Data security news from Darkreading.com

Rogues and the dark side of online money making

Scareware

Have you got the anti-virus software that shows you a list of threats and won't go away until you buy a registration for it? Does it look more like a virus than legitimate anti-virus? If that sounds about right then you most likely are dealing with rogue anti-malware threat. The following video by rynesandbergfan23 shows a demonstration of what the rogue anti-malware (or anti-virus for that matter) is and what it's capable of. The example of rogue anti-malware used in the video is called XP Anti Spyware. The attempt to get rid of the rogue software is made by the help of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware which, on this occasion, proves to be unsuccessful:

Here are some names of rogue security software: Antivirus PC 2009, PCSuperCharger, DrAntispy, AntiMalware Pro, AntiSpywareMaster. (Extensive list of names can be seen here.) Some common patterns can be singled out:

• there is no name of the developer / publisher mentioned;
• the software name includes 'super', 'pro', 'master' and probably other hyperbolic terms.

Method of removal

Rogue software should be treated as malware therefore its removal is carried out by using anti-malware software provided by genuine and established publisher. For suggested free malware and rogue software removal tools click here. I'd suggest to follow the computer cleaning method outlined by me here. All the more because the method suggested can be used without the computer being connected to the Internet.

If you want to report a website hosting malware/scareware/spyware

Help to make the Internet a better place and report malicious URLs by going to Badwarebusters.org. Thank you.

The dark side of cyber business

More information on what part of the Internet the rogue anti-virus software (scareware) belongs to, you can find in the extensive summary by Dmitry Samosseiko, a data security researcher at data protection company SophosLabs Canada. The aforementioned research deals with the dark side of the Internet:

• spam and other online promotional tactics that are more or less of criminal nature;
• adult and casino sites of obscure origin;
• scareware;
• fake pharmacy products;
• Black Hat SEO.

While the article is supposed to be about the online affiliate programs known as Partnerka in Russia, it is informative enough for everyone in terms of awareness of what to look out for while browsing the Internet, clicking on advertising links, dealing with email and registering at websites, so that one can avoid of becoming a victim to malicious tactics used by cyber criminals. The file can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here.
The author of this blog strongly recommends against both: abuse of information and participation in criminal activities.

Download and test these products for free for 30 days:

Internet Security Pack: AntiVirus+Firewall

Online Armor Premium Firewall

Few basic online safety tips for everyone

Yesterday, while going through all the new information on the Internet, I found a useful pdf file that basically covers few things everyone should learn before going on the Internet.
The file has been developed by Citizens Advice Bureau in UK together with Google. It's called Good to Know: How to be safer on the Internet and manage the information you share online. It provides tips on the following:

• How and why you should create strong passwords for accessing your online accounts;
• Why you would want to properly log out and shut down your Internet Browser when you've finished with your Internet session;
• How you can tell a website is safe;
• What is and how to spot phishing;
• How to keep your email accounts safe (Click here for a quick guide on how to send an email);
• How to keep kids safe online;
• What is IP address and why you should know that;
• How searching the web works.

You can view and download the file by clicking here.
Here's a suggested watching: few YouTube videos covering basic online safety tips, including but not limited to password creating advice and what things and why you would want to keep private:

Also, you might want to check out one of my other posts here which deals with common ways a Windows/Mac computer gets infected.

Internet Security Pack: AntiVirus+Firewall

Online Armor Premium Firewall

Anti Malware for Windows Server 2003 and 2008

This product from Emsisoft can be a real treat for IT administrators and a solution, worth considering in business environment. Particularly at large organizations that depend on multiple interconnected computer networks that have to be secured for safe and optimal functioning. As is the case with all the Emsisoft products, this one too comes with 30 day money back guarantee and can be obtained with considerable discounts ranging from 25 to 75 percent, depending on the number of machines it is obtained for. There is also a free trial version of the software available for download so that you can test the product before deciding on purchase.
Anti Malware for Server comes with:

• dual scan engine consisting of: E1/A2 Emsisoft Anti-Malware engine, and E2/IK Ikarus Anti-Virus engine: a combination that works as 2 in 1;
• File Guard that works as a real-time shield and compares every file downloaded to known malware patterns. As soon as infected file is detected and quarantined/deleted, a notification email is sent to administrator;
• HiJack Free, an integrated software designed for professionals to monitor autorun and running processes, services, port configuration, installed ActiveX objects (can be submitted for online analysis), LSP Protocols;
• Command-line scanner which is the same anti malware scanner without GUI.

This product can be run alongside other Anti Virus software and Firewall causing no conflicts or system failures. In case a technical problem arises the publisher's support team is always available to assist in solving it quickly and professionally.

To download the trial version click here. If you'd like to order the product electronically or by postal mail click here.

You might also want to consider these products:

Internet Security Pack: AntiVirus+Firewall

Online Armor Premium Firewall

Free anti spyware tools by Trend Micro

• HouseCall. A free Web-based tool designed to scan your PC for a wide range of Internet security threats including viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware. You can download HouseCall directly from the TrendMicro's website, download takes a short time as the file is not too big, just double-click the file after it has finished downloading and there you go. 
• RUBotted. Real-time monitoring of your network (Internet) connection for potential infection and suspicious activities associated with bots. During its installation RUBotted installs additional third-party freeware called WinPcap for capturing the incoming/outgoing data packets. Upon discovering a potential infection, RUBotted will identify and clean them with HouseCall. So if you are concerned about someone from the outside using and abusing your machine, TrendMicro's RUBotted is the way to go. 
• Trend Smart Surfing. Designed for iPhone and iPod touch devices. It is the first secure browser to protect you from Web pages with malicious intent. If you attempt to access a bad or malicious URL, Smart Surfing is designed to block access to the URL and a notification will appear in the browser. 
• Trend Micro HijackThis is a free utility that generates an in-depth report of registry and file settings from your computer. HijackThis makes no separation between safe and unsafe settings in its scan results giving you the ability to selectively remove items from your machine. In addition to this scan and remove capability HijackThis comes with several tools useful in manually removing malware from a computer. This is a very handy tool if you are an administrator/advanced user and know what you are doing. By using HijackThis you can see if you still have some useless or strange browser objects, processes that are not supposed to maintain data streams and to be connected to the Internet, and so on.

Here is a YouTube video showing how to use HijackThis. Watch this before you attempt to do anything in HijackThis:

Stay safe!