Tokyo has reported no man cases of deadly swine flu so far - but a computer virus of the same name has been spreading on the Internet in current days
Tokyo's Institute of Infectious Diseases said on its website that a suspicious Japanese-language email message with an attached file called 'information on swine flu' had been circulating in internet.
'The institute has received reports that the email message falsely identifying itself as coming from the NIID is circulating,' it said.
'The email is carrying a file titled 'information on swine flu', which has been recognised as an illegal programme by the institute?s virus-checking software,' the NIID statement said.
The institute did not say what kind of malware was hidden inside the file or what harm it might do.
The email, originating from senders in the '@yahoo.co.jp' domain, seemed to be sent to random Internet users, the institute said.
'It is obviously a suspicious message falsely identifying itself,' it said.
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Showing posts with label spyware support. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spyware support. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Hotbar Spyware
Hotbar is a spyware that installs a toolbar into your web browser. It monitors every URL that you visit as well as phrases which you enter into search engines and sends this data back to a 3rd party. The information is used to target ads on your computer, both in pop ups as well as directly embedded within online web pages.
Hotbar consumes over 20.00 MB of disk space on your hard drive. It will slow down your browser, make your PC boot slower, and may crash your computer altogether. Hotbar also disables certain popup blockers.
Hotbar can be forcibly installed when you visit certain websites, whether or not you agree to the download.
See Also
windows spyware removal
Preview Internet Explorer 8
Boost Your Computer Speed
Top five steps to stay secure on Internet
Top 5 steps to optimize your web browser experience
Hotbar consumes over 20.00 MB of disk space on your hard drive. It will slow down your browser, make your PC boot slower, and may crash your computer altogether. Hotbar also disables certain popup blockers.
Hotbar can be forcibly installed when you visit certain websites, whether or not you agree to the download.
See Also
windows spyware removal
Preview Internet Explorer 8
Boost Your Computer Speed
Top five steps to stay secure on Internet
Top 5 steps to optimize your web browser experience
Friday, May 1, 2009
GameSpy Arcade spyware
GameSpy Arcade is a game program that is used to find players, maps and servers when playing many well-known multiplayer Internet games. It also secretly installs the spyware WebHancer, an executable program that tracks and records a user's actions across the web and reportedly overwrites some vital system files, especially where the user's Internet relation is concerned.
Recommendation for GameSpy Arcade :
It is highly recommended that you do a scan to remove the bundled spyware.
See Also
antivirus windows
malicious spyware removal
Recommendation for GameSpy Arcade :
It is highly recommended that you do a scan to remove the bundled spyware.
See Also
antivirus windows
malicious spyware removal
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Gain spyware how it works and how to remove Gain spyware
The gain spyware was designed by claria corporation to get the details of of user habits about the websites they often visits so that they can display ads based on user habits
How Gain Spyware Gets In Your System
Some versions of Kazaa and other P2P programs have been known to install this. Also, it may download by the means of an ActiveX applet in Internet Explorer. If you click "Yes" to a prompt for this program, it will download and install the E-Wallet app and the GAIN app. Some versions have been known to use a file called "Trickler" to slowly and stealthily install the program and the adware component GAIN.
How to remove gain spyware
According to the publisher, Claria, you can remove it VIA the add/remove applet in the Microsoft Windows Control Panel. The adware "should" uninstall after all GAIN supported apps are gone. However if this does not work you may want to download an anti-spyware program. These automated programs can usually remove the E-Wallet Application and the GAIN Spyware App.
See also
windows spyware removal
how to remove cipav spyware
Will Your Device Work with Windows 7
Fix Windows Registry To Speed Up Your Comuter
How Gain Spyware Gets In Your System
Some versions of Kazaa and other P2P programs have been known to install this. Also, it may download by the means of an ActiveX applet in Internet Explorer. If you click "Yes" to a prompt for this program, it will download and install the E-Wallet app and the GAIN app. Some versions have been known to use a file called "Trickler" to slowly and stealthily install the program and the adware component GAIN.
How to remove gain spyware
According to the publisher, Claria, you can remove it VIA the add/remove applet in the Microsoft Windows Control Panel. The adware "should" uninstall after all GAIN supported apps are gone. However if this does not work you may want to download an anti-spyware program. These automated programs can usually remove the E-Wallet Application and the GAIN Spyware App.
