ESET Threat Blog

Introduction
Mobile World Congress 2012 is almost upon us, and one of the most hotly-anticipated topics is the next generation of Microsoft’s smartphone operating system Windows Phone 8, which has been kept under wraps far more tightly than its PC counterpart, Windows 8.
While Microsoft was an early adopter in the creation of smartphones with Windows Mobile, … Read More…

Exactly how people will abuse digital technology for their own ends is difficult to predict, but organizations must plan ahead to protect data and systems. That's why we have been posting our "best guess" cybersecurity predictions on the Threat Blog this month. Today we present 9 of the most important predictions in the form of … Read More…

If you've been following this blog for a few years, you probably know that I'm reluctant to play the prediction game, but it seems to be expected at this time of year, so here's my contribution. Java will consolidate its position as the successor to PDF and SWF in the favourite exploits stakes, the latest … Read More…

In recent years there has been a tremendous increase in the Russian region in the number of sites redirecting users to the Black Hole exploit kit. In most cases, successful exploitation of a vulnerability in client software leads to the installation onto the victim’s machine of either the trojan Win32/TrojanDownloader.Carberp or of Win32/Carberp (the version … Read More…

Old hoaxes never die. They just get transplanted to Facebook. Sometimes literally, when a classic email hoax starts to spread with minor emendations through Facebook message or news feeds. In this case, the actual message (at least, as I received it) is still email, but it's been adapted to appeal to the more than 800 million Facebook … Read More…

Pierre-Marc tells me that he has received two malware samples that grabbed his attention due to their resemblance to Storm/Waledac.  They use the same kind of distribution mechanism: that is, spam with links to a New Year eCard for New year with titles like "New Year Wishes!" and "You Received an Ecard."  The mail contains … Read More…

This is the last segment in the series. To begin with, I have a question for you…
What do you call a device that has a 1 gigahertz microprocessor, 512 megabytes of RAM, several gigabytes of solid state storage, runs programs, can be programmed, and can access the internet? Sound a bit like a Netbook, but … Read More…

In the first part of this blog I told you how to use the basic Flash configuration utility. This blog is for the techies. This time I’ll share with you how to shut the doors on Flash and only open them to the sites you want to trust.
Very few people seem to know that you … Read More…

Adobe Flash is, in my opinion, the most ubiquitous spyware in the world and no products detect it as such. The reason it goes undetected is that it also has numerous legitimate uses, however, there is growing evidence that indicates significant abuse. This will be the first in a series of blogs in which I … Read More…

Recently a lawsuit was filed against Walt Disney’s internet subsidiary and some of its partners as well. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/17/flash_cookie_lawsuit/ At issue is the use of a special kind of cookie that is used in conjunction with Adobe Flash. These “supercookies” are called Local Shared Objects or LSOs for short. LSOs are not deleted when you use … Read More…