I received this email a few days ago. At first I thought it’s genuine, as the sender email address as well as the link URL are from and to the right domain: youtube.com.

But the truth is a different thing. Sender address can be anything the sender wants it to be, [...]]]> Youtube Phishing Email

youtube phishing email

I received this email a few days ago. At first I thought it’s genuine, as the sender email address as well as the link URL are from and to the right domain: youtube.com.

But the truth is a different thing. Sender address can be anything the sender wants it to be, so it doesn’t hold much to tell a phishing email. It’s the link that reveals it all.

In the email body, it says that your message was not delivered, and that you have sent the maximum number of messages per day. A link with an anchor text mimmicking a youtube ticket support page but with an actual link going to a different domain – in this case, click-on.hu – tells that this is a phishing email.

Is it dangeruous?

youtube phishing email redirect

As far as my experiment goes, this link is not harmful. It just wants traffic to it’s landing page or some sales letter. No harm done to our computer, or our private and confidential information. As you can see in the image, a redirection I’ve got (you might have yet different ones) is one that goes to pharmacytabshealth.net.

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Best Antivirus 2011 is taken from the top list of Top Ten Antivirus 2011 Review based on the best scope of protection and effectiveness, and weighted factors of help and support.

Even so, we still have three to choose from: BitDefender, Kaspersky and Webroot antivirus., as they all have the same [...]]]>

best antivirus 2011 - kaspersky

Best Antivirus 2011 is taken from the top list of Top Ten Antivirus 2011 Review based on the best scope of protection and effectiveness, and weighted factors of help and support.

Even so, we still have three to choose from: BitDefender, Kaspersky and Webroot antivirus., as they all have the same scores for all categories. We need to go down to the details if we are to choose objectively this time. (There can only be one best antivirus 2011 out of ten or even three best, I’m sure you agree with that.)

This is the breakdown:

• We take previous rankings as a qualifying factor. In Antivirus Ranking 2009, Webroot antivirus has definitely less points than the other two, so this leaves only BitDefender and Kaspersky as contenders.
• Price: BitDefender comes with a lower price ($29.95 for 2012 version) while Kaspersky although a bit higher ($59.95 for 2012 version), it comes with three licenses. It’s up to you to decide, if you need or can utilize all three licenses Kaspersky is offering, then it is the most value product for you. Otherwise, if you only can use one license, then BitDefender is the one.

best antivirus 2011 - bitdefender

So much for the best antivirus in 2011, as we are moving on towards 2012 now. Notice that the products we compare are labeled antivirus 2012 as they are all preparing for the launch of the year 2012 right now.

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Free Anti Virus Download - ClamWin Free Antivirus

I’ve been testing several free anti [...]]]> I’ve been using this program for almost 2 years now. Free anti virus download that you can count on. Many many out there but you can’t be sure if it’s really protecting your computer or just sitting and consuming on your resources.

Free Anti Virus Download - ClamWin Free Antivirus

I’ve been testing several free anti virus software when I bumped into this software. A friend of mine told me he’s been using it for a long time so I decided it was not a rogue antivirus. What I found just suites my need. The simplicity and system independence. Have you guessed yet? Yes, it’s a portable free anti virus download.

Introducing ClamWin Antivirus for Windows Portable: ClamWin Free Antivirus Portable (25)

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Viruses, worms and Trojans developers are always in the run, competing with antivirus software. What was the best software in this field is not guaranteed to still be the top in the ranking today.

In the top ten antivirus 2011 list, some [...]]]> Top Ten Antivirus 2011 Review, You Have to Check Out Before Getting Any Antivirus Software!

Viruses, worms and Trojans developers are always in the run, competing with antivirus software. What was the best software in this field is not guaranteed to still be the top in the ranking today.

In the top ten antivirus 2011 list, some antivirus software just got kicked out of the list while new ones, namely Avira AntiVir and Norton Antivirus, not appearing in the list last year get their position in the top ten.

The criteria on reviewing the best ten on the list includes well weighted variables which is ranked top to bottom. In this case, Scope of Protection is the most weighted variable, while Help & Support is the least one.

Here is the Top Ten Antivirus 2011 Ranking as of  May 2011:

Top Ten Antivirus 2011

Source taken from this site: Best Antivirus Software Review 2011 – TopTenREVIEWS. If you are wondering about how the benchmarking is done on the Best Antivirus Ranking 2011, visit the site.

In addition to this post about top ten antivirus 2011 ranking, you may want to check out other related posts here:

• HSBC Card Email Phising – Watch Out!
• Facebook Trojan
• Antivirus Download
• Download Antivirus
• Free Antivirus Software
• Free Virus Scan
• Free Adware Remover
• Virus Protection For XP

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By Robert Moekoe

free adware remover

The internet offers many threats to any operating system however new or old, including Windows XP. Spyware, viruses and other dangers offered by the web can cause problems from data loss to identity theft and as such it is important to defend against these problems. Virus [...]]]> Get Virus Protection For XP

get virus protection for xp

The internet offers many threats to any operating system however new or old, including Windows XP. Spyware, viruses and other dangers offered by the web can cause problems from data loss to identity theft and as such it is important to defend against these problems. Virus protection for XP comes built in to the operating system but is this enough? We will review the built in safe guards and also take a look at the extra products available to keep your computer safe.

