Spyware Techie

Why should cybercrooks have to work so hard to attack computer users when they can simply use online advertisements to spread malware?

In recent findings by security experts, it was discovered that a rogue ad was popping up on the New York Times website. The advert attempted to warn computer users of a virus and redirects them to a site that pretends to scan and fix the system. Not only does this sound familiar, but it is basically the same type of malicious tactics used by hackers to make computer users believe they must pay for something that they do not need.

Social networks such as Twitter prove to be easy targets for hackers.

In recent happenings in the social world, Twitter has been faced with several attacks including one that made the service unavailable to all its users while Facebook continues to be hit with compromised user accounts used to send malicious messages.

With the new social age online, Twitter is becoming favored by hackers as a place to conduct malicious actions for the intent of infecting computers. Security researchers have witnessed an increase in the number of attacks which was released in the recorded in the Web Hacking Incidents Database report today.

It has been reported that 9 out of 10 Windows computers are vulnerable to a new Flash zero-day vulnerability.

A Danish security research firm has reported that 9 out of 10 Windows users are susceptible to an attack via their currently installed Flash player 9 and 10. Adobe will be releasing a patch for this particular vulnerability but it will not be released until Thursday (07/30/2009).

One of the most searched for item on the internet is currently an explicit video of Erin Andrews captured through a hotel peephole which is known to lead computer users to a virus or malware infection.

Computer users are being warned of web sites claiming to host a controversial video of the high-profile ESPN reporter, Erin Andrews. Supposedly, someone was able to capture an explicit video of Erin Andrews through a hotel peephole recently and post it online. Currently lawyers working for Andrews are seeking to take legal action against anyone who may be distributing this video which was taken without her consent or knowledge. Hackers have been taking advantage of this publicity to spread malware.

EyeWonder Malware Incident prevents computer users from visiting popular high-traffic web sites.

Several computer users have reported that they were unable to visit popular websites such as CNN, Engadget, Washington Post, Mashable, Gamestpot and others, due to a malware warnings appearing via EyeWonder digital advertising provider. The incednet was reported on July 3rd with a message that resembles the image below.

Pricewert was known as a safe haven for spammers and was recently shut down by the Federal Trade Commission resulting in a 15% drop in Spam messages.

Total spam volume dropped by 15% percent just last week, according to the email security vendor Marshal8e6. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received a court order to takedown the Pricewert ISP. Since the takedown, spam rates have declined, which is a clear indication that they were the culprit of a vast amount of spam.

Pricewert was home to a good amount of illegal activity which includes the distribution of spyware, phishing, child pornography and viruses. The FTC confirmed this recently and issued a statement that said Pricewert shielded the criminals by either ignoring requests to take-down certain sites or transfer the criminal fundamentals to other internet protocol addresses.

Security researchers have recently discovered hackers redirecting users to thousands of newly infected websites through fake web pages.

According to Websense, a security vendor, an astonishing 40,000 or more websites have recently been hacked to redirect computer users to other web pages in an attempt to infect PC’s with malware.

The recent attacks were discovered to be a hacking incident where the affected sites host JavaScript code that is designed to redirect users to fake Google Analytics web pages and then to another malicious website. Google Analytics is a site that provides site usage data for website owners.

A new epidemic of attacks that inject Google search results with malicious links is getting worse lately.

Computer security experts have found that a search result attack has intensified in recent days and is found on many legitimate web sites, possibly thousands. CERT, the Computer Emergency Response Team, said that the attack targets known flaws in Adobe’s software and uses it to install a malicious program on the victim’s computer.

The malicious program that was found to be downloaded from the malicious sites is known to steal FTP login credentials from victims systems allowing it to use the information to spread. In addition, through this malicious program, Google search results are replaced with links chosen by the attackers to redirect users to malicious sites.

A new search technique allows spammers to harvest valid email addresses from Twitter users in real-time.

Twitter seems to be an obvious target for spammers. The new search technique used by spammers to gather large volumes of valid email address from Twitter users, is nothing complex. It is a simple process where the spammers use the search terms “email me at” and “contact me at” in a combination with a domain that the spammer chooses.

The recent Swine Flu pandemic has many people panicking mainly due to several online blogs, twitter updates and the mainstream media.

Twitter, among other popular social networks, are always a major concern when it comes to computer safety or security issues over the internet.

Blogs and Twitter now play a big role in causing an uproar on just about anything that makes news now days including the recent Swine Flu issue. Twitter is being blamed for spreading panic regarding the swine flu through several tweets.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send and read each other’s updates or tweets. Twitter was started in 2006 and since has gained worldwide popularity and social gateway to send and receive tidbits of information.