Tag: malware
Three new malware strains infect 20,000 Android apps, impossible to wipe
AppleInsider reported on three new malware strains infecting 20,000 apps, impossible to wipe, only affect Android. “For individuals, getting infected with Shedun, Shuanet and ShiftyBug might mean a trip to the store to buy a new phone. Because these pieces of adware root the device and install themselves as system applications, they become nearly impossible…
Malicious software said to spread on Android phones
NYTimes reported on the malicious software spreading on Android phones. A particularly nasty mobile malware campaign targeting Android users has hit between four million and 4.5 million Americans since January of 2013, according to an estimate by Lookout, a San Francisco mobile security company that has been tracking the malware for about two years. How…
Google’s Doubleclick ad servers exposed millions to malware
The Verge reported on Google’s Doubleclick serving malware. The first impressions came in late August, and by now millions of computers have likely been exposed to Zemot, although only those with outdated antivirus protection were actually infected. That means that millions of computers are on outdated antivirus. And using an ad-blocker proves to be more…
New Android ‘Fake ID’ flaw empowers stealthy new class of super-malware
AppleInsider reported on a new Android flaw that allows malware to gain extensive control over a user’s device. This is particularly serious because Google has granted a variety of trusted apps in Android broad permissions; by pretending to be one of these trusted apps, malware can can fool users into thinking that they are installing…
Popular Android flashlight app has been secretly tracking you
When an app has been downloaded over a million times and garnered over 800,000 5-star ratings, you’d expect the app to be good and not dodgy. A flashlight app itself isn’t too hard to develop, but the Brightest Flashlight Free app was doing a few things without informing the user. It turns out that the…
badBIOS malware bypasses airgaps designed to prevent it from spreading
Meet “badBIOS,” the mysterious Mac and PC malware that jumps airgaps Another intriguing characteristic: in addition to jumping “airgaps” designed to isolate infected or sensitive machines from all other networked computers, the malware seems to have self-healing capabilities. “We had an air-gapped computer that just had its [firmware] BIOS reflashed, a fresh disk drive installed,…