See also
windows spyware removal
how to remove cipav spyware
Will Your Device Work with Windows 7
Fix Windows Registry To Speed Up Your Comuter
Friday, April 17, 2009
FBI Is Using Spyware Programs against Extortionists and Hackers
In a separate March 2007 Cinicinnati -based investigation of hackers who'd successfully targeted an unnamed bank, the documents indicate the FBI's efforts may have been detected. An FBI agent became alarmed when the hacker he was chasing didn't get infected with the spyware after visiting the CIPAV-loaded website. Instead, the hacker "proceeded to visit the site 29 more times," according to a summary of the incident. "In these instances, the CIPAV did not deliver its payload because of system incompatibility."
But the documents released Thursday under the Freedom of Information Act show the FBI has quietly obtained court authorization to deploy the CIPAV in a wide variety of cases, ranging from major hacker investigations, to someone posing as an FBI agent online. Shortly after its launch, the program became so popular with federal law enforcement that Justice Department lawyers in Washington warned that overuse of the novel technique could result in its electronic evidence being thrown out of court in some cases.
"While the technique is of indisputable value in certain kinds of cases, we are seeing indications that it is being used needlessly by some agencies, unnecessarily raising difficult legal questions (and a risk of suppression) without any countervailing benefit," reads a formerly-classified March 7, 2002 memo from the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
The documents, which are heavily redacted, do not detail the CIPAV's capabilities, but an FBI affidavit in the 2007 case indicate it gathers and reports a computer's IP address; MAC address; open ports; a list of running programs; the operating system type, version and serial number; preferred internet browser and version; the computer's registered owner and registered company name; the current logged-in user name and the last-visited URL.
After sending the information to the FBI, the CIPAV settles into a silent "pen register" mode, in which it lurks on the target computer and monitors its internet use, logging the IP address of every server to which the machine connects.
The documents shed some light on how the FBI sneaks the CIPAV onto a target's machine, hinting that the bureau may be using one or more web browser vulnerabilities. In several of the cases outlined, the FBI hosted the CIPAV on a website, and tricked the target into clicking on a link. That's what happened in the Washington case, according to a formerly-secret planning document for the 2007 operation. "The CIPAV will be deployed via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address posted to the subject's private chat room on MySpace.c0m."
In a separate February 2007 Cincinnati -based investigation of hackers who'd successfully targeted an unnamed bank, the documents indicate the FBI's efforts may have been detected. An FBI agent became alarmed when the hacker he was chasing didn't get infected with the spyware after visiting the CIPAV-loaded website. Instead, the hacker "proceeded to visit the site 29 more times," according to a summary of the incident. "In these instances, the CIPAV did not deliver its payload because of system incompatibility."
The agent phoned the FBI's Special Technologies Operations Unit for "urgent" help, expressing "the valid concern that the Unsub hackers would be 'spooked.'" But two days later the hacker, or a different one, visited the site again and "the system was able to deliver a CIPAV and the CIPAV returned data."
The software's primary utility appears to be in tracking down suspects that use proxy servers or anonymizing websites to cover their tracks. That's illustrated in several cases in the documents, including the 2004 hunt for a saboteur who cut off telephone, cable TV and internet service for thousands of Boston residents. The man's name is redacted from the documents, but the description of the case matches that of Danny Kelly, an unemployed Massachusetts engineer.
According to court records, Kelly deliberately cut a total of 18 communications cables belong to Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and others over a three month period. In anonymous extortion letters to Comcast and Verizon, Kelly threatened to increase the sabotage if the companies didn't begin paying him $10,000-a-month in protection money. He instructed the companies to deposit the cash in a new bank account and post the account information to a webpage he could access anonymously.
When the FBI tried to track him down from his visits to the webpage, they found he was routing through a German-based anonymizer. The FBI obtained a warrant to use the CIPAV on February 10, 2005, and was apparently successful. Kelly went on to plead guilty to extortion, and was sentenced to five years probation.
The CIPAV also played a previously-unreported role in an investigation of a prolific computer hacker who made headlines after penetrating thousands of computers at Cisco, various U.S. national laboratories, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2005. The FBI agent leading the case sought approval to plant a CIPAV through an undercover operative posing as a Defense Department contractor "with a computer network connected to JPL's computer network," according to one document. The FBI linked the intrusions to known 16-year-old hacker in Sweden.
