malware

A recent report revealed that many businesses still have no plans to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, leaving their ailing PCs at higher risk for malware. That may change, however, with a new report suggesting that Windows 7 is five times less ... likely to be infected by malware than its predecessor. Windows 7 Five Times More Secure than XP The study comes from Microsoft's own Security Intelligence Report, which is released annually. The report not only revealed that Windows 7 is five times more secure against malware than a machine running Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), but it was also ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed that the infection rate for Windows 7 computers has increased. But the Windows 7 operating system still remains considerably more secure than its predecessors. The most talked-about figure in the newly-published statistics is ... a 33 per cent hike in the proportion of Windows 7 computers suffering from a malware infection. That's a potentially misleading oversimplification, though. The actual rate increased during 2010 from three PCs per thousand to four per thousand, figures that could easily be distorted by rounding errors. Windows XP Still Riskiest for Malware ... (view more)

Microsoft Security Essentials has put on a mediocre showing in a series of recent tests run by international examiners AV-Test.org. The results were deemed so poor that Microsoft actually placed 20th out of 22 antivirus products tested. MSE Strong ... at Detecting Known Variants Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 (MSE) started off the testing procedures relatively strong when required to uncover malware drawn from industry-agreed Wildlist selection, including malware variants such as the Koobface virus . In this test, Microsoft Security Essentials finished with an impressive detection rate of 100 ... (view more)

Security firm Symantec says it's found a new and very fake Google "security program" designed to install malware on Google Android smartphones. Called the Android Market Security Tool, the fake software is actually a repackaged Google-built tool ... with origins in the Far East. Symantec discovered the fake tool last Wednesday. It actually imitates a program of the same name released by Google last week and was found in Chinese markets not sanctioned by the search giant. (Source: symantec.com ) Fake Security Software a Clever Ploy by Malware Designers Symantec says it's all a very ... (view more)

Amidst reports that threats to Macs are steadily increasing , security firm Sophos is now offering a free version of its business antivirus software to Apple computer fans. It's a pretty good deal: dubbed Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac, the ... software comes with no strings attached and will be updated forever (or the foreseeable future). The Sophos software has been adapted from its business roots so that it is easier to install and operate. (Source: zdnet.co.uk ) According to Chris Kraft, Sophos product management vice president, the Mac offering is the exact same model currently being ... (view more)

With the Windows family still allowing Microsoft to enjoy the lion's share of the OS market, rival companies are forever left to jockey for second place. While the goal for these companies is to one day surpass Windows in popularity, there has ... always been one benefit in playing "second fiddle" to Microsoft: hackers tend follow user demographics. This means that Windows is as much a popular choice for malware attacks as it is for consumers. Such is true for Apple, who listed only 34 known vulnerabilities within the Mac OS family back in 2009. While even one vulnerability should be cause for ... (view more)

According to a recent report from Microsoft, the Redmond-based software company removed 6.5 million botnets from Windows machines during the first period of 2010 -- which is more than double the number eliminated by the firm over the same period in ... 2009. Botnets Used to Spam, Spread Malware, Steal Secrets In simple terms, a botnet (or "robot network") is a group of infected PCs that are under control of a few (or 1) individual. Typically, a PC becomes infected by visiting a malicious website, or by opening a malicious file or email. Once a computer is infected with botnet malware, ... (view more)

Website domain name registration business Network Solutions says that domains marked "page under construction" have been dishing up malware. It's suggested that millions of websites have been infected, and that the malware has been live for several ... months. The domains used a malicious script targeting Taiwanese and Hong Kong IP addresses to deliver a fake chat message that directed users to other web sites. (Source: computerworld.com ) Drive-By-Downloads Infect Unsuspecting Users Malware spread when a now-disabled widget in the Small Business Success Index section of Network Solutions' ... (view more)

Those wanting to jazz up their Google Android phones better watch out for a new malware that masquerades as a wallpaper application. While aesthetically appealing, the malware rooted behind the wallpaper strips personal data and sends it away to a ... remote server. The mal-app (malware app) targets phone numbers, subscriber identity and voicemail passwords. The vulnerability was uncovered by the US-based security company Lookout, which is currently working on the App Genome Project, a website designed to uncover apps with malicious code embedded. Malware Source Identified Fortunately, the source ... (view more)

A group of security researchers say they've found a workaround for just about every antivirus product on the market today, effectively making Windows-based security programs totally useless. Security research site Matousec.com recently issued an ... advisory for a process that allows malware to evade security detection. Note that this doesn't just apply to Microsoft's free Security Essentials software or other freeware antivirus products, but also targets full software packages from industry leaders like Norton, BitDefender and McAfee. Matousec's Morphing Malware According to reports, Matousec. ... (view more)