Radio Station Website Compromise Leads to Visitor Infection Threat

The US-CERT National Cyber Awareness System sent out a notification yesterday and revised it today, May 21st entitled “TA13-141A: Washington, DC Radio Station Web Site Compromises”. The document outlines that on May 16th US-CERT was informed that two websites www.federalnewsradio-dot-com and www.wtop-dot-com had been compromised and that redirects had been put in place that would send Internet Explorer users to …

Remote tech support installs malware on server?

I received a phone call from a client last night who said that they could not browse the internet at their organization and that mail was down as well. Here are the initial observations: Their Cisco VoIP phone system was able to make calls and internal machines could ping outside servers by IP, but not by name, indicating that the …

The next reason for gas costing more at the pump could be malware…

Gasoline has started its seasonal increase in cost, as I am sure you have noticed. Why does it cost of fluctuate? One reason is that as we move towards summer months, additives are implemented which are mandated to be used between April and September in a bid to reduce pollutants. The process costs money, as do the additives, and that …

Apple Macs infected with malware – at Apple Inc

Remember the computer that is impervious to malware, the Apple Mac? Well here’s one for you… Yesterday, Apple Inc announced that computers within their own network have been exploited.  Mac computers in other companies have also been exploited. It’s always a heated subject whenever I mention that more and more Apple Macs are becoming compromised. Very passionate people will argue …

3 Billion Devices Run Java… And many need to update it!

Oracle’s emergency update to Java Runtime Environment and the Development Kit should be applied, immediately. If you are using Java on your system… Please make sure it is up to date, or consider disabling it all together if you can live without it to decrease the likelihood you could become exploited. A large number of the machines that we are …

Conspiracy theory – Anti-Virus companies are the ones releasing viruses

I bet at some point, you thought to yourself, “The same companies that provide anti-virus programs are also the people who write viruses.” The logic behind that is, if Symantec releases viruses, then people need anti-virus software, right? If I had a quarter for every time I had heard that, I would easily have enough for a steak dinner! I don’t …

Mass murder via computer malware in medical devices #MurderByMalware

Imagine you have a pacemaker installed, and suddenly, the device discharges 830 volts into your body, certainly a fatal incident. Now imagine that it is not accidental, but instead, a computer is used to make a wireless connection and cause this behavior to occur.  Murder by Malware if you will…  Or, due to a “feature” in the pacemaker itself, multiple …

Microsoft Windows 7 Malware Infection Rate on the Rise

Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report, Volume 13 is full of information that will cause your eyes to bleed, but one tidbit that is important to take note of is that Windows 7 malware infection rates are on the rise. Computer World has a great article on the subject at this link, and a spiffy graph that looks like this: From the …