Anti-Malware Protection is Critical: Secure Now!!!

Malwarebytes Corporation has done an excellent job completing the project of the best secondary malware scanner, that can literally save your computer’s life.

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM for short) is a product that scans your computer for viruses and malware, and helps to eliminate them. This is involved in the free and paid versions of the program.

However, what you don’t get in the free version, but what you REALLY NEED TO HAVE, is protection. Not just any protection, but protection from malware.

MBAM has the ability to block incoming and outgoing IP addresses that are malicious. It also helps secure against network attacks, preventing your computer from being taken over by hackers or malware.

What’s more? It also gives you the ability to schedule scans (so you don’t have to worry about your computer NOT being virus-free), scan in a flash!, and protect your drivers/services from intrusion.

Don’t wait to buy this awesome product now! In fact, buy one for each of the computers you have in your house for MAXIMUM PROTECTION!

Many antivirus companies fail to block the latest Java exploit

According to an analysis conducted by the AV-Comparatives test lab on behalf of The H‘s associates at heise Security, less than half of the 22 anti-virus programs tested protect users against the currently circulating Java exploit that targets a highly critical vulnerability in Javaversion 7 Update 6.

Two versions of the exploit were tested: the basic version that was largely based on the published proof of concept and started the notepad instead of the calculator, and, for the second variant, heise Security added a download routine that writes an EXE file to disk from the internet. The test system was Windows XP that, except in the case of Avast, Microsoft and Panda, had the full versions of the security suites installed. For Avast, Microsoft and Panda, the researchers used the free versions of the products.

Only 9 of the 22 tested products managed to block both variants of the exploit (Avast Free, AVG, Avira, ESET, G Data, Kaspersky, PC Tools, Sophos and Symantec). Twelve virus scanners were found to be unsuccessful (AhnLab, Bitdefender, BullGuard, eScan, F-Secure, Fortinet, GFI-Vipre, Ikarus, McAfee, Panda Cloud Antivirus, Trend Micro and Webroot). Microsoft’s free Security Essentials component at least managed to block the basic version of the exploit.

Read more at H-Online

 

Get the best protection that DOES block the Java exploit:

 

Related articles

• Is Java 7 still insecure? Oracle patch doesn’t fix underlying vulnerability (daniweb.com)

Fake Antivirus Programs Becoming Hit on Mac OS X

Mac malware has had its rise lately. It’s amazing to know that people are waking up from the “Macs can’t get infected” sleep, and actually securing their computers with antivirus software.

From the Flashback Botnet, to fake antivirus software, malware is becoming a problem on Mac OS X systems now!

Now, keep in mind, fake antivirus software, is software that is created to trick the user into “protecting their PC”, but instead installs more malware or attempts to steal their identity/credit card. This is also called a trojan program, which is a generic name for a program that is supposed to do one thing and appears to do so, but actually does the opposite in the background. All of these collectively are scams, and are dangerous to your identity.

Typically, fake antivirus software installs itself, usually by trojans that are distributed to plugin exploits, and begins scanning your computer for malware. As it is scanning, it may report non-existent threats. Sometimes, these fake antivirus programs can install malware first, and then detect it in the scanner. Once it is done scanning, it will provide a list of results and will tell you to upgrade in order to remove it. Usually, the upgrade costs money, and you’re required to pay that money in order to remove the threats found. Most of the time, the rogue programs will not allow you to uninstall them, especially until you pay for it. This is also called ransomware.

The following are variants of Fake Antivirus that Macs will see (in order of popularity of infection):

1. OSX/FakeAV-DWN
2. OSX/FakeAVZp-C
3. OSX/FakeAvDl-A
4. OSX/FakeAV-DPU
5. OSX/FakeAvDl-B
6. OSX/FakeAV-FFN
7. OSX/FakeAV-A
8. OSX/FakeAV-FNV

Defense-in-Depth PC Strategy (mini-whitepaper)

Defense-in-depth is a security strategy that provides multiple layers of protection for a network. Security strategy like this involves making an attacker have to work through a bunch of issues before he/she can have access to your network. The idea is to make them give up before they get too far.

We’ve provided a few tips on doing a defense-in-depth strategy (works for home/small business):

1. Virtual Private Network – This is a tool to be used to allow all traffic in/out of your network to be encrypted. This makes it impossible for any data to be read easily. This is the best first layer, and should provide the top protection for your data. Many services offer VPN services for as little as $5 USD per month: StrongVPN – WiTopia – overplay. It is best to note that you need a VPN capable router for VPN to work.
   
2. Network Firewall – Using your router’s firewall will help prevent incoming attacks.
3. Install antivirus software and firewall software – See a list of the best antivirus/anti-malware software
4. Install a second opinion anti-malware scanner – Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Pro or HitMan Pro.
5. Create a strong password for all devices and accounts online, etc.
6. Encrypt your files. Use BitLocker or similar tools.

There is not a perfect defense-in-depth strategy, but hopefully this will work out for you!

Running Virtual Analysis on Malware is Failing These Days

As organizations take part in the virtualization of malware testing, it is beginning to fail.The biggest issues in testing malware on virtual machines and other environments, is that viruses and other malware are equipped with a component that recognizes the presence of a virtual environment. They are coded to see what environment they are running in, to help mitigate being tested by analysts and researchers.

There are also ways for businesses to run virtual environments to test how a threat entered their networks, what vulnerabilities exist, etc.

Hackers and malicious code writers have many ways of evading antivirus products:

• Encrypting the malware files (polymorphism) – example: the file download link stays the same on the website, but the server sends newly encrypted files each download instance.
• Testing tons of files’ malware detection using a load of antivirus engines to find out which are undetected least or not at all.
• Packing and encrypting the malware files so they have to be unpacked by the antivirus software before it can be checked.

And many more…

Anyway, what is the learning experience here? Well for one, it is a good idea to have proper protection for your entire server network in the business (see bottom of this post). Also, if a virtual environment will not successfully test the malware, you probably should test it on a live test box (a computer specified for testing that is not connected to the business network).