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Posts Tagged “

Viruses

papercraft

Symantec Papercraft Bots: Must. Resist. Clever. Marketing.

The only thing better than a robot may be a papercraft robot, and computer security software company Symantec clearly totally realizes this. Because to better educate the public on various malware bots that can infect their systems, Symantec has released free thematic papercraft robots. And kudos to their marketing department—they aren't covered in logos for Norton Antivirus or something. Here's a picture of their identity theft bot. Hit the link to collect all two! [Symantec via boingboing]

spam

Happy 30th Birthday, Spam!

Oh Spam, my how you have grown! Thirty years ago, on this day, you came into the world as a little misguided e-mail sent by an equipment engineer over Arpanet to promote a new line of computers. You were quickly shot down by other Arpanet users who called it an "insult... to have an obvious commercial message sent out over a research network." Yet, at some point in time, people stopped protesting you loudly enough. Now you comprise 80 percent to 95 percent of all e-mail sent, your crafty trojans and pesky viruses have infected millions of computers, and you've cost IT departments nearly $200 billion to combat you. But since it's your birthday, instead of telling you like we usually do to GTFO, let us sing you a little song instead. It goes something like this: More »

art

World's Least Favorite Computer Viruses As Haunting 3D Art

The image above isn't something from James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep. No, it's actually an artist's rendering of a spam email with the subject, "HAVE YOU EVER HEARD THAT YOU ARE GETTING FAT?" The images below represent some of the most notorious code the world has seen, including PWS-Lineage, Stormy, MyDoom, Mytob, IRCBot and Netsky.
More »

security

Globalization and Its Malcontents: Mexico, India and Africa Will Be New Epicenters of Internet Crime

Computer viruses no longer come from the US or Europe; the hottest hotbeds of hackerdom may be in China and Russia now, but even that will shift. Soon, the most dangerous internet criminals might hail from Mexico, India and Africa, says a new study. Shouldn't somebody call Nick Negroponte? More »

security

Ang Lee's "Lust" Spreads Sexually Transmitted PC Virus

People who didn't want to settle for the sanitized version of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution turned to the dirtier illegal download, and ended up in need of a shot of virtual penicillin. Chinese censors chopped about 30 minutes of the old hot-n-heavy out of the movie, increasing demand for a pirated copy showing the American cut. But hackers have replaced many copies of the film with bundles of malicious software causing everything from BSOD to password theft. It's known as Trojan.Win32.Mnless.zgw, though InfoWorld and others prefer "the Lust virus." At last count, about 15 of Lust downloads were poised to zap systems. Question: what's the downside for censors or the piracy-fearing MPAA? Answer: there is none. [InfoWorld]

gadgets

UV Disinfectant Wand Kills Creepy Crawlies, Lets You Spot Bodily Fluids

The UV Disinfectant Wand looks kinda like a Moto KRZR, but its clamshell shape can be put to an entirely different use. It emits ultraviolet radiation, and it's said to kill 99.9% of the bacteria and viruses in its path. Just 10 seconds worth of this death ray, and bacteria and viral DNA will supposedly be sent packing. Either that or it will give them one hell of a sunburn. More »

gadgets

Panasonic Air Filter Removes Bird Flu Virus

Remember how bird flu was supposed to be the next great pandemic, sentencing humanity to an unfortunate, if not untimely, end? Fear not, for Panasonic has created a filter that they claim is 99.999 percent effective in removing the virus (plus others like SARS and "normal" influenza) from the air we breathe. It uses what Panasonic has christened Super Alleru-Buster technology to do the dirty work of removing pathogens from the air. More »

software

Popular Antivirus Apps Don't Work 80% of the Time

Feeling all smug, snug and secure because you have antivirus software running on that PC of yours? Think again. Graham Ingram, the general manager of Australia's Computer Emergency Response Team says the most popular antivirus applications are about as impregnable as a screen door in a submarine, letting 80% of the creepy crawlies through. More »

gadgets

Viruses Engineered to Make Batteries


Researchers have engineered viruses to attract metals and spin them into battery components.
Modifying viral genes so the outside viral layer would bind with certain metal ions, they found that incubating the virus in a cobalt chloride solution produced nanowires that work as positive electrodes.
The AP said that the scientists introduced a bit of gold for the desired electrical effects, but we all know that they were proud and just wanted to add a little bling. More »

cellphones

Cellphone Trojan from Russia

Just in time for PayPal Mobile, there's a Trojan that called RedBrowser that pretends to browse the web using SMS instead of a WAN connection. Instead of giving you sweet, sweet Internet access, however, it runs up $5 and $6 SMS charges for folks on the Russian Beeline, MTS and Megafon networks. Would we be stupid enough to fall for it here? Ummm... More »

software

Mac Trojan Horse Appears: Ha!

The Mac Observer is reporting on a Trojan Horse has surfaced on the web that affects Mac users. The Trojan, which has been named Oompa-Loompa is a malware-esque application that tricks unsuspecting Mac owners into thinking it is a JPEG image. If it is launched it requires administrator access before having the ability to install files, cause carnage, and duplicate itself by sending to your iChat buddy list. Suck on dem apples, Apple. More »