It is widely anticipated that Apple will announce a new version of its iPad tablet computer in San Francisco on March 7th. An invitation sent to journalists, inviting them to an event organized by Apple, has fueled speculation even further as it appears to show a close-up of someone using an iPad. Could it be the new iPad with a much lusted for improved display and souped-up processor? Only time will tell.. ...
Oops indeed. At least if you were one of the Facebook users who believed that a hidden camera video had leaked onto the net of Justin Bieber sharing some intimate moments with his girlfriend Selena Gomez. Of course, Bieber’s typical fans – or those who would delight in his public humiliation by a hungry paparazzi – are probably unlikely to think twice about clicking on a link shared with them by their Facebook friends, claiming to leak to a sex video. ...
I’ve owned up to some of the great loves of my life in the past. For instance, I’m a music lover and I’m very partial to board games (even during a denial-of-service attack). Today I can also share that I like The Beatles. In particular, anything from “Rubber Soul” and later when the “Yeah yeah yeah” turned into something rather more “Yeah man. Dig it”. I’ve simply never come across a more talented combination of musicianship and songwriting abilities – for me, you can kick The Stones, The Who, Cream and.. yes.. even MeatLoaf to the kerb, as Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr are the guv’nors. ...
Sunbelt: Be wary of emails claiming to be from AICPA – as per their alert here, these are not real and any mention of “unlawful tax return fraud” is just a bait to convince the end-user to open up a malicious attachment (in this case, a .doc file although there are rogue PDF files in circulation too). As with many of the malicious spam campaigns doing the rounds at the moment, this one will use the Blackhole exploit kit to serve up zbot from multiple compromised domains. Worse, a Sakura kit (typical example here) will download Sirefef / ZeroAccess , which as we’ve seen elsewhere is not a good thing to have on your system. ...
Symantec Connect: Maslenitsa (Маслница) is a religious holiday celebrated in Russia and Ukraine during the last week before Lent, i.e. the seventh week before Pascha (Easter). This festival is also known as Pancake week or Butter week. During this week people enjoy the social activities that are forbidden during the prayerful Lenten season, such as partying, dancing etc. This year the Maslenitsa will be celebrated from February 20 to February 26. ...
SophosLabs: Scammers are up to their old tricks on Facebook, tricking users into visiting revenue-generating survey scam websites by appearing to offer sex videos. Using a thumbnail which suggests a link to a sex video, messages posted on compromised Facebook users’ walls attempt to lure their unsuspecting Facebook friends into clicking to see more. And if the use of a saucy snapshot of a naked man and woman in an intimate pose wasn’t enough, the messages also include a variety of names (obscured in the images below) – presumably these are the names of the afflicted users’ Facebook friends. ...
Symantec: The world is mourning the loss of another legendary pop singer also known as the queen of pop – Whitney Houston. Spammers are paying homage to the icon with a wicked malware. The malicious email shows a video of the last appearance of the star in a Los Angeles night club and also downloads an executable binary. This file is detected by Symantec Antivirus as WS.Reputation.1. ...
SophosLabs: Here’s a spam message I received today: Hi GCLULEY, Hi. Why the caps? And just “Graham” would be fine. Do you find ONLY having a South African passport limiting? I don’t have a South African passport, but I haven’t found its absence very limiting. Do you find your travel choices abroad restricting and visa applications frustrating? Not particularly. Do you have an exit strategy if South Africa becomes the next Zimbabwe? ...
SophosLabs: The death of pop superstar Whitney Houston made headlines around the world this weekend, and it didn’t take long for fraudsters and cybercriminals to cash in on the singer’s death. For instance, messages have been seen shared on Facebook claiming to link to a video of Whitney Houston’s autopsy. According to the messages, the video of Whitney Houston’s autopsy “reveals a shocking secret that explains her death”. ...
SophosLabs: Scammers don’t just lure you into visiting their websites via email, Facebook and Twitter – you can be targeted on your mobile phone too. For instance, there have been numerous people on the internet who have reported receiving messages like the following: Apple needs iPhone5 testers! The first 1000 users who visit [LINK] and enter code 4444 will get to test & keep the new iPhone5. Of course, the promotion has nothing to do with Apple (who do not do public tests of their upcoming products), and – as the iPhone 5 hasn’t even been announced yet – you have close to zero chance of receiving a free smartphone. ...
SophosLabs: It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow and the spammers are out in force to make the most of unwitting shoppers on the international day of love. Looking to buy a present for someone this Valentine’s Day? Ooh look what popped into my inbox, an email inviting me to buy my Valentine an *ahem* “romantic” gift. Valentine's Day, the 14th February, is the day we celebrate our feelings of affection for our boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives. It is traditional to do this with a special romantic gift. Looking for a Valentine's Day Gift for him or the perfect token of love for her? Look no further than here! ...
Sorin Mustaca wrote at Avira TechBlog: In case you’ve seen this on Facebook, try to not click on it even if you understand French (it appears to be only in Franch) because it will take you on a road where you don’t want to be. But, we like to live dangerous, so we analyzed this for you. Continue Reading at Avira TechBlog: http://techblog.avira.com/2012/02/13/new-captcha-method-or-just-another-likejacking-scam/en/
Symantec Connect: Recently there have been several reports about the re-emergence of a botnet variant (Kelihos), which Symantec detects as W32.Waledac.C. The Waledac family is a threat that has been monitored by Symantec for many years and was featured in numerous blogs as well as a white paper. In the past, Waledac gained its infamy as a spamming botnet that utilized compromised systems to send out spam. The purpose of these spamming campaigns had usually been for self-propagation of the threat through spam emails containing a link, often (but not always) pointing to a Waledac binary file hosted on a malicious website. The variant W32.Waledac.C is also sending out spam emails, but with a twist. ...
Symantec Connect: Television channels across the world are set to be at the 14th International Exhibition and Forum, World Content Show, held Feb 7- 9, 2012, in Russia. The exhibition showcases the latest technologies and trends in the TV and telecommunication industry. This techno-fair will be attended in large numbers by leading media businesses, and spammers don’t want to miss the opportunity to circulate spam around the event. In a bid to catch the reader’s attention, one such spam email reveals some appealing facts about the event, such as Interactive Elements, Prize Drawings, Performance of Popular Leader/Star, and Colorful Musical Concerts. ...
Sunbelt: With the U.S. currently in tax season, online criminals have, once again, sought to take advantage of this. Robert Stetson, one of Sunbelt’s malware researchers, spotted a phishing email posing as Intuit Inc., a company that “develops financial and tax preparation software”. They developed Quicken and TurboTax. Below is a screenshot of the said email: Email details are as follows: Subject: Please verify your tax information ASAP. Message body: Good afternoon, ...