Currently browsing posts in the category: Security.

Watch out for the Energizer Bunny he might be carrying a trojan

Written by: StevenHodson on March 8, 2010

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Okay so it’s not the batteries themselves that are in danger of infecting your machines but rather the software that comes with USB battery chargers.

According to the folks over at Sunbelt Software there is a warning out today from CERT that the Energizer DUO USB battery chargers have been found to be infected with a trojan that loads up backdoor malware when you install the battery monitoring software.

The U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is warning that Energizer DUO USB battery chargers have been found infected with a Trojan that loads backdoor malware on a victim PC along with its battery monitoring software.

The charger copies a .dll file named UsbCharger.dll in the application’s directory and another named Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory. USBCharger sets a registry entry to autoexecute Arucer.dll when Windows starts.

Arucer.dll is a backdoor that communicates through TCP port 7777.

The charger has been sold worldwide for three years.

CERT notes that the Trojan contains Chinese language text.

Sunbelt detects it as Trojan.Arugizer.

CERT Vulnerability Note VU#154421 here.

I always knew I hated that drum beating rabbit.

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Category: Security

France is trying to make the Internet a safe place… at a cost

Written by: Pierre on February 12, 2010

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menottes At the end of last year and some legal pussyfooting, the law against illegal downloading of multimedia files (dubbed “HADOPI”, see my December 8 post) was finally voted.

Now the French government is busy discussing a new law, dubbed “LOPPSI” (sorry, I couldn’t find a link in English). This is an all-encompassing security law, but it has some dispositions about the Internet that could be very dangerous:

In order to fight pedophiles, the law will allow the police to remotely monitor and control the computers of suspects, and/or stealthily install keyloggers and other spying programs on them (the computers, not the suspects). Fortunately some Representatives have insisted that a judge be involved in the process, but the discussion isn’t over yet. The words “Big Brother” have been used repeatedly.

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Category: Security and Software

Avast gets a facelift

Written by: StevenHodson on January 19, 2010

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avast_5_free

Download.com at CNET has all the juicy details but anyone who has used Avast in the past will notice right away the user interface overhaul that the security program has been given.

The old MP3 player looking interface that prior versions sported was one of the things about Avast that I never liked so it is good to seen that they have gotten serious about creating a usable UI this time around.

The free version appears to contain all the needed components to tackle anyone’s security needs.

The basic free version, formerly known as the Home Edition, includes an attractive and obviously affordable set of features. The antivirus, antispyware, and heuristics engines form a security core that also includes multiple real-time shields. Mail and file system shields join the preexisting behavior, network, instant messaging, peer-to-peer, and Web shields. Other new features include a silent-gaming mode and an "intelligent scanner" that only looks at changed files after establishing a baseline.

Source: CNET

Additionally in a move that will only add to the popularity of the software Google has made Avast the default AV software in their Google Pack replacing Spyware Doctor Antivirus.

CNET Download page for Avast Free Edition

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Category: Security

y2k bug, 10 years late

Written by: Pierre on January 11, 2010

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credit-cards-bg The “year 2000 bug” scare left us hanging with a sense of anticlimax as only a handful of web sites exhibited a wrong display of date and no other problem specific to the date reared its head.

This year, however, millions of credit-card bearers found themselves unable to make any purchase or to draw money from ATMs at the turn of the year. This took place in Germany.

As you may or may not know, European credit cards are equipped with a “smart chip” which replaces the magnetic strip (there is still a magnetic strip, but it’s used only in the few places that are not equipped with chip readers, or outside Europe). When you use the card in a properly equipped shop (or ATM), it lets you “sign” the transaction by entering a PIN code instead of physically signing a slip of paper.

The German credit cards made by one major manufacturer (name undisclosed) – and used by several large banks – had a bug in the smart chip program, which made the cards “think” that 2010 was not a valid year number, leaving their bearers stranded with no money as of 00:00 on 01/01/10.

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Category: Odds & Ends and Security and Software

Just how fast do those rogue security products mutate

Written by: StevenHodson on December 11, 2009

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savekeep Tom Kelcher over at the Sunbelt Software blog has a great post up that shows how quickly some of these malware delivering rogue security programs clone themselves into new products.

Leading the charge is the third generation of WiniGuard that apparently is seeing new clones of it launching every 48 hours.

A new rogue security product called IGuardPC, that we added to detections today, is the 50th clone of the WiniGuard family of rogue security products. That makes WiniGuard the largest rogue family ever detected by Sunbelt researchers.
The WiniGuard family began in September of 2008. Operators behind it have added variants that our researcher Patrick has sorted into three generations. The latest generation gets a new clone about every 48 hours to stay ahead of public awareness and anti-malware detections. Most of them are being caught by existing VIPRE detections.

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Category: Security

King Canute

Written by: StevenHodson on December 8, 2009

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king_canute_443255 In spite of all the opposition and through political shenanigans that would do credit to the Iranian President Ahmadinejad, the French government managed to have the “HADOPI” (no, I don’t know what the acronym stands for, and I really don’t care) law passed through both chambers, and it will become effective on January 1st, 2010.

If you didn’t follow the recent French law-making antics, that law is supposed to protect the so-called “mind products” (books, music, movies, pictures) from unlawful downloading. A very laudable purpose, but the worst possible implementation.

Meanwhile, in Copenhagen, Denmark, the countries of the world are meeting for a couple of weeks in order to try and stave off the end of the world – of our world, that is.

What is the relationship between the HADOPI law and the Copenhagen meeting? Both are attempting to prevent an irresistible force from destroying something of value to us. The irresistible force is greed. The “something of value” is artistic creation in one case, and the survival of the Human species in the other.

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Category: Odds & Ends and Security

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