And in 2005, FBI agents on the Innocent Images task force hit a wall when trying to track a sexual predator who'd begun threatening the life of a teenage girl he'd met for sex. The man's IP addresses were "from all over the world" -- a sign of web proxy use. The bureau sought and won court approval to use the CIPAV on August 9 2005.
Other cases are less weighty. In another 2oo5 case, someone was unwisely using the name of the chief of the FBI's Buffalo, New York office to harass people online. The FBI got a warrant to use the spyware to track down the fake agent.
Related Search
windows spyware removal
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But the documents released Thursday under the Freedom of Information Act show the FBI has quietly obtained court authorization to deploy the CIPAV in a wide variety of cases, ranging from major hacker investigations, to someone posing as an FBI agent online. Shortly after its launch, the program became so popular with federal law enforcement that Justice Department lawyers in Washington warned that overuse of the novel technique could result in its electronic evidence being thrown out of court in some cases.
"While the technique is of indisputable value in certain kinds of cases, we are seeing indications that it is being used needlessly by some agencies, unnecessarily raising difficult legal questions (and a risk of suppression) without any countervailing benefit," reads a formerly-classified March 7, 2002 memo from the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
The documents, which are heavily redacted, do not detail the CIPAV's capabilities, but an FBI affidavit in the 2007 case indicate it gathers and reports a computer's IP address; MAC address; open ports; a list of running programs; the operating system type, version and serial number; preferred internet browser and version; the computer's registered owner and registered company name; the current logged-in user name and the last-visited URL.
After sending the information to the FBI, the CIPAV settles into a silent "pen register" mode, in which it lurks on the target computer and monitors its internet use, logging the IP address of every server to which the machine connects.
The documents shed some light on how the FBI sneaks the CIPAV onto a target's machine, hinting that the bureau may be using one or more web browser vulnerabilities. In several of the cases outlined, the FBI hosted the CIPAV on a website, and tricked the target into clicking on a link. That's what happened in the Washington case, according to a formerly-secret planning document for the 2007 operation. "The CIPAV will be deployed via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address posted to the subject's private chat room on MySpace.c0m."
In a separate February 2007 Cincinnati -based investigation of hackers who'd successfully targeted an unnamed bank, the documents indicate the FBI's efforts may have been detected. An FBI agent became alarmed when the hacker he was chasing didn't get infected with the spyware after visiting the CIPAV-loaded website. Instead, the hacker "proceeded to visit the site 29 more times," according to a summary of the incident. "In these instances, the CIPAV did not deliver its payload because of system incompatibility."
The agent phoned the FBI's Special Technologies Operations Unit for "urgent" help, expressing "the valid concern that the Unsub hackers would be 'spooked.'" But two days later the hacker, or a different one, visited the site again and "the system was able to deliver a CIPAV and the CIPAV returned data."
The software's primary utility appears to be in tracking down suspects that use proxy servers or anonymizing websites to cover their tracks. That's illustrated in several cases in the documents, including the 2004 hunt for a saboteur who cut off telephone, cable TV and internet service for thousands of Boston residents. The man's name is redacted from the documents, but the description of the case matches that of Danny Kelly, an unemployed Massachusetts engineer.
According to court records, Kelly deliberately cut a total of 18 communications cables belong to Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and others over a three month period. In anonymous extortion letters to Comcast and Verizon, Kelly threatened to increase the sabotage if the companies didn't begin paying him $10,000-a-month in protection money. He instructed the companies to deposit the cash in a new bank account and post the account information to a webpage he could access anonymously.
When the FBI tried to track him down from his visits to the webpage, they found he was routing through a German-based anonymizer. The FBI obtained a warrant to use the CIPAV on February 10, 2005, and was apparently successful. Kelly went on to plead guilty to extortion, and was sentenced to five years probation.
The CIPAV also played a previously-unreported role in an investigation of a prolific computer hacker who made headlines after penetrating thousands of computers at Cisco, various U.S. national laboratories, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2005. The FBI agent leading the case sought approval to plant a CIPAV through an undercover operative posing as a Defense Department contractor "with a computer network connected to JPL's computer network," according to one document. The FBI linked the intrusions to known 16-year-old hacker in Sweden.