XP comes with a number of anti-virus guards built in; these are intended to combat online dangers. The program is known as Windows defender and will perform much like an externally installed program. XPs antivirus program does not offer a secure enough level for most computer users making an additional program advisable.

Any program offering virus protection for XP has to achieve a careful balance. The first requirement is to offer greater safety while online than the Windows Defender can, so as to make it worth adding to your PC. Once it offers the user greater protection it must achieve the precarious balancing act between performance and processor usage. The antivirus will need to be active at all times and as such it cannot use too much of the operating systems speeds to the point where the user would see a slowing down of XP.

There are a number of products on the market to defend your PC. Kaspersky, Norton and McAfee are three of the bigger names but there is a multitude of products. In 2011 a number of newer products have impressed with their ability to balance their virus combative abilities to their use of the PCs processors and the level of protection; Vipre and BitDefender.

Each of the older and better known products offers slightly different advantages and disadvantages. McAfee is the only of the three with a built in firewall and offers a robust defence for emails, but has a high processor use and may make the system run slower than expected.

On the other hand Kaspersky does not offer a firewall, a problem which is covered by XPs own inbuilt protection. This program runs a real time and hourly system which allows it offer ongoing detection of and defence against viruses from a number of sources. Norton also offers a real time defence against viruses; however this does not help its ability to defend against viruses from email sources.

Vipre and BitDefender find a balance between the two and are excellent up and coming products offering virus protection for XP and other products. They combine low processor use with the safe guards that can let you sleep well at night knowing your safe online.

Whatever you use the internet for, antivirus products are essential to your peace of mind. XP offers some defences but an external program dedicated to protecting your data is highly advisable. There is a choice of products from the trusted elder statesmen of the antivirus world or the impressive newer products you can really stay safe while online.

Related Posts:

• Top Ten Antivirus 2011 Review

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As usually is done lately, these kind of phishing use extensive psychological pressure on its readers (read: preys) to take immediate actions without further considerations. This is where the success of these kinds of email phishing stems.

Now let’s [...]]]> In only three days, I’ve received three similarly subjected emails namely from HSBC. It goes something like this:

As usually is done lately, these kind of phishing use extensive psychological pressure on its readers (read: preys) to take immediate actions without further considerations. This is where the success of these kinds of email phishing stems.

Now let’s take a look at the HTML file attachment:

Take notice at how relieving it is for someone who has been led to believe that his card has really been stolen and blocked. Amazing how this psychological trap works, right?

Now let’s see what it looks like when it’s run:

Don't fill any fields, it's a phishing page

Notice the underlined fields. Those fields alone can lead to disaster for an HSBC card holder, if he decides to fill in and click continue. What’s more is that the phishing goes as far as stealing your Internet Banking Identification!

So, how come it looks so real, as if it really is an legitimate HSBC website? Simple. It gets all of its HSBC attributes such as favicon and all FROM www.hsbc.co.uk:

Where is the intercepting address, if you’re wondering. Watch this part of the html file:

Beware!

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Facebook Trojan in email attachment was sent to me.

Email with Facebook Trojan Attachment

Twice in only 2 days I’ve received emails claiming themselves as from Facebook Service (networks@facebook.com) and The Facebook Team (confirmation@facebook.com) respectively. At first I thought it is from the facebook as we always got notification [...]]]> Beware: Facebook Trojan Sent Via Email

By Robert Moekoe

Facebook Trojan in email attachment was sent to me.

Email with Facebook Trojan Attachment

Twice in only 2 days I’ve received emails claiming themselves as from Facebook Service (networks@facebook.com) and The Facebook Team (confirmation@facebook.com) respectively. At first I thought it is from the facebook as we always got notification emails from facebook. But after I spotted out that the email got an attachment in it, curiosity got the better of me.

I run a check, both Facebook Trojans are the same

The attachment in both emails came with different names (Facebook_details_348.zip and Facebook_details_173.zip) but as I test ran them, they proved to be exactly the same. This fact made me almost sure that the email attachments are trojans. So I decided to run one of the executable files in a save and contained virtual machine.

I test run the Facebook Trojan on a virtual machine

Notice the new SVCHOST.EXE running, and the empty Facebook Trojan folder

The result is really typical of that of an effective and efficient trojan: quiet, leave no trails behind, get the job done. As you can see in the snapshots, once I ran it, it leaves a new SVCHOST.EXE running using 2,250KB memory before it deleted its physical program file from the folder. This could mean that it has got itself into the system where it can hide and work well stealthily. Perhaps it would later download a working trojan and that it is actually only a downloader trojan. I have it that this is a trojan, and I call it The Facebook Trojan

Facebook Trojan Has Nothing to Do With Facebook.

