Hijack

SysProtector and ApcDefender are two new rogue antispyware programs released in the past 48 hours. SysProtector and APCDefender are potentially very dangerous PC infections. These rogues use fake security alerts and warnings to trick people into thinking their PC is under attack, all the while they drop fake files on the system. These rogues will also prevent other programs from opening, hijack the web browsers and render the PC nearly useless. Below is a screenshot of a hijacked browser, showing fake threat warnings. ...

This is an interesting sample, caught by our honeypots. The file comes as a zip archive from qtpom{removed}.tripod.com/codec.zip, which once extracted looks like this: It is almost undetected. Virus Total report here. Truth be told, no blatant sign of malware activity is noticed at first until this: What the heck? This is not my Google home page. And what are those tabs up there: “Pharmacy”, “Casino”? The malware modifies the Windows hosts file to redirect popular sites to glike.net (IP: 92.241.164.9, Russian Federation). ...

Crime traditionally increases during the holiday season, and cybercrime is no different. The malware writers, spammers and scammers are out in force. They’ve recently hit “Odnoklassniki” with this message: “Hi! I’ve got a New year surprise for you [emoticon] send 2133 279 (must be with a space) to 4460 and you’ll be pleasantly surprised! If you don’t take a look, I’ll be very grouchy with you [emoticon]” This message is clearly designed to make the bad guys a bit of holiday cash: an SMS sent to the number given in the message costs between $5 and $12 dollars, depending on the mobile service provider. ...

The holidays are nearly here! If you’re still searching for the final perfect present, and are thinking of buying online, here’s a few practical tips to help keep your last-minute purchases secure: Keep your Internet Security solution updated, not just to the day but to the hour! They release frequent updates to make sure you’re protected from the very newest malware. Scan your system before you start shopping. Don’t shop from public WiFi networks which aren’t secured using WPA2. These networks can be easily hijacked by cybercriminals, and your sensitive financial data could be compromised. ...