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Justin Long's a Liar, Apple Tells Mac Users to Install Antivirus Software

Paul Lilly — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:00:00 -0600

Talk to any Mac-inite and he'll tell you how secure his Mac is compared to your Windows-based PC. And admittedly, he's right. But is it because Mac OS X is inherently more secure than Windows, or do virus writers simply not give a damn when there are so many Windows users to target? Justin Long doesn't say, and instead insinuates that Mac users needn't worry about malware - see for yourself.

In what might be an ironic twist, Apple's ad campaign has helped Macs increase its market share and potentially draw attention to the platform as a viable target. For the first time ever, Apple is telling its users to install antivirus software.

"Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult," Apple posted on its support site.

But don't take that to mean that Apple suddenly thinks its operating system is wrought with security holes. As Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee points out, malware is targeting data and not a specific OS. Vulnerabilities in Flash and the Safari web browser, for example, have given rise to non-OS attacks.

Reaction to Apple's recommendation? Hit the jump and post your thoughts.

Pentagon Bans Flash Drives and DVDs in Response to Cyber Attack

Paul Lilly — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:36:31 -0600

Cyber attacks on the Pentagon are nothing new, but the latest infiltration has the Defense Department taking unprecedented steps to prevent further damage. In doing so, the Pentagon has banned the use of DVDs, flash drives, and all external hardware, according to Fox News.

"We have detected a global virus for which there has been alerts, and we have seen some of this on our networks," a Pentagon official told FOX News. "We are now taking steps to mitigate the virus."

The official stopped short of saying where the virus originated from, and as long as the information remains classified, we may never know. But Fox News did learn that the Pentagon has been aware of an impending attack from a memo that was sent out a week ago.

Asus Traces Eee Box PC Virus to Chinese OEM

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:41:37 -0500

After it was revealed that some of the Asus Eee Box PCs sold in Japan came with a preloaded virus, the Taiwanese company ordered a recall of all such infected PCs. Now, Asus has placed the entire blame on a second-tier Chinese OEM that had been tasked with the responsibility of manufacturing Eee PCs for the Japanese market.

The unnamed OEM had been chosen in order to cut costs, but eventually became the source of embarrassment for Asus. The company now plans to transfer Japanese Eee Box PC orders to other second-tier OEMs.

Asus Fesses Up To Virus in Eee Box Mini PCs

Andy Salisbury — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:25:37 -0500

Asus has recently admitted that some of their Eee Box desktop PC’s have shipped with a virus. While they’ve claimed that they’ve only sent boxes with viruses to Japan, it can be confirmed that other territories have received units as well.

As stated by an email sent out by Asus, the Eee Box’s 80GB hard drive has the “recycled.exe” virus files hidden in the drive’s D: partition. Once the drive is opened, the virus activates and infects the C: drive, as well as any removable drives connected to the system. Symantec states that the malware is likely to be a W32/Usbalex worm, which creates an “autorun.inf” file to trigger “recycled.exe” from D:.

With any luck, Asus will have this under control before they send out their next shipments. Until then though, be sure to look out for any of these new boxes shipping to a desk near you, they could be waiting to take all of your precious information.

Worm Targeted at Online Gamers Infects Laptop in Space

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:30:18 -0500

A computer worm primarily targeted at online gamers has found a very odd prey in form of the International Space Station. NASA confirmed last week that a computer worm had boarded the International Space Station and infected at least one laptop. Fortunately, though, none of the mission-critical systems were affected by the password-grabbing worm. NASA hasn’t revealed the name of the worm, but a website says that it is W32.Gammima.AG. Most of you might find the entire episode quite surprising and amusing, but the folks at NASA seem to be inured to computer worms aboard the ISS because this is not the first such instance.

Scientists Use Viruses to Make Batteries

Paul Lilly — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:39:21 -0500

Engineers have come up with a bit of sick technology, and we're not using that term as slang. Instead, they've found a way to assemble a key component of a microscopic battery using viruses, potentially paving the way for cheap and simple construction of pint-sized power sources.

The MIT group had previously been able to genetically engineer viruses to make a protein skin capable of attracting bits of metal, and this new research builds on that by having those same viruses build a specific part. In the MIT experiment, the genetically engineered viruses would help build the anode portion of a battery by attracting cobalt oxide. And more than just a proof of concept, the process has been drawing attention because of its ease-of-use and low cost.

One stumbling block preventing the widespread use of viruses in battery construction is a lack of application. There currently aren't any devices that would require a battery roughly one tenth the width of a human hair, though future applications could see the technology being used in nanotechnology.

Anyone else see the plot for a bad B-movie shaping up?

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:

Malware Miscreants Selling Trojan Guaranteed to Evade Detection

Paul Lilly — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:27:35 -0500

You've been told money can't buy you love, but for $1,300, you can buy a Trojan guaranteed to screw the recipient without them ever knowing it's there. Apparently not completely fool proof, security company Prevx discovered the supposedly undetectable super virus now known as Limbo 2 and reports that hackers are selling custom variations of the Trojan. If a variation gets detected, the Trojan can be tweaked to fly under the radar without changing its payload.

Once infected, Limbo 2 not only logs your keystrokes, but it will set a trap by generating spoofed information boxes when victims navigate to certain login pages. Keystrokes, credit card information, and any other personal data it manages to harvest from the hard drive then gets transmitted back to Botnet Central.

These types of Trojans aren't new, but it's Limbo 2's speed and customization that has security vendors concerned. On a broader scale, it's all part of a seedy underground economy driven by stolen data. It's become so prevalent that hackers have had to lower prices and look for new types of stolen data to sell for bigger profits, including health care information and corporate emails.

How secure is your PC?