Popular P2P file sharing company said its systems were breached Tuesday, enabling an attacker to replace its uTorrent client download with scareware. . BitTorrent Inc., which creates popular P2P file sharing software, said it discovered a breach of its systems Tuesday enabling an attacker to replace a file download of its uTorrent client with a scareware program. The San Francisco-based company said the breach took place at 7:20 a.m. ET and lasted nearly two hours. Anyone attempting to download the standard Windows version of uTorrent would have instead downloaded a fake antivirus program. The link for this article located at IT Knowledge Exchange is no longer available. . BitTorrent Inc., which creates popular P2P file sharing software, said it discovered a breach of its. popular, sharing, company, systems, breached, tuesday, enabling, attacker. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
The Web site that hosts uTorrent was hacked by an unknown person or group early this morning. After initially stating that the "mainline" BitTorrent site had been hacked as well, the company now says that it doesn't think that BitTorrent.com was affected. BitTorrent, the owner of the Web sites and the torrent clients hosted there, reported in a blog post that the breach occurred around 4:20 a.m PT.. According to the blog, the proper executable files for both programs were replaced with "a fake antivirus 'scareware' program" called Security Shield. The company shut off the download spigot at around 6 a.m. and has since restored the proper download files. BitTorrent advises that anybody who downloaded the programs between 4:20 a.m. and 6:10 a.m. PT runs a security scan. The link for this article located at CNET is no longer available. . Compromised uTorrent executable files were substituted with fraudulent antivirus applications following a security incident on the website. Users are advised to perform scans.. uTorrent Security, BitTorrent Compromise, Download Safety, Malware Threats. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
We've all heard of worms, Trojan horses, phishing, and other common computer security attacks that aims to infect your system and steal your data. But what about bluebugging, smishing, and scareware? Brush up on your computer security terminology with these lesser-known attackers. . Malware is serious business. It can slow PCs down to a crawl. On the other hand, some of the terms security researchers have decided to name these sometimes annoying (and often damaging) pieces of code are downright charming. Here are nine that stand out, followed by seven most people have heard of: The Security Attacks Most People Have Never Heard Of Smishing: Smishing or "SMS phishing" refers to a phishing attack that specifically targets mobile phones. The victim would receive an SMS with a hyperlink wherein a malware automatically finds its way in your phone or leads the user to a phishing site formatted for mobile screens. The term was brought on by David Rayhawk in a McAfee Avert Labs blog. . Cyber threats can affect both systems and individuals, featuring lesser-known tactics such as vishing and ransomware. Grasp the dangers now.. Cyber Threats, Malware Types, Computer Security. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
In the post 9-11 real world, thanks to heightened security measures, an airport terminal is one of the safest places for travel. But in the virtual world, it's still extremely vulnerable. A recent research note by a leading Symantec engineer warned of potential "scareware," which is a fake anti-virus software system that appears on your computer, floating through a Wi-Fi network in an airport terminal. Web security experts say this type of malware is just one of the many examples of the threats that occur in Wi-Fi hotspots.. "If you're traveling away from home or the workplace where there is a degree of control, as soon as you connect to someone else's network, whether its' an airport terminal, caf The link for this article located at IB Times is no longer available. . Explore the risks associated with Wi-Fi hotspots and discover how scareware targets individuals using public connections. Protect yourself on the internet!. Wi-Fi Security, Malware Awareness, Public Network Threats, Online Safety Tips. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Yesterday, Patrick (aka Noxwizard, phpBB support team member) pointed me at the new malware attack that surfaced this week (first mentioned on May 16th). The attack creates/modifies .htaccess files to redirect site visitors that come from major search engines and popular websites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, Flickr, Ebay, etc) to scareware sites that aggressively push fake anti-virus software.. The redirects also occur if visitors request unexisting pages or pages that produce server errors. This .htaccess conditional redirect approach is nothing new. It has been actively exploited by hackers for at least couple of years (and Unmask Parasites does a good job of detecting such redirects). And while the .htaccess code in this particular case has some new features (maybe more about it next time), it isn The link for this article located at nmask Parasites. Blog. is no longer available. . Websites encounter risks from compromised .htaccess files that reroute visitors to phishing platforms. Keep yourself updated on this issue.. Malware Attacks, Web Security Threats, Redirect Attacks. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
The techniques used by unloveable rogues who automate search engine manipulation attacks themed around breaking news to sling scareware have been unpicked by new research from Sophos.. A research paper published on Wednesday by Sophos researchers Fraser Howard and Onur Komili lifts the lid on the search engine optimisation techniques used by hackers to hook surfers into their scams. Attackers use automated kits to apply blackhat SEO methods The link for this article located at The Register UK is no longer available. . Experts from Sophos expose strategies employed by cybercriminals in manipulating search engine results—uncover the methods.. Search Engine Manipulation,Cybersecurity Tactics,Automated SEO. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
IT security and data protection firm Sophos is warning internet users who have visited the Gizmodo technology and gadget blog to scan their computers after it was revealed that the website was delivering adverts laced with malware last week.. According to a statement on the Gizmodo website, the blog's advertising team were tricked into accepting what they believed to be Suzuki adverts from a group of hackers. As a result, one of the world's most popular blogs - with more than 3.1 million page views per day - put users at risk of infection with what is believed to have been fake anti-virus software, designed to scam users out of their credit card details. Fake anti-virus software (also known as scareware) attempts to frighten users into believing that their computer is infected with viruses and Trojan horses by displaying bogus alerts, and then tricks unsuspecting surfers into making an unsafe purchase to remedy the "problem". The link for this article located at Sophos is no longer available. . According to a statement on the Gizmodo website, the blog's advertising team were tricked into accep. security, protection, sophos, warning, internet, users, visited, gizmodo. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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