Although the sender name and spoofing email host is Facebook, this actually is not coming from Facebook as anyone can fake any address.

Recognizing And Avoiding It.

You would want to avoid executing the .exe file or downloading the attachment altogether. But how could we recognize it without having to execute it in a virtual machine like I did? The major clues with which we can easily recognize a Facebook Trojan would be these:

First, have a look at the email subjects. They would go with the same sense of urgency (notice the exclamation mark), and the awkward terms Support Message and Customer Message:

1. Facebook Password Reset Confirmation! Support Message.
2. Facebook Password Reset Confirmation! Customer Message.

Second, the email contents are the same for both emails. It goes like this:

Dear user of facebook,

Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients,
your password has been changed.

You can find your new password in attached document.

Thanks,

Your Facebook.

More Obvious Clues

Pay attention to the same sense of urgency and awkwardness of the message as those of the subjects. It uses the word safety as an urgency trigger.

The first awkwardness comes with the message stating that the password has been changed. No one can change passwords without our prior consent. That’s it.

The second awkwardness is that instead of just provides us with the new password in the email body; it instructs us to find it for ourselves in the attachment. Can you imagine that? What a lame lure.

Going beyond just that, if you’d downloaded the .zip file and examine the content, you’d find the ultimate proof that indisputably indicates that this is a trojan: the file is an executable .exe file. Whoa. I can’t say anymore. Beware of Facebook Trojan in emails.

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It’s best to install virtual machine such as Microsoft Virtual PC or VMWare as it takes the place of a separate computer which is contained and easy to manage as it runs in our desktop. Using a separate computer, as we do with a virtual machine, we [...]]]> Install Virtual Machine – And Be Free!

By Robert Moekoe

It’s best to install virtual machine such as Microsoft Virtual PC or VMWare as it takes the place of a separate computer which is contained and easy to manage as it runs in our desktop. Using a separate computer, as we do with a virtual machine, we can do the followings without any fear or harm:

1. Test and run trials, suspicious and strange programs or software.
2. Experiment with suspected files.
3. Quarantine external files or software to make sure they’re safe.
4. Browse into suspicious or new untested web pages in a safe and isolated environment.
5. Smile when we actually got infected, as all we need to do is restore to the point where we want to be in the virtual machine, and start over if we like.

It is a very effective way of 100% protecting ourselves from any malicious threats.

After we install virtual machine, managing (i.e. creating, deleting and restoring) each machines can be done in a very controlled environment right on our desktop, thus making things very easy to do and safe at the same time.

We can test-run suspicious and strange files or software, browse into suspicious or new untested web pages in a safe and isolated environment of the virtual machine. Using this technique alone can eliminate most of the threats we all have been afraid of, namely virus-infected file, spyware, adware, hacker exploitation, and best of all, should any of those happen, we only need to restore to a desired state of the system without fuss.

So, why wait? Install virtual machine now…

This article is a part of the Ten Ultimate Computer Security Must-Do’s steps.

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The idea of how to protect computer here is to have a private computer of your own, separated from the computer that’s meant for others. To really get a solid grip on your computer’s security, you have to decide and limit as to who can access your [...]]]> Private Personal Computer, How to Protect Computer
By Robert Moekoe

The idea of how to protect computer here is to have a private computer of your own, separated from the computer that’s meant for others. To really get a solid grip on your computer’s security, you have to decide and limit as to who can access your computer. The point is not to let your computer be treated worse than it is conditioned to be treated in a secure manner.
Letting others use your computer without previous warnings about the way you want it to be treated will end up in opening many security holes, most of which are coming from human-decisions psychologically-appealing malicious software downloads. A better practice is to separate your own private personal computer from your public personl computer. Treat your private computer with strict rules. Here are some common warnings how to protect computer I personally uphold to begin with:

1. Never download anything, unless I’m around. When I’m around, I’ll make sure he/she doesn’t download executable files including software installations, software upgrades, hot-fixes, scripts, dll’s, or anything executable.
2. Never give up any information on the internet on my name, passwords (if any), where-about, family members’ information, card information, bank account information or even friends information. This has more to do with information security than computer security.
3. Never turn off or change settings of firewall, antivirus, internet security, or any running security software without my permission. Some security solution provides password protected control panel settings. Supply password for such programs to prevent other users from changing settings.

What About The Public Computer?

As for the public computer, there are brute ways you can put into it. Any way there is how to protect computer that you can apply. You have to prepare for the worst. That way, you can keep your personal computer to yourself and have another for public ready for abusive use, usually coming from your children or friends, without any confidential data to leak out. Meanwhile, you might have developed certain settings on your personal computer that you don’t want other people to change, also you might have pseudo confidential data such as coded passwords in an easy to open document for straightforward access that you don’t want anybody else to play around with.

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