by Alex Eckelberry | Oct 10, 2011 | Uncategorized
An “XBox code generator” site has been popping up on video sharing websites and elsewhere recently, even though a lot of the content promoting it hawked “Runescape moneymaking”. The site is dead now, but the executable it promoted is still...
by Alex Eckelberry | Oct 7, 2011 | Uncategorized
Yesterday I gave a talk at VB 2011 on the history of rogue web browsers – browsers that have been built from the ground up to cause end-users trouble. They often imitate the real thing, use similar logos to legit browsers, claim to be incredibly secure and offer...
by Alex Eckelberry | Oct 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
Seven months ago, Google officially released its Android app, the Android Market Security Tool, in response to an outbreak of malicious apps being served then on the Android Market website. Just a few days after, a trojanized version of the said app had been...
by Alex Eckelberry | Oct 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
I can’t speak on behalf of all the folks on this side of the globe who loves technology, specifically from Apple. Who knows how these nifty gadgets have impacted their business and personal lives, but surely, the impact is hugely positive and lasting.Thank you,...
by Alex Eckelberry | Oct 4, 2011 | Uncategorized
Matthew, one of our researchers at the AV Labs, flagged us regarding a Facebook scam he spotted late last weekend. And his timing could not have been more impeccable. The scam is about Southwest Airlines giving away free tickets. Now, as a practical rule of thumb, if...
by Alex Eckelberry | Oct 3, 2011 | Uncategorized
It seems scammers need to play a little catch up, or at least read the odd news site occasionally. Here’s an email going around trying out the well worn theme of “Google Anniversary” 419 scam mails: Click to Enlarge”We are pleased to inform you...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
One of our researchers noticed that searches in Yahoo! for popular programs will result in Yahoo! placing their own link as the first result, effectively bumping the official program links down into second place.Click to EnlargeClicking the first link takes you to the...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
Here’s a curious bit of spam mail involving the well worn subject of Green Card Lotteries:Click to EnlargeDid you know the “Department of State” send out random emails from a free MSN address? No, neither did I. This multicoloured monstrosity claims...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
Bad adverts in Bing leading end-users to Malware downloads first popped up on our radar on the 16th of September, and we covered them again on the 19th. Well, they’re back again – this time promoting fake Firefox downloads whose ads are displayed when...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
Desperate to purloin money out of stupid and desparate people, 419 scammers are now trying Google Calendar invites. The pain of it is that if you’re using Outlook, the calendar invite is automatically accepted and you get a reminder popping up. This has to be...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
It seems scammers have a bit of thing for spoofing BBC websites at the moment. Yesterday it was work from home scams, and last month it was a Facebook wheeze which (in a nutshell) went like this: “Lady Gaga is dead and here’s a BBC video to prove it, also...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 22, 2011 | Uncategorized
Just a quick heads up that there’s a Twitter spamrun targeting mentions of the videogame Bioshock Infinite.The promise: “My friend got Bioshock Infinite free”. Click to EnlargeThe reality:Click to EnlargeA woman doing aeroplane impressions. Of...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 19, 2011 | Uncategorized
We’re seeing some more bad adverts popping up in Bing – just like the original attack, these results are served with very basic search terms so it’s pretty easy to stumble into one of the bad URLs. The results below appear when searching for...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 19, 2011 | Uncategorized
In-game advertising has been around for a long time (specifically since 1978, when the Scott Adams game ‘Adventureland’ placed a promotional message in the game for his next release ‘Pirate Adventure’, which involved crackers, a parrot and...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 16, 2011 | Uncategorized
Overnight we saw a number of adverts being displayed in Bing that were directing end-users to malicious content. These adverts were promoting all manner of downloads including Firefox, Skype and uTorrent.Some of the search terms used:”FireFox...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
I keep getting asked for comments on McAfee/Intel’s new Deepsafe. So what the heck, here goes. This is a great marketing pitch. But remember that the platform that the technology is based upon, Intel VTx, is an open archictecture that any antivirus company can...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
Hands up: who wants a cheap HP Touchpad complete with charging dock and bluetooth keyboard?Yep, you all do. However, not only does this prospect look a little unlikely due to the ultra scarce stock, you may well find you end up with a little more than you bargained...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
Just a quick heads up that a gaming website is offering up what appears to be a version of FileZilla, but is actually throwing the Jeefo Virus into the mix.Click to EnlargeThe site in question is someofcs(dot)com, and (as far as we can tell) it looks as though you may...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 13, 2011 | Uncategorized
I’m not saying all of my trips go horribly wrong, but exploding toilets, 1984 style televisions, badges that make no sense, surprises in alleyways and emergency fuel dumps could perhaps convince you otherwise. You’ll be...
by Alex Eckelberry | Sep 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
Our research team have discovered a rather nasty SEO poisoning scam over the last few days, targeting 9/11 related search terms (along with anything else they can get their hands on) to attempt the infection of vulnerable PCs. They use a combination of the Black Hole...
