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ESET Threat Report: Dramatic Upsurge in Gaming Malware, Gangs Target Second Life

Paul Lilly — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:58:58 -0500

Gamers have enough trouble trying to come up with a game plan to beat pesky end bosses and single-handedly defeat armies of mutant soldiers. Saving often gives gamers an endless advantage and cheat codes can help in a pinch, but neither of these tactics will do any good against an increasing amount of real-life threats the online gaming scene.

More than just an annoyance, time spend in virtual worlds like Second Life can translate into real currency and it's attracted the attention of organized criminal gangs. According to security software vendor ESET (best known for its NOD32 Antivirus products), "high volumes of malware intended to steal passwords for online gaming and virtual worlds" have been detected since 2007, resulting in a "dramatic upsurge."

The alarming news comes courtesy of ESET's mid-yearly Global Threat Report, which focuses on broad trends in malware over the past six months. In addition to an upsurge in attacks against gamers, ESET notes that malicious software that tries to use the Windows Autorun facility to self-install from removable media continues to flourish.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the company reports email bound malware is in "dramatic decline," at least when it comes to dirty attachments. Malicious URLs passed through email messages have taken the place of attachments.

Further reading to keep yourself (and your virtual self) protected:

CEO Sues Former Company For Snooping in Personal Email

Chris Moody — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:18:27 -0500

Ars Technica reports on a case coming up in Connecticut, in which a fired CEO is taking his former employer to court for accessing his personal Yahoo account. The CEO’s former employee's access to his Yahoo account netted them over 10,000 e-mails which included privileged communications between him and his attorneys regarding his plans to sue regarding his firing. Given the recent ruling from the 9th Circuit Court that indicated personal messages sent via work equipment were off limits to search unless the employer had a policy of regularly accessing the equipment. It might seem a slam dunk for the fired CEO.

The New York Times seems to think otherwise saying that because he accessed it from a computer that wasn’t his own, and he left it open in plain sight to transmit company documents (a violation of terms of his employment contract) the company may have been justified in investigating further.

The turn out of this case may have an effect on the previous ruling, and might want to give you pause about accessing your personal email from work!

(Image Credit: Flickr RL Johnson)

New Year in Spyware

Erin Simon — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:13:07 -0600

Sears adds surreptitious tracking software to its catalogue

Heal and Inoculate Your PC

Paul Lilly — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:19:48 -0600

A terrifying number of computers are infected with viruses, spyware, Trojans, rootkits and other malicious software. Here's how to clean out even the most troubled PC and protect it from future infection!

Big Maxtor Disks Making Big Security Headaches [Updated]

Mark 'Marcus Soperus' Soper — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:02:01 -0600

Have a Maxtor Basics hard disk? You may have connected a big security breach to your system. Learn what's at risk and how to protect yourself - now.

No BS Podcast #29—The "What Day Is It?" Edition

The Maximum PC Staff — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:32:29 -0500

No, it's not Friday already...it's a special Tuesday edition of the podcast. Different day, same tech news you love.

Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/maximumpc/1337

I Practice Safer Browsing

Will Smith — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:54:06 -0500

If you're smart about the sites you visit, the software you install, and the way you use your computer, you don't need spyware or antivirus software. At least, that's what Will Smith says.