And in 2005, FBI agents on the Innocent Images task force hit a wall when trying to track a sexual predator who'd begun threatening the life of a teenage girl he'd met for sex. The man's IP addresses were "from all over the world" -- a sign of web proxy use. The bureau sought and won court approval to use the CIPAV on August 9 2005.
Other cases are less weighty. In another 2oo5 case, someone was unwisely using the name of the chief of the FBI's Buffalo, New York office to harass people online. The FBI got a warrant to use the spyware to track down the fake agent.
Related Search
windows spyware removal
top 10 virus removal
Types of Spyware in your computer
Password-Manipulating Virus Spreading
How To Secure Yourself Against Conficker Worm
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Types of Spyware in your computer
Spyware is any software that collects information from a PC without the user’s knowledge. There are many different types of spyware operating on the Internet but you can generally group them into two categories: Domestic Spyware and Commercial Spyware.
Domestic Spyware is software that is usually purchased and installed by computer owners to watch the Internet behavior on their computer networks. Employers use this software to monitor employee online activities; some family members use domestic spyware to monitor other family members (such as reviewing the content of children’s chat room sessions).
Commercial Spyware (also known as adware) is software that companies use to track your Internet browsing activities. Companies that track your online habits often sell this information to marketers who then hit you with targeted advertising—ads that match your browsing interests and would most likely appeal to you.
Advertisers are delighted when they acquire such valuable marketing information so easily; in the past marketers had to bribe you to learn your preferences through contests, registration surveys and the like. Those methods of gaining your personal information still exist, but in those cases you have the power to read the fine print to learn the fate of your data and so could choose to consent or refuse. Gaining your preferences by stealth using software spies is far easier and offers a much more complete picture for the marketing industry; as a result, spyware is everywhere. For more information on how and when spyware attaches itself to your computer, read
How Did Spyware End Up on My Computer?
At the very least, spyware is a nuisance—slowing down your computer, filling your hard drive with useless gunk and marking you as a target for enterprising advertisers. Beyond intruding on your privacy, spyware can be used as a tool to perpetuate crimes, such as identify fraud. Below is a list detailing different types of spyware and the purposes for each.
Internet URL loggers & screen recorders
URL loggers track websites and pages visited online; screen recorders can take a small grayscale snapshot image of your screen every time it changes and can store or transmit these without notifying you. These methods are common to Domestic spyware.
Keyloggers & password recorders Keyloggers & password recorders
When you bank online with this software on your hard drive someone is looking over your shoulder. Password recorders do just that—track typed passwords. Keylogger software records all of your keystrokes, not just passwords.
Web bugs
Web bugs are also known as advertiser spyware or adware. When you have adware on your computer you receive targeted, popup ads after you perform some action, such as typing something into a search engine. This advertising can even appear on your screen even when you are not online. If you are pummeled with new advertising screens constantly, you most likely have web bug spyware installed on your computer.
Browser hijacking
Browser hijackers place Internet shortcuts on your Favorites Folder without prompting you. This shortcut will lead many accidental viewers to their website so that they may artificially inflate their website\'s traffic stats; this enables them to receive higher advertising revenues at the expense of your time. You may be able to get rid of these false favorites by changing your Internet options, but occasionally the only way to get rid of these annoying shortcuts is to go into your registry and delete them. However, some spyware installs a safety net for itself that resets the spyware on your registry each time you reboot. Your only option to kill this aggressive type of spyware is to reformat your hard drive or to utilize an excellent anti-spyware program.
Modem hijacking
If you use a telephone modem for your Internet connection, an unscrupulous person may be able to install an online dialer on your computer to establish a new Internet connection that uses pricy 900-type long-distance phone numbers—quite a shock when you get your next telephone bill. These dialer spyware programs often piggy-back on spam and porn emails; simply opening the email can inadvertently initiate the dialer installation. The hard-to-track villain banks on the fact that you’ll pay your phone bill in full before you take time to figure out what happened.
PC hijacking
Some borrow your computer system for their own use—spyware users can hijack your connection to send their spam through your ISP. This means that a parasitical spammer can send thousands of spam emails through your computer connection and your ISP address. High-volume, high speed Internet access lines are targeted by users of this spyware. Often victims don’t realize that their good name has been muddied until their ISP cuts them off due to spam complaints.
