20% of all malware ever created appeared in 2013

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

According to the latest PandaLabs report, malware creation hit a new milestone. In 2013 alone, cyber-criminals created and distributed 20 percent of all malware that has ever existed, with a total of 30 million new malicious strains in circulation, at an average of 82,000 per day. Despite Trojans have continued to ...

New ransomware, more insidious than CryptoLocker, to go on market

Tuesday, January 7th, 2014

Researchers warn that a new threat, using harder-to-crack encryption methods than comparable ransomware, may hit the black market soon. The malware, which locks users out of their computer until they pay a ransom, is being called Prison Locker and Power Locker on underground forums, according to a Friday blog post at Malware Must Die. According ...

Ransomware demands additional payment to delete ‘criminal records’

Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

Back in July 2013, we had discovered a new method of spreading the infamous FBI ransomware by using JavaScript code and iframes to create an illusion that the victim’s browser was locked. After several months, the threat is still very much alive hopping from one domain name to the next. The message is still ...

Cryptolocker: How to avoid getting infected and what to do if you are

Friday, October 25th, 2013

There's a big threat wiling around on the Internet right now: A particularly nasty piece of ransomware called Cryptolocker. Many, many organizations are being infected with this malware, but fortunately, there are surefire ways to avoid it and also ways to mitigate the damage without letting the lowlifes win. What is ...

Hackers Target Java 6 With Security Exploits

Tuesday, August 27th, 2013

Warning to anyone still using Java 6: Upgrade now to Java 7 to avoid being compromised by active attacks. That alert came via F-Secure anti-malware analyst Timo Hirvonen, who reported finding an in-the-wild exploit actively targeting an unpatched vulnerability in Java 6 following the recent publication of related proof-of-concept (POC) attack ...