,000 yen (USD927) and earned over 2 million yen (USD18,540) through the spam campaign.
It is claimed that Shiina faked the sender information on the emails in an attempt to avoid detection, breaking Japanese laws.
"Spammers believe they can escape the long arm of the law by hiding on the internet, but increasingly the authorities are cracking down on this kind of net abuse. No-one who hears about a single person believed to have sent 2.2 billion spam emails can be in any doubt as to the scale of the problem, and it's essential for the police to send out a ...
Russia emerges as spam superpower, as Asia and Europe overtake North Posted by STOMP on 12 Feb, 2008 11:52
'Dirty dozen' spam-relaying countries detailed for Q4 2007
Singapore. February 12, 2008 - IT security and control firm Sophos has published its latest report on the top 12 spam-relaying countries over the final quarter of 2007.
Experts at SophosLabs scanned all spam messages received in the company's global network of spam traps, and have revealed a dramatic rise in the proportion of the world's spam messages being sent from compromised Russian computers. The country has stormed into second place, accounting for 8.3 per cent of the world's spam, or one in twelve junk mails seen in inboxes. Russia's rise is echoed in Sophos's research into which continents make the greatest contribution to the spam problem - with Asia and Europe overtaking North America.
Between October-December 2007, the USA relayed far more spam than any other country - testament to the sheer number of computers in the country that have been taken over by remote hackers. Representing the lion's share of total spam traffic, the United States' 21 per cent slice means that more than one in five of all the world's spam emails was being sent through compromised ...
WARNING - 'HEATH LEDGER' SEARCHES MAY Posted by STOMP on 25 Jan, 2008 14:24
Malware authors target grieving fans through search engines
Within hours of the news of the tragic death of Australian actor Heath Ledger, cyber attackers uploaded infected websites in an attempt to deceive grieving fans into downloading malware onto their computers, according to Trend Micro, Incorporated ( TSE: 4704), a leader in network antivirus and Internet content security software.
According to Mr Ross Wilson, Managing Director of Consumer Products and Services for the APAC Region, the m alware authors are cynically using the news of Mr Ledger's death to jumpstart massive redirections to infected sites as they know many people are going to do searches on this hot news item.
"We are warning Singapore fans of the late actor to beware of the risks when searching for details of Mr Ledger's untimely death using search engines. They should make sure they are using up-to-date internet security software and stick to established and verifiable news sites."
"If fans searching for news click on one of the malicious links they are led to a search engine optimised keyword-riddled page. They are then automatically redirected to another ...
Beware! New SymbianOS worm spreading on phone networks Posted by STOMP on 22 Jan, 2008 13:48
The FortiGuardGlobal Security Research Team discovered a new SymbianOS Worm actively spreading on various mobile phone networks.
The worm, deemed SymbOS/Beselo.A!worm is able to run on several Symbian S60 enabled devices. These devices include, but may not be limited to, Nokia 6600, 6630, 6680, 7610, N70 and N72 phones.
After an installation phase, the worm engages in a propagation routine: phone numbers located in the contact list of the devices are harvested, and targeted by viral MMS carrying a SIS-packed (Symbian Installation Source) version of the worm. However, the SIS file does not bear a .sis file extension -- rather, it is disguised as a multimedia file with an evocative name: either Beauty.jpg, Sex.mp3 or Love.rm.
Unlike Microsoft Windows, SymbianOS types files based on their contents and not their extensions, so it is worth noting that recipients of infected MMS would still be presented with an installation dialogue upon "clicking" on the attachment. Therefore, users could easily be deceived by the extension and unknowingly install the malicious piece of software.
In addition to harvesting the numbers stored in the phone address book as mentioned ...
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