malware

Advice on dealing with ransomware

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , ,

PC Mag has some advice about ransomware. The most important bit of advice is to have a secondary machine that you can use to go get help.
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Windows Medkit cleans up the damage after removing malware infestations

Dave Farquhar security , ,

I’ve written before about cleaning up Windows boxes using a Bitdefender Live CD, but the live CDs often don’t clean up all of the collateral damage that the malware does to try to keep you from uninstalling them.

That’s where Windows Medkit can come in.

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Java is patched now, but still not very safe

Dave Farquhar security , , ,

Rapid7’s Chief Security Officer, HD Moore, estimated it will take two years for Oracle to fix all of the current issues with Java, not counting anything new that happens in that timeframe.

Futhermore, Kaspersky states that 50% of cyberattacks in 2012 utilized a Java exploit. Among those is the newly discovered Red October.

Think for a minute. Antivirus software is anywhere from 75 to 90% effective. Assuming the worst, that means the simple process of removing Java from your computer does 2/3 as much good as running antivirus software. Of course, you shouldn’t do one or the other; you should do both.

If you have a legitimate need for Java in your web browser, such as commercial intranet applications built with Java, enable Java in one and only one browser, then use that browser solely for accessing those Java-powered web sites.

But the best thing to do is just get rid of Java. And if you have something that uses Java, find something else to use.

It took Microsoft about two weeks to fix a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer. It took Oracle five months. I never thought I’d say this, but Oracle needs to be more like Microsoft.

Yeah, you can quote me on that if you want.

But until Oracle gets religion on security like Microsoft did around 2002, we really have two choices: Avoid Oracle products whenever practical, or keep getting hacked. I’d rather you not choose the latter option.

Mobile malware is coming. Get prepared.

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , , ,

One thing I’m seeing in the predictions-for-2013 columns is that mobile malware is going to increase this year. While I can’t be certain it’s going to happen, all of the ingredients are there. The only thing stopping it is motive.

I’m familiar with Avast antivirus on Android. It’s nice. Whenever I download an app from the Google Play store, it scans it, and if it finds something it doesn’t like, it intervenes. Read more

Scratch one fake antivirus vendor

Dave Farquhar security ,

The FTC appears to have sued the makers of XP Antivirus, among others, out of business–to the tune of $163 million.

There will be no tears from me.

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I hope BYOD 2.0 goes better than BYOD 1.0 did

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , , ,

BYOD is “bring your own device.” It’s the hot new trend in IT, except it’s nothing new. But it was bound to happen, I guess. Companies are tired of buying computer equipment, so they want employees to provide it. And counterculture, nonconformist workers are (I guess) tired of using boring corporate computer equipment. (And here I am, a strong advocate of buying off-lease corporate computers for home use.)

So, since companies don’t want to buy computers, and employees don’t want to use company computers, what’s the problem?

How’s about I tell you a story? Read more

Cleaning USB drives with Linux

Dave Farquhar security , , ,

A longtime reader sent me a really good question today. If I had a USB flash drive and I didn’t know where it’s been or what it’s done, how would I clean it to make it safe to use? He said using Linux was fair game, so that made the answer a lot easier.

Note that as of 2015, a knowledgeable attacker can make a USB drive that will survive this cleaning method, so I only recommend this 90% of the time, and the problem is, it’s impossible to know which 90%.

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A reasonable explanation for why religious sites are more likely to be infected with malware

Dave Farquhar security ,

Last week, Symantec issued a surprising report stating that religious web sites are more likely to harbor malware than sites that offer dirty pictures and videos.

I’m pretty sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Read more

One in five Macs has malware–but read the fine print

Dave Farquhar Macintosh, security, Viruses , , ,

Sophos claimed today that 20% of the people who’ve installed their free Mac antivirus has malware.  That’s not altogether surprising, but it’s also not nearly as big of a problem as it sounds.

One in 36 systems has Mac malware, which means the Mac has an infection that could actually be harming the system itself. That number is low but believable. In my experience, the people who seek out antivirus software are usually the ones who need it the least.
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What’s going on with Macintosh security?

Dave Farquhar Macintosh, security, Viruses , , , , , , , , ,

The latest figures I’ve read say there are perhaps a half-million infected Macintoshes still floating around out there, an improvement from the high of 600,000 that I was seeing a few weeks ago, but probably not what Apple had hoped after releasing its most recent fix.

I argued three weeks ago that the end of the innocence was either here or very near. I’ll argue now that it’s gone: There are now 250 known Macintosh OS X viruses in existence. In 2003 there were none. Read more