Zango & Value Click In The News Today

As it's turning out, ValueClick has given me reason to make an entire thread dedicated to their recent activities with rogues. It will be updated as news warrants. Just today there are two items posted by MS MVP Mike Burgess on his Hosts News. You can read about those here

And in Zango news, they recently filed a lawsuit against PCTools. But upon further investigation by Sunbelt researchers, it appears that all is not as clear and concise as Zango would have you believe. What a shocker, huh? More on that here

Dell Online Store Email Installs Trojan

Fake Dell online store email installs trojan. Read & Discuss Here

DeskMate Casino Vendor Threatens Spybot

Casino software vendor threatens Spybot group because they detect their software. It appears to be installed via malware. But they don't seem to care. I bet you can't guess what Spybot gang told 'em? Read & Discuss Here

MS May Security Bulletin

Published May 8 2007

Summary
This bulletin summary includes security updates for newly discovered vulnerabilities.

Critical:7 Read More Here

Poll, Vid & Comments On Crapware

I've set up a new poll in the forums. It has to do with 'crapware'. You know, the extra junk software new PCs come with from OEMs such as Dell, Gateway and HP. There is a video from CNET too. Watch the vid, take the poll and add your own comments

Rogue\Suspect Anti-Spyware List Updated

Eric Howes has updated the Rogue\Suspect Anti-Spyware List. Just click the link to the right to view the latest additions.

Trojan Poses As Activation Screen

Well the malware authors have really outdone themselves here. This trojan presents a MS looking blue boot up screen and asks for your CC info. Decline it, and the PC reboots. Read More Here

Update To Engima Software Post

Well it seems the gang at Enigma have decided to make an attempt to reign in the affiliates which were 'spamvertising' forums and social networking sites.

After a long discussion at Spyware Warriors, they finally got it. But only time will tell if new policies, if any, are effective or if the existing ones are enforced.

One thing is for sure......if they are not enforced the community will know. Very quickly.

Enigma Software Try To Silence The Critics

Well the gang behind the most current crop of forum spam has taken exception to the publicity. And you would think they would actually like it. But of course it's not exactly of the flattering kind of publicity. One could paint it as not flattering. Especially if it's really just an unethical method of advertising your product. And it's not even done in a manner which is obvious. The push generically named removal tools for the latest malware and install the samething in each instance, Spy Hunter.

They posted a press release asking for discussion on the matter with the security community. They threaten a possibility of legal action even. Maybe they ought to spend their money on good, honest affiliates instead of lawyers. Now that would be good publicity. Read More Here

New Malware Center From MS

Microsoft has developed a malware portal of sorts. Has all kinds of info on it. It is still in beta tho. It lists the most active viruses, malware, email spam and much more. Read More Here

SmithFraud Fix, SDFix Tools

I've just updated a couple of threads in our Latest Malware Threats Forum. I updated the SmitFraud post to show links to changelogs and tools and added one for SDFix, a bot detection and removal tool.

Russinovich On Vista Malware

Noted Microsoft evangelist Mark Russinovich weighs in on Vista and malware.

Essentially, he says regardless of UAC, malware writers will conquer Vista as they always have with other OSes.

I've already seen malware on Vista systems so it's no big shock. Read More Here

New WinPatrol Build 3

BillP, developer of the famous WinPatrol has come out with a fresh build and made a few additions and cleaned a few bugs. Read More Here

AVG\Grisoft Now Support Windows Vista

AVG\Grisoft announces that their product, Internet Security 7.5 now supports Windows Vista. Read More Here

Hand In Hand?

Could the fact that botnets are getting stronger and smarter coincide with phishing attacks decrease overall, but targets increase?

Check out the links and decide for yourself.

So, Do YOU Pay Attention?

Over in the forums, I posted about how many users simply fail to recognize a broken security measure and they log in anyway.

Until the regular Joe Q. Net users wakes up, phishing will always be a lucrative means of income for malware writers. Join the conversation:

Website Authentication Measures Ignored by 92%

More On Spyware Help Matter Group

For some other information about the previously blogged about 'Spyware Help: Intent Matters Alot:Part 2 ' group, read this blog by Security Cadets.

Spyware Help: Intent Matters Alot:Part 2

It's been a little over a year since I last blogged about it, and it seems it's time for another go.

The last week or so, I have noticed a pattern of links showing up on Digg which purport to take care of all your woes dealing with the latest SmithFraud\Zlob variant, Spylock(ed). They were posted usually a couple of days apart and rarely had more than one digg.

Now it's not so bad that websites offer to fix you up with the latest rage-in-the-cage type malware infection. I'm all for sites which do this, it's what I do too.

The big difference here is of course, you won't find me, nor anyone associated with me, plastering forums with a tag team duo to direct users to my site. Like here, here, here and here. These people, much like the first group I blogged about have only one thing in mind: to make money of site traffic\clicks. That's it. They don't care about your machine whatsoever.

This group appears to be related to SpyHunter\Enigma Software Group. They have been pretty quiet for some time. But it appears
that with each of the downloads from 411 sites, they are installing SpyHunter.

So once again, a once dormant rogue rears its ugly head out from the shadows, to spam forums and newsgroups and the occasional social networking site. You really can't change this tigers stripes.

Greed is as greed does to take a cue from Forrest.

3 Part Story On Cyber Criminal Activity

MSNBC has a three part series exploring the cyber criminal world and activity within. 150 millions infected PCs. Botnets sending out spam by the millions. Gang fights with eachother. All for their piece of your stolen identity. Read More Here

Monthly Microsoft Security Bulletins: April

MS monthly updates available, several critical rated. Read More Here