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Stories about: rootkit


World War 3 Scam Spreads Rootkit Using Facebook

Since no important public figure died and all the prizes and outrageous videos offered in scams were used up, cybercriminals that rely on Facebook schemes to spread their malicious campaigns turned to news about the United States attacking Iran and Saudi Arabia. Sophos experts found a large number of statuses on Fac...

6 February 2012
04:40 GMT

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 Videos Hide ZeroAccess Rootkit

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, the eleventh edition of the series published by Konami, attracted not only the attention of gamers, but also the one of cybercriminals who began relying on its popularity to spread their malicious operations. GFI researchers came across a YouTube video which advertises a link that offers t...

11 January 2012
04:41 GMT

Antivirii 2011 Scares Users With Fake Infections

Another rogue antivirus solution has been spotted by security experts from the Malware Protection Center, infecting the computers of unsuspecting user who may be duped into purchasing licenses or premium versions. Antivirii 2011 is the name of this malicious app that keeps informing internauts on numerous Trojans, R...

13 December 2011
14:01 GMT

Handset Vendors and Operators Confirm Using Carrier IQ

Those who might have blindly trusted their smartphones will be disappointed to learn that they have been deceived. Although not everybody admits to using it, a rootkit has been found on many smartphones out there, one that could spy on basically everything that a user would do on the device, courtesy of low-level ...

2 December 2011
07:59 GMT

New Rootkit Infects NTFS Loader

Security researchers from Kaspersky Lab have identified a new piece of malware which writes malicious code to the NTFS boot loader.The threat which Kaspersky detects as Cidox, features two rootkit drivers, one for 32-bit versions of Windows and one for 64-bit ones.As part of its infection routine Cidox determines the...

6 July 2011
13:42 GMT

TDSS Rootkit Gets Self-Propagation Component

Security researchers warn that the TDSS rootkit has been updated with a self-propagation component capable of infecting removable media and performing DNS hijacking attacks.The TDSS family of rootkits, which is composed of several distinct versions and a lot of variants, dates back to 2008 and is one of the most soph...

3 June 2011
13:40 GMT

New Banking Trojan Targets All Major Browsers

Spanish security firm S21sec has identified a new banking trojan capable of injecting HTML into all popular browsers which uses a rootkit to hide its components.Dubbed Tatanga, the trojan is written in C++ and is organized in modules with different functionality which are decrypted in memory as needed.Like other bank...

26 February 2011
03:30 GMT

Sony Accused of Packing Rootkit in PS3 Firmware Update

Hackers claim that Sony has included a rootkit-like component in the latest 3.56 PlayStation 3 firmware update, which allows it to execute any code on people's gaming consoles.The claim was made last week by French PS3 hacker Mathieulh. "3.56 pretty much has a built in psn [PlayStation Network] rootkit," he wrot...

2 February 2011
05:15 GMT

PlayStation 3 Firmware 3.56 May Include Rootkit, Prevents HDD Upgrades

The most recent PlayStation 3 firmware, version 3.56, may have quite a few surprises up its proverbial sleeve, as two different reports say that the software not only includes a special type of rootkit, which will allow Sony complete remote access to your PS3's inner workings, but also prevents any type of new h...

2 February 2011
04:30 GMT

New Complex Rootkit Variant Leverages Stuxnet 0-Day Vulnerability

Security researchers warn that a new variant of a sophisticated rootkit dubbed TDL4 is leveraging an yet-unpatched privilege escalation vulnerability originally exploited in the wild by the infamous Stuxnet worm.TDL4 is the latest version of a rootkit originally known as TDSS or Tidserv, which appeared back in 2008.H...

8 December 2010
04:40 GMT

Nasty Alureon Rootkit Now Targeting x64 Windows 7 and Vista

While Microsoft has been successfully tackling the Alureon rootkit with a variety of security solutions, the authors of the malware have also been hard at work updating the malicious code, in order to enable it to also infect 64-bit (x64) PCs. When it was first detected, Alureon targeted mainly 32-bit (x86) Windows ...

30 August 2010
09:48 GMT

Stuxnet Doubles as SCADA Sabotage Tool

It seems that the recently discovered Stuxnet rootkit, which shocked the security industry through its sophistication, hides even more secrets. According to Symantec, an in-depth analysis revealed that in addition to stealing trade secrets, the malware can also inject rogue code into SCADA systems, which are used to ...

7 August 2010
05:59 GMT

Windows 7 Almost Immune to the Alureon Rootkit

Windows 7 is almost immune to a piece of malware that has proven a real nightmare to users running older versions of the Windows client. Windows XP SP3 customers particularly have been hit extremely hard by Alureon, a rootkit that failed to play nice with a Windows kernel update and ended up rendering unbootable infe...

24 May 2010
10:15 GMT

Windows BSOD Caused by Alureon Rootkit, Not by Security Patch

Microsoft starting to serve the February 2010 security updates to customers running its products was just the first move in what has become an interesting game of chess between the company and malware authors. The Redmond company moved first, with the release of the MS10-015 (KB977165) patch, among the many security ...

18 February 2010
09:10 GMT

Attackers Upgrade Rootkits Causing Windows Blue Screens of Death

At the end of the past week, following the monthly release of Microsoft security patches, Windows users started reporting that their PCs crashed with a Blue Screen of Death error and were rendered un-bootable after applying Security Bulletin MS10-015 (KB977165). Microsoft immediately pulled the patch, and started inv...

17 February 2010
10:33 GMT

Extremely Complex Windows Rootkit Discovered

Researchers from Finnish security vendor F-Secure have recently analyzed a worm with rootkit capabilities that tries to execute code directly into the OS kernel by exploiting a known Windows vulnerability. This is for the first time when the technique is encountered in such applications.“Most malware with rootk...

