ESET Threat Blog

Thanks to Marcin Gajewski for pointing out that Lech Kaczynski was the President of Poland, not the Prime Minister. I really shouldn't try to blog after a full day's travelling
While I was enjoying a rare few days off, my colleagues at ESET Latin America were posting a blog article about the ugly way in … 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[Update: it appears that the information I had earlier was incorrect or out-of-date, and there has been loss of life.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…

A press query was passed to me concerning our blogs about the Russian bombings and the fact that criminals are making use of the topic to spread malware using blackhat SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and abuse of the twitter service.
See "Russian Metro Bombings: here come the ghouls" and "Here come (more of) the ghouls" for more information … Read More…

[Interim updates removed: later information on Twitter profile attacks and Blackhat SEO attacks using keywords related to this topic to spread malware, has been made public in a later blog at http://www.eset.com/blog/2010/03/30/here-come-more-of-the-ghouls.]
Following this morning's bombings in the Moscow Metro (subway system), Aryeh Goretsky suggests the likelihood of criminals using "blackhat SEO" (search engine optimization or … Read More…

As more information and discussion has come in on this, it now merits an update in its own right. It seems that there is at least one other unnamed app around as well as the Boxes issue, and while I've no reason to assume that it's malicious, I'd hardly advise that you rush into installing … Read More…

We told you to watch out, didn't we? (see Randy's blog at http://www.eset.com/threat-center/blog/2009/10/23/this-is-the-funniest-video-ever). But it's not just Michael Myers, zombies and vampires you need to watch out for. It's also Funny Halloween Costumes, Harvey Milk, Pumpkin Carving Stencils, candy, Pokemon, and McDonalds Monopoly online.

Yes, the fake/rogue AV gang have started on their Halloween special, and … Read More…

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Websense, our neighbour in San Diego, has reported a fake anti-malware scam centred on Labor Day social engineering. The scam uses malicious SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques, sometimes referred to as index hijacking or SEO poisoning, to misdirect potential victims. When the victim uses Google to search for Labor Day sales (apparently these are very popular … Read More…

I feel like the learned judge in the ’60s who asked, in the course of a trial, "What is a Beatle?" since until recently I couldn’t have given you an accurate answer to the question "What is a Jessica Biel?"
In fact, I’d probably have said something like ""Wasn’t she in Flashdance?" (The answer is no: she … Read More…