#malware
Oh my God, the NSA is posing as Facebook to spread malware and steal all of your data! Can you even belie—no, I can’t do it. I just cannot be surprised at the depths of this whole NSA spying debacle anymore. I don’t have anything left. If they mounted an camera to my skull that observed my face at all times, all they’d see is a complete lack shock. When it comes to Internet spying, I’m pretty much dead inside.
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More dastardly viruses! Is there no end to them? From left to right:
Magistr- A virus that embeds itself in infected computers by patching the Explorer.exe process with a routine that loads the rest of its code into Explorer’s memory. It seaches for files containing law related phrases, as its intended target is computers used in law professions. It acts by deleting infected files after a set period, then overwriting other text files it finds by fillling them with vulgar messages.
TeslaCrypt- A form of ransomware, that specifically encrypts video game data such as mods, save files, and certain games directly. It will then demand an exorbitant ransom in bitcoin to decrypt and free the infected files. It is not as effective as other ransomware, as it cannot delete boot sectors or core folders.
Storm- This virus infected computers via an email claiming to report on a recent natural disaster, hence the name ‘Storm’. The worm connected with other infected computers to form a botnet. At its peak, it accounted for 8% of all known malware on Microsoft Windows computers.
PoisonIvy- A virus that can take control of an infected computer’s webcam to record audio and video. Once active, it will access certain websites and download additional malware files, as well as keylogging to obtain information such as bank details and passwords. It injects itself into running processes to avoid detection by antivirus software.
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Once innocent citizens of a digital world, these poor souls have been corrupted beyond recovery by vile and destructive malware. The only thing that can be done for them is to give them a swift and merciful deletion, so they may rest in peace.
Boy, this got a bit dark… o_o
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It’s been a while, so here’s some more viruses to beware of:
Fizzer- An email-based worm, Fizzer copies itself to System32 and can turn non-executable files into copies of Fizzer with a .exe extension. It also force-closes any active programs with the keywords NAV, SCAN, AVP, TASKM, VIRUS, F-PROT, VSHW, ANTIV, VSS and NMAIN, in order to counteract antivirus software.
FakeSysDef - Distributed as “HDD Defragmenter”, this virus is one of many that claimed to be useful software to scan a users computer for hardware failures. In truth, once active it would generate false error messages and pop up a “Fix Errors” message. Once clicked, it would trick users into giving away their credit card information to purchase an “Advanced Module” to fix the non-existent errors. Some more threatening variants would block access to programs and forcibly restart the infected computer until the user attempts to purchase the “Advanced Module”.
Agent - Agent is a family of malicious programs, installed alongside other malware to serve as a backdoor. The Agent viruses root themselves into system directories and download additional malware on infected computers. Some variants are capable of masking other trojans in Task Manager, to prevent their detection and removal.
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Even more miscellaneous viruses. These nasty things will pop up just about anywhere, in any shape and size!
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So I got a link in my inbox, in the form of “ fan mail" it had a google(.)com url so i figured it was safe to click, then norton pops up saying that it prevented an "fake facebook ad” attack on my computer. The link came from a guy named “mikeyheath” who claims on his page that his account was hacked.
G A L L E R Y Y U H S E L F
From the Facebook page of Daren Dhorey
Check out the T&T Guardian for an article which I contributed to regarding the current Cyber Threat landscape.Some key takeaways that weren’t mentioned:
1. Install and keep updated Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software - purchased options preferred. MacOS isn’t immune, consider Sophos as an option
.2. Use strong passwords and wherever possible, set up 2 Factor Authentication. Accept that 2FA may become the norm so get used to it at home and the office.
3. As convenient as it may be, don’t register your CC with small providers. User PayPal if that’s an option or even have a separate lower limit CC for online shopping and freight forwarders.
4. Pirated Software can be a doorway to malware and ransomeware so for other than obvious reasons, it’s not a good idea to install
5. Email Phishing attacks are on the rise and extremely sophisticated so take extra caution when acting on some emails. Don’t change passwords from links sent via email, instead, login to the site directly and update your info there.
6. Backup and test restore strategy. Cloud backups are good but keep an offline backup of your most important files ie not always connected to the internet so an external drive which you can unplug. Ransomeware can and will find everything connected and encrypt it all.
7. CyberSafety awareness is a must for both home and workplace. Cybersafett can assist here.At some point, you or your organization may become the victim of an attack. The most you can do is try to minimize the impact and reduce your time to recovery.
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