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Kaspersky update hoses Internet access for Windows XP users

Windows XP users who run certain Kaspersky antivirus software may find themselves offline after downloading a new update.

Released yesterday, the update causes Windows XP computers to lose their connection to the Internet.

IT administrators who use Kaspersky Endpoint Security at their organizations chimed into the Kaspersky forum yesterday and today complaining of connectivity problems. One person who manages around 12,000 computers with KES installed noted a slew of calls to the help desk from users knocked offline.

Some IT admins said they were able to restore Internet access by shutting down the monitoring of certain ports or disabling … Read more

Android malware uses your PC's own mic to record you

A couple of Android apps masquerading as cleanup tools actually had a sneakier mission in mind.

Uncovered last month by Kaspersky, two apps named Superclean and DroidCleaner posed as software that claimed to clean up your Android smartphone or tablet. Instead, these two were actually pieces of malware designed to snoop on your conversations by infecting your computer.

The programs worked by downloading files that automatically execute after plugging an Android device into a Windows PC, according to Kaspersky's blog. After executing, the malware would trigger the audio recorder function in Windows, write the information to a file, and … Read more

'Red October' malware spies on governments worldwide

Kaspersky Lab has discovered yet another worldwide spying campaign that targets governmental bodies, political groups and research institutions.

On par with the memorable Flame malware, Kaspersky and a number of Cyber Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) discovered the malware -- known as Rocra or Red October -- which mostly targets institutions based in Eastern Europe, former USSR members and countries in Central Asia.

Kaspersky says that Red October has been gathering data and intelligence from "mobile devices, computer systems and network equipment" and is currently still active. Data is gathered and sent to multiple command-and-control servers which the security … Read more

E-mailed malware disguised as group coupon offers on the rise

Be sure to double check that Groupon you received in your e-mail -- spammers are using the popularity of e-mailed advertisements for group discount deals to send more malware.

The rise of malware through fake e-mail advertisements and notifications are on the rise, according to a study released today by security firm Kaspersky Lab.

"They are primarily doing so by sending out malicious e-mails designed to look like official notifications. Kaspersky Lab is seeing more and more malicious spam designed to look like coupon service notifications," the report said.

The firm said it also noted these coupon spam … Read more

Kaspersky builds its own antimalware OS -- but not for you

The folks at Kaspersky Lab are aiming to create their own secure operating system, but this one would run on industrial systems rather than your average home PC.

In blog posted today, company CEO Eugene Kaspersky confirmed the rumors of a new OS, describing the background behind the effort and hinting at the development process.

Cyberattacks present a growing and challenging problem for industries maintaining systems that must be powered on all the time. If a virus affects a computer at most companies, that computer can be unplugged from the network so as not to infect other devices, Kaspersky said. … Read more

Kaspersky reports 3 more Flame-related malware variants

Kaspersky Lab has published an update in its investigation of the Flame cyber-espionage campaign, which the security experts discovered in May.

The research, which Kaspersky conducted in partnership with IMPACT, CERT-Bund/BSI and Symantec, identified traces of three previously undiscovered malicious programs.

Specifically, Symantec has highlighted forensic analysis of two of the command-and-control (C&C) servers behind the W32.Flamer attacks that targeted the Middle East earlier this year.

Here's what the group found after analyzing the C&C servers:

The two servers were set up on March 25, 2012, and May 18, 2012.The servers … Read more

Kaspersky 2013 ups the ante with exploit prevention

The 2013 updates to the Kaspersky protection suites bring to consumers some of the most advanced security technology currently available. It involves introducing an exploit prevention engine as part of the security suite, but also a Safe Money banking protection tool that you can interact directly with. The suite's scans aren't the fastest, but it definitely will protect you.

Installation Installing Kaspersky has been dramatically simplified over the past two years. Following on 2012's fuss-free install, the installer for 2013 will remove conflicting security programs and any detected malware automatically.

You're still on the hook for … Read more

New Kaspersky appeals to your cash sense

A safer way to conduct online transactions and a new exploit blocker are the keystones to Kaspersky Lab's 2013 security suites, the company announced today.

The major new feature that's in both Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 (download exclusively from Download.com today) and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2013 (download) is the exploit blocking engine called Automatic Exploit Prevention. It's a response to the increase in the number of phishing attacks and includes an anti-phishing engine -- similar to the antivirus and anti-malware engines -- that updates daily.

Roel Schouwenberg, a senior antivirus researcher at Kaspersky and founding member of … Read more

Zap rootkits with Kaspersky TDSSKiller

Rootkits burrow into the roots of your Windows operating system, hiding and intercepting Windows API functions, often modifying them for their own purposes, which are seldom benign. TDSSKiller by Kaspersky Labs can find and remove rootkits, either in Normal Mode or Safe Mode. It targets malware where it lurks, including boot records.

We extracted and ran TDSSKiller, which immediately found an available update. Kaspersky strongly advised downloading the update before we scanned our system; we strongly agreed. This involved downloading and extracting a completely new copy of this compact, portable app, but that probably took less time than most ordinary … Read more

With Gauss tool, cyberspying moves beyond Stuxnet, Flame

Gauss, a new "cyber-espionage toolkit," has emerged in the Middle East and is capable of stealing sensitive data such as browser passwords, online banking accounts, cookies, and system configurations, according to Kaspersky Lab. Gauss appears to have come from the same nation-state factories that produced Stuxnet.

According to Kaspersky, Gauss has unique characteristics relative to other malware. Kaspersky said it found Gauss following the discovery of Flame. The International Telecommunications Union has started an effort to identify emerging cyberthreats and mitigate them before they spread.

In a nutshell, Gauss launched around September 2011 and was discovered in June. … Read more