Dutch authorities have knocked out two of the command-and-control servers for one of the top spam-producing botnets, known as Grum. The action was not a complete knockout though, as there are still two other C&C servers at work, but researchers are optimistic that the volume of spam will drop as a result.
It’s not every day that you get a security story that involves Yahoo, Google and Microsoft, but that’s what has happened with the claims from a Microsoft official that there was an Android-based botnet in existence sending spam from compromised devices. Now it seems that the spam emanating from Android phones may be the result of a bug the Yahoo Mail app that enables attackers to sniff traffic and compromise users’ accounts.
A new fork of the Black Hole exploit kit is making quick work of a recently patched Java vulnerability and security researchers say that the attackers are registering new sites quickly to exploit users with vulnerable browsers.
Google says it has taken extra steps to counter the threat posed by malicious extensions to its Chrome Web browser, after incidents in which malicious extensions were used to power online scams.
They just do not stop having targeted malware attacks in Syria. Just a few days after the author of the Dark Comet RAT announced he was shutting down development and sales of the tool, partly because it was used in attacks by the Syrian government, experts have found that pro-government attackers are using the Blackshades RAT for similar attacks on anti-government activists.
In the first six months of 2012, 36 percent of targeted attacks focused on small businesses of fewer than 250 employees, and there were an average of 58 attacks per day, according to a new research report. At the end of 2011, small businesses were on the receiving end of only 18 percent of such attacks.
Researchers analyzing the Dark Comet remote access Trojan (RAT) program say that data from more than 400 campaigns suggests the malicious program is being used for a wide range of jobs, from attacks on online gamers, to potential hacks of air force bases and government Web sites.
A new downloader uncovered by researchers at the Finnish security firm F-Secure is capable of sniffing out which operating system a user is running and infecting them with a custom malicious payload.
Symantec is warning of new malware masquerading as two apps on Google Play that claimed up to 100,000 victims before the Trojan was removed.Both “Super Mario Bros.” and “GTA 3 Moscow City” racked up 50,000 to 100,000 downloads after being posted June 24 on Google Play.
A new family of malware has infected some 100,000 Android devices via malicious application downloads on nine separate third-party markets in China, according to researchers at the mobile security provider TrustGo.
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