1 October 2008
10:40 GMT

Basic Computer Protection In Just A Few Steps - Part I

Nowadays, keeping your computer clean and secure is not a very easy thing to do. Threats may come in all shapes and sizes; so, if you don't have the necessary programs and knowledge, you might find yourself in a very dangerous situation. The following article is a small tutorial of the basic measures you should ...

29 June 2008
07:15 GMT

If There's One Vista Feature with a Bad Rap, It's UAC

If there's one Windows Vista feature deeply misunderstood and with a bad reputation, it's User Account Control. Microsoft confirmed officially that UAC has a bad rap but, at the same time, the software giant's perspective over the matter is that UAC deserves better if not, at least, a second chance. Th...

26 May 2008
05:45 GMT

Windows Live OneCare and Live Safety Scanner, Perfect Rootkit Victims

Microsoft's security solutions, including the Windows Live Safety Scanner version 1.1.3007.0 and Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 1.6.2111.32 (1.1.2803.0), have nothing on rival products from Avira, BitDefender, Kaspersky, Gdata, Symantec, Panda, Trend Micro and others. Independent security test outfit AV-Test per...

20 May 2008
09:28 GMT

New Rootkit Tricks the Operating System, Sits in Computer's Memory

TechWorld reported today that a new type of malware that could be impossible to detect by the anti-virus technologies currently on the market has been developed by security researchers and will be demonstrated at the Black Hat security event scheduled for August in Las Vegas. The same source adds that the new rootki...

13 May 2008
09:41 GMT

The Undetectable Windows Vista BluePill Rootkit - Reloaded

The BluePill is the code-name used by Joanna Rutkowska, Founder/CEO of Invisible Things Labs, formerly a security researcher with COSEINC, for the development of a virtualization-based rootkit designed to compromise Windows Vista back in 2006. According to Rutkowska, the BluePill is set up to deliver an ultra-thin hy...

1 April 2008
14:04 GMT

Microsoft Plans to Add Rootkit Detection to Windows Live OneCare

Windows Live OneCare is right on track to getting an anti-rootkit upgrade. Microsoft plans to added rootkit detection capabilities to its line of security products, but not only OneCare will be impacted by the change. The Forefront line of enterprise security solutions will also feature the added rootkit detection ca...

20 March 2008
12:31 GMT

Download Free Hardware Virtualization-Based Windows Rootkit Detector

Hypersight Rootkit Detector is a hardware virtualization-based rootkit detector for the Windows operating system. The Hypervisor based-security solution has hit public beta at the end of 2007, and comes with support just for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. The anti-rootkit is also limited to runnin...

27 February 2008
05:21 GMT

Microsoft: Vista Can Handle MS-DOS Era, 10-Year-Old Master Boot Record Threats

All Windows Vista users can take a sigh of relief. Microsoft has confirmed that its latest iteration of the Windows client is more than capable of handling 10-year-old threats focused on the Master Boot Record, dating back to the MS-DOS era. Trojan.Mebroot (as it was labeled by Symantec) is a rootkit detected in the ...

11 January 2008
07:14 GMT

Warning: MBR Rootkit Hunting Windows XP Computers!

I must mention from the beginning that every unpatched system connected to the web is vulnerable to this rootkit, so in case you're running an outdated version of Windows XP, you may be in danger pal! Now, let's see some juicy (if you're one of those loving computer infections) details about the rootki...

9 January 2008
14:31 GMT

Boot Record Rootkit Brings Windows Vista to Its Knees

A new boot record rootkit in the wild has the potential to bring Windows Vista down to its knees. Despite having applauded Windows Vista throughout 2007 as the most secure Windows operating system on the market, the latest Microsoft client still has some problems involving write-access to raw disk sectors. In this co...

8 January 2008
06:26 GMT

Sony Patches Up!

Sony has finally dealt with the rootkit problem and released a new software for the affected device. Non-rootkit of course. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, Sony has been disclosed (last week) to use rootkit technology for the second time in the last 3 years. In case you are wondering what this r...

4 September 2007
09:58 GMT

Sony Uses Rootkits Again!

We all know and trust Sony, but this is the second time they pull one of these on us, users. First they used this rootkit technology about 2 years ago to enforce DRM. There is nothing wrong with digital rights management, but using rootkits is just rotten, if you ask me. It just makes your computer insecure and there...

28 August 2007
05:04 GMT

McAfee: The 64-bit Windows Vista Blue Pill Rootkit Is Nothing

The undetectable Blue Pill rootkit designed for the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista by Joanna Rutkowska CEO of Invisible Things Lab, just got a whole lot more detectable as McAfee got in on the game. Rutkowska claims that the Blue Pill virtualization based rootkit that she demonstrated initially on a 64-bit edition ...

14 August 2007
08:58 GMT

Freeware Utility for Fighting Against Viruses

Security company McAfee today released a new security solution able to detect rootkits on your computer and clean them before they manage to harm the system. Rootkit Detective is available for free for all the users and, since January when it was made available as a beta program, it has been downloaded by more than 1...

26 July 2007
09:45 GMT

Vbootkit the First Rootkit Designed for Windows Vista Kernel Subversion

Vbootkit is a rootkit designed to load into Windows Vista's kernel from custom boot sectors. Its authors, security researchers Nitin Kumar and Vipin Kumar claim that this is the first example of such technology. The Vbootkit's creators describe their rootkit as a back door, or a shortcut to access the Windo...

26 April 2007
11:28 GMT


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