Trick Viruses by Renaming Your Anti-Virus Program to Explorer.exe
There are a lot of viruses out there, but many of them follow the same pattern: they lock you out of your system and only let you visit their site, pretending to be anti-virus software. Here's a trick to squash them. More »
The State of Cybercrime
How much does it cost to buy a stolen credit card number on the black market? What about renting a botnet or setting up a fake online store designed to steal user identities? Cybercrime involving stolen credit card numbers, money laundering, botnets and other black-hat activities is a huge business online. A new report [PDF] from PandaLabs uncovers the going price for some of the most popular k
HOW TO: Your Get Your Old PC Running Like New Again
Michael Smith has been the IT Manager at TrialPay for three years, where he supports a wide variety of computer systems for 100 employees. TrialPay works with more than 10,000 companies in social games and software, including CNET, which is offering a special “New Year, New PC” bundle.Now that the new year is upon us, many people may be thinking about dumping their slower, outdated hardware and
McAfee’s 2011 Cyber Attack Targets: URL Shorteners, iPhones, Geolocation Services
Intel acquired McAfee has just released its forecast for the top targets for cyber criminals in 2011, and a number of popular platforms have made the list. The antivirus and security software company’s labs group, McAfee Labs, says that Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone, Foursquare, Google TV and the Mac OS X platform, are all expected to be targets in the New Year. McAfee Labs says that URL-shorte
Malicious Goo.gl Links Spreading on Twitter
A large number of messages containing only the link “goo.gl/R7f68″ have appeared on Twitter today, redirecting the users to various malware-laden sites.The messages are mostly coming from disposable accounts, but they also show up on some accounts that appear to be genuine, which indicates that there’s a worm spreading and sending the messages from infected accounts. Furthermore, all of the messag
PSA: Botched AVG 2011 update might be why your PC won't start today
Did you update your free copy of AVG 2011 today, in the hopes of evading a nasty bug? In a set of mildly familiar circumstances, the antivirus company has inadvertently unleashed an even nastier one. Users running 64-bit editions of Windows 7 and AVG 2011 are reporting a STOP error after a mandatory antivirus update this morning, which is keeping some from booting their machines into Windows at a
Sizing Up Symantec’s Corporate Social Responsibility
Symantec, the software and security company best known for its Norton internet security and antivirus software, released its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report on Monday. For the uninitiated, CSR reports put a company’s social and environmental objectives, not just their profit and revenue outlook, on the record. They are meant to encourage all businesses, no matter their size, to act in
Security Software Startup, SocialShield, Raises $10 Million To Keep Kids Safe Online
SocialShield, a startup that helps parents monitor their kids’ online behavior without violating kids’ privacy, raised a $10 million series A investment, the company announced today. Venrock and U.S. Venture Partners led the investment, and were joined by angel investors Russell Fradin, Larry Braitman, George Garrick, Craig Sherman and Rick Thompson. SocialShield gives parents high level visibil
IT Spending Grows 4% For Small To Medium-Sized Businesses
According to a SpiceWorks report released today, Information Technology related budgets at small and medium sized businesses are up over 4% vs. figures announced for January through June 2010. Notable high spending points points are in the areas of virtualization as well as optimistic staffing increases, especially in companies with under 20 employees. Over 3,011 IT professionals from over 117 co
McAfee Jumps On The URL Shortening Bandwagon With McAf.ee
Antivirus and security software company McAfee, for reasons unknown, has apparently decided the world needs yet another URL shortening service. The company this morning launched the beta version of McAf.ee, which it purports is a service that lets people create safe short URLs. Which I think means that, unlike all the others, you don’t need to wear leather safety gloves to use it. Actually, McAf.
Antivirus Software: It's What Keeps Dolph Lundgren From Lighting Your Unicorn On Fire
If you don't quite understand the threat that cyber criminals pose to your online banking, let Norton explain: your bank account is like an adorable little unicorn and the hackers are like Dolph Lundgren with a flamethrower. See? Simple. [DailyWh.at] More »
Norton Debuts New Security Software, Reveals Cybercrime Pisses Off Victims
Symantec this morning released two new security software products, Norton AntiVirus 2011 and Norton Internet Security 2011. Coinciding with the release, the company has also published its latest cybercrime report, dubbed The Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact. The company claims two-thirds (65 percent) of global Internet users have already fallen victim to cybercrimes, which includes com
Did malware cause the crash of Spanair Flight JK 5022?
