ESET Threat Blog

The Flashback trojan has been all over the news lately, but it is not the only Mac malware threat out there at the moment. A few weeks ago, we published a technical analysis of OSX/Lamadai.A, the Mac OS X payload of a multi-platform attack exploiting the Java vulnerability CVE-2011-3544 to infect its victims. OSX/Lamadai.A has … Read More…

[More research from our colleagues in Russia]
In the beginning of February we found a new modification of our “old friend” Win32/Rovnix (the dropper detected as Win32/Rovnix.B trojan), which is the first bootkit using VBR (Volume Boot Record) infection. An interesting fact is that Rovnix bootkit components were used in Win32/Carberp, the most widely spread banking … Read More…

Scam artists and cybercriminals are looking to turn romance into profit now that Valentine's Day approaches, possibly taking over your computer in the process. According to ESET researchers in Latin America, we can expect the quest for love to be leveraged as an effective social engineering ploy to enable the bad guys to infect unsuspecting … Read More…

As expected, malware developers and scam artists have greeted the death of North Korea's dictatorial leader, Kim Jong-il, with Black Hat SEO and Social Engineering attacks. The Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea suffered a heart attack on a train journey last month and a steady stream of schemes to exploit the … Read More…

The FDIC is probably one of the most misunderstood quasi-governmental entities in America, which may account for its enduring popularity as part of malware and phishing scams. I'm not the most dedicated follower of banking news, but I did work for a bank once and I do try to keep up, yet I have never … Read More…

Taking delivery of an unexpected package containing gifts is one of the joys of the holiday season. Missing a package delivery is one of the frustrations of the season. So, an email headed "Failed Package Delivery" is a good way for scam artists and malware distributors to get your attention. In this post I examine … Read More…

The Reuters news agency reported earlier today a sudden increase in violent and pornographic images and videos on Facebook.  A quick review of my personal account and a check-in with my other Facebook-wielding colleagues revealed a couple of nothing more than a couple of suggestive pictures, complete with snarky comments embedded in them, from the … Read More…

One of the blessings of Open Source initiatives is the rapidity with which coders can release quality collaborative code. This is one of the ways the Android managed to claw its way into the smartphone mainstream, after arriving late to the game. But as the app ecosystem matures, vulnerability/patch management becomes more of an issue, … Read More…

There’s a new batch of malware making the rounds, this time directed at spreading banking malware through childrens’ games. Though it’s hard to imagine, the scammers are taking advantage of the naivete of kids, who may not be as skilled at detecting scams as their more seasoned parents.
According to an article in Softpedia, the attacks … Read More…

An emerging information security threat highlighted this week by Róbert Lipovský, namely theft and abuse of digital certificates by malware creators, serves as a timely reminder that these certificates are highly valuable digital assets that should be accorded the highest levels of protection. If your company uses certs purchased from root authorities such as Verisign, … Read More…