ESET Threat Blog

ESET researchers have been tracking the TDL4 botnet for a long time, and now we have noticed a new phase in its evolution. Based on the analysis of its components we can say that some of those components have been rewritten from scratch (kernel-mode driver, user-mode payload) while some (specifically, some bootkit components) remain the same as in … Read More…

OK, this doesn’t actually foil Conficker, but it does block one of the attack vectors and prevents many other threats from automatically infecting your computer too,
It is the longest standing un-patched Microsoft vulnerability and Microsoft calls it a “feature”. The idea of autorun is to attempt to make it so that a person can use … Read More…

We’ve added some features to ESET Smart Security. The beta for version 4.0 is now open to the public. Visit http://beta.eset.com to try out the new version.
As always with beta software, it is not recommended to be used on production systems.
 
New features include:

support for Microsoft Windows Live Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird mail user agents
scanning of … Read More…

Further to my recent post on the venerable (but still out there) Slammer worm, we were asked recently about a real old-timer, a boot-sector infector called Stoned.Angelina. (Oddly enough, I think this was the last BSI reported to me when I was still doing occasional 2nd-linet AV support earlier in this decade.) How could such an elderly … 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…

Greetings Dear Reader,
We have published guidance material previously on passwords and passphrases, some are blogs and some are lengthier depending on your liking (link & link).  Even still it is always good practice to reinforce sensible password techniques.  For this blog, I plan on sharing an analogous self-ritual, and one that relies on a third … Read More…

[Update: There's been quite a lot of discussion and extra information coming in on this. It seems to me that there is at least one 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 an application when ... Read More…

The Hamburglar, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburglar, was the crook in some old McDonald's commercials. It appears that Hamburglar has returned to steal information from McDonald's customers. Don't worry, you would have to be one of 10,000 winners (in Japan) to get this special treatment, the rest of us losers keep our passwords.
McDonald's unfortunately put their trust in a … Read More…

Since its release in 2007, ESET Smart Security has received many accolades for its antimalware, antispam and firewall functions.  However, we have recently been the recipient of a very dubious honor; a rogue antivirus program which masquerades as our own software.
The Rogues Gallery
Rogue antivirus is a loose family of programs that claim to scan a … Read More…

Urban Schrott, IT Security & Cybercrime Analyst, ESET Ireland, contributed an article to ESET's July ThreatSense report about support scams. Since this is an issue that is still being under-reported, we thought it was worth reproducing, with the urbane Mr. Schrott's permission, on the blog.
While we're on that topic, there's a video worth watching here, … Read More…