The inquiry into the August 2008 crash of Spanair Flight JK 5022 at Barajas Airport in Madrid took a bizarre turn recently when Spanish daily El Pais reported that the server that the airline used to track technical problems on aircraft contained malware. Although the flaps and slats were not in the proper position for takeoff, the crew was never alerted -- causing the flight to go down moments a
Summit Partners Pumps $100 Million Into Antivirus Software Maker AVAST Software
Fresh off the heels of Intel acquiring security software vendor McAfee for $7.7 billion in cash, another household name in the industry, AVAST Software, has raised $100 million in private equity from investment firm Summit Partners. With the investment, Summit Partners has acquired a minority stake in the company, which markets its popular antivirus software based on a freemium model. AVAST Softw
Will an M&A Boom Lift Sagging Markets?
Via Pension Pulse.Anupreeta Das and Gina Chon of the WSJ report, Deals Stage a Comeback:Global merger activity is sweeping to its highest levels since late 2009, presenting a glimmer of economic confidence while the bond and stock markets continue to price in a weakening U.S. economy.On a day of bleak jobless news and a 144-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Intel Corp. surpri
Virus-Busting Chips! Why Intel Paid Billions for McAfee.
The news of Intel's very expensive McAfee purchase raises one obvious question: why is security software worth over $7 billion to a chip maker? Intel has been short on specifics, but it's becoming clear that virus-killing silicon is coming. More »
Intel acquires McAfee for $7.68 billion
Well, we got our copy of McAfee Antivirus for $29, but it looks like Intel had something a little more substantial in mind. The latter has picked up the Santa Clara-based security / antivirus company for a cool $7.68 billion, which works out to $48 per share in cash. Intel informs us that it will function as a wholly owned subsidiary (under the control of its Software and Services group). This c
Intel Buys Cyber Security Giant McAfee For $7.68 Billion In Cash
Intel has just bought computer and software security company McAfee according to a release issued this morning. The all cash deal is worth $7.68 billion, or $48 per share. See the release below. According the statement issued by Intel, McAfee will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, reporting into Intel’s Software and Services Group. Intel says the “acquisition enables a combination
First Trojan Hits Android Phones
A local outbreak of a mobile trojan in Russia has shown us something new: The Android operating system might need an antivirus.The malware was detected by security firm Kaspersky, who confirmed the file is named “Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a” and is downloaded as a typical .APK Android app. The company stated this is the first known Android-specific trojan.The malware works by posing as a med
Hadopi Gone Wild: France Plans Spyware for Three Strikes
French Internet users could soon be asked to install spyware on their PCs that tracks their surfing habits and analyzes the applications installed on their machines in order to prevent file sharing piracy. Plans for this type of surveillance surfaced this week when a paper authored by the French Hadopi agency, which was put in place to police the French Internet and prevent copyright infringement
30+ of the Latest Social Media Job Vacancies
If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job
New Malware Attack Targets iPad Users
Security software firm BitDefender posted a warning about a new malware attack targeting Windows iTunes and iPad users.The attack uses e-mail and a bit of social engineering to try to get unsuspecting users to download an update for iTunes, purportedly to improve or add support for the iPad. The e-mail then contains a link to software that downloads malware in the guise of an iTunes update for Wi
WARNING: Farm Town Serves Malware Ads to Facebook Users
Sophos released a warning today that popular Facebook game Farm Town (similar to, but not to be mistaken with FarmVille) has been serving ads which display fake security warnings, tricking users into installing malware or handing over their credit card details.SlashKey, the company behind Farm Town, has issued a warning to users on their official forum. From the post:“We are aware and have report
A Totally Unmanipulated Melt Up
In what can hardly be described as a travesty of efficient markets, the Dow closed at the perfectly normal level of 10,997.35 after the complete lack of a concerted effort by the primary dealers to reroute recently acquired capital into stocks that are now trading at triple digit forward multiples. Fear not - the resilient U.S. consumer who now realizes that no contracts have to be honored (courte
Patent for Hardware Antivirus Device Granted To Russian Inventor
Kaspersky Labs, a cybersecurity group based in Russia, was recently awarded the patent for a hardware antivirus device that aims to keep your computer secure by attaching directly to the disk drive, below rootkit access. Software can always be compromised, and solution proposed by the mad geniuses at Kaspersky is to put an antivirus system deeper in your computer than your infected software can re
Kazaa Takes A Swing At Symantec After Adware Accusations
The history of P2P file sharing service Kazaa (which actually started life as “KaZaA”) is known to most of us born in the eighties or before, and consists mainly of copyright related lawsuits and adware-ridden software. The gist of the story can be found on its Wikipedia profile, but what many seem to forget in present times is that the service is still around, serving users an unlimited amount o
Mashable’s Weekly Guide to Jobs in Social Media
If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job bo