ESET Threat Blog

Security companies in general and, unfortunately, anti-malware companies in particular, are often accused of ‘hyping’ threats because of a perceived self-interest. However, in the main, legitimate vendors and researchers like those at ESET typically try to resist overhyping or playing up threats where possible, in favor of more balanced discussion that can help customers take … Read More…

George Santayana was a really smart philosopher. He is best known for his quote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
If you want to learn a little something from the past so as not to repeat other people’s mistakes then you can read Aryeh’s blog from when the first iPad … Read More…

I like Macs. Not in an "OS X is God's own Operating System" sort of way, but I've owned/used many Macs, from SE/30s and IICX's to iMacs, eMacs and Macbooks. In fact, at least two of my books were written on the Powerbook which was my workhorse machine in my last couple of years at … Read More…

As the Red Queen told Alice, it isn't etiquette to cut any one you've been introduced to. Locked iPhones, on the other hand, are not supposed to communicate with other devices before the formal introduction.
However, it appears that iPhones are, under limited circumstances, willing to share information with other devices when they shouldn't, even to … Read More…

[Updated]
Mac security firm Intego has reported that a spyware application it calls OSX/OpinionSpy is being spread as a program called PremierOpinion. 
According to Intego, the user is required to install the program, which is claimed to be a market research utility, as part of the installation process for a number of screensavers and at least one other application made freely available … Read More…

While I was at the EICAR conference earlier this week, I also co-presented (along with Pierre-Marc Bureau and Andrew Lee) a paper on "Security, Perception and Worms in the Apple". During the presentation, I had occasion to recall how in the early 1990s I wrote a report on viruses for my boss at the time at … Read More…

iPad and iPhone development and security issues are across the blogosphere and traditional media today. Starting with some interesting antivirus industry news concerning the iPad…

Apple iPad users are being offered a security program to scan their new device for vulnerabilities and rogue software should such things emerge as threats.
Hailing it as the first iPad 'antivirus' … Read More…

I see that Bill Ray of the Register has also picked up on the iPad jailbreaking issue I blogged on yesterday.  (No, I don't suppose he read it there.)
Interestingly, though, he talks much less about the security implications than about the slow take-up of  newspaper subscriptions among early adopters.
Andy Greenberg, on the other hand, has blogged … Read More…

[Update: it appears that the information I had earlier was incorrect or out-of-date, and there has been loss of life. There's also a report from TechHerald suggesting early exploitation of the incident for SEO poisoning leading to fake AV. However, a quick scan currently (Monday evening) shows news items from such known malefactors as the ... Read More…

Unfortunately, I'm not able to attend the CanSecWest 2010 conference in Vancouver this week, though I think Pierre-Marc will be there. I would have been more than a little interested in Charlie Miller's presentation on fuzzing Mac applications: that is, “…a method for discovering faults in software by providing unexpected input and monitoring for exceptions.” 
Miller … Read More…