Trojans & viruses
Like the wooden Trojan horse that the Greeks used to enter Troy, this spyware masquerades as a something harmless yet can compromise your computer—your data may be copied, distributed or destroyed. A virus is similar but has the additional power to replicate itself, causing damage to multiple computers. Both of these vicious pieces of software fall under the definition of spyware because the user is unaware of and would not condone their true purpose.
Related Search
morris worm removal
spyware adware removal software
Password-Manipulating Virus Spreading
How To Secure Yourself Against Conficker Worm
Domestic Spyware is software that is usually purchased and installed by computer owners to watch the Internet behavior on their computer networks. Employers use this software to monitor employee online activities; some family members use domestic spyware to monitor other family members (such as reviewing the content of children’s chat room sessions).
Commercial Spyware (also known as adware) is software that companies use to track your Internet browsing activities. Companies that track your online habits often sell this information to marketers who then hit you with targeted advertising—ads that match your browsing interests and would most likely appeal to you.
Advertisers are delighted when they acquire such valuable marketing information so easily; in the past marketers had to bribe you to learn your preferences through contests, registration surveys and the like. Those methods of gaining your personal information still exist, but in those cases you have the power to read the fine print to learn the fate of your data and so could choose to consent or refuse. Gaining your preferences by stealth using software spies is far easier and offers a much more complete picture for the marketing industry; as a result, spyware is everywhere. For more information on how and when spyware attaches itself to your computer, read
How Did Spyware End Up on My Computer?
At the very least, spyware is a nuisance—slowing down your computer, filling your hard drive with useless gunk and marking you as a target for enterprising advertisers. Beyond intruding on your privacy, spyware can be used as a tool to perpetuate crimes, such as identify fraud. Below is a list detailing different types of spyware and the purposes for each.
Internet URL loggers & screen recorders
URL loggers track websites and pages visited online; screen recorders can take a small grayscale snapshot image of your screen every time it changes and can store or transmit these without notifying you. These methods are common to Domestic spyware.
Keyloggers & password recorders Keyloggers & password recorders
When you bank online with this software on your hard drive someone is looking over your shoulder. Password recorders do just that—track typed passwords. Keylogger software records all of your keystrokes, not just passwords.
Web bugs
Web bugs are also known as advertiser spyware or adware. When you have adware on your computer you receive targeted, popup ads after you perform some action, such as typing something into a search engine. This advertising can even appear on your screen even when you are not online. If you are pummeled with new advertising screens constantly, you most likely have web bug spyware installed on your computer.
Browser hijacking
Browser hijackers place Internet shortcuts on your Favorites Folder without prompting you. This shortcut will lead many accidental viewers to their website so that they may artificially inflate their website\'s traffic stats; this enables them to receive higher advertising revenues at the expense of your time. You may be able to get rid of these false favorites by changing your Internet options, but occasionally the only way to get rid of these annoying shortcuts is to go into your registry and delete them. However, some spyware installs a safety net for itself that resets the spyware on your registry each time you reboot. Your only option to kill this aggressive type of spyware is to reformat your hard drive or to utilize an excellent anti-spyware program.
Modem hijacking
If you use a telephone modem for your Internet connection, an unscrupulous person may be able to install an online dialer on your computer to establish a new Internet connection that uses pricy 900-type long-distance phone numbers—quite a shock when you get your next telephone bill. These dialer spyware programs often piggy-back on spam and porn emails; simply opening the email can inadvertently initiate the dialer installation. The hard-to-track villain banks on the fact that you’ll pay your phone bill in full before you take time to figure out what happened.
PC hijacking
Some borrow your computer system for their own use—spyware users can hijack your connection to send their spam through your ISP. This means that a parasitical spammer can send thousands of spam emails through your computer connection and your ISP address. High-volume, high speed Internet access lines are targeted by users of this spyware. Often victims don’t realize that their good name has been muddied until their ISP cuts them off due to spam complaints.
Trojans & viruses
Like the wooden Trojan horse that the Greeks used to enter Troy, this spyware masquerades as a something harmless yet can compromise your computer—your data may be copied, distributed or destroyed. A virus is similar but has the additional power to replicate itself, causing damage to multiple computers. Both of these vicious pieces of software fall under the definition of spyware because the user is unaware of and would not condone their true purpose.
Related Search
morris worm removal
spyware adware removal software
Password-Manipulating Virus Spreading
How To Secure Yourself Against Conficker Worm
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