Dangerous rootkit collecting data on rise

Security experts are warning about a stealthy Windows virus that steals login details for online bank accounts. In the last month, the malicious program has racked up about 5,000 victims – most of whom are in Europe. The malicious program is a type of virus known as a rootkit and it tries to overwrite part of a computer’s hard drive called the Master Boot Record (MBR). Once installed the virus, dubbed Mebroot by Symantec, usually downloads other malicious programs, such as keyloggers, to do the work of stealing confidential information. Most of these associated programs lie in wait on a machine until its owner logs in to the online banking systems of one of more than 900 financial institutions.The Russian virus-writing group behind Mebroot is thought to have created the torpig family of viruses that are known to have been installed on more than 200,000 systems. This group specialises in stealing bank login information. Security firm iDefense said Mebroot was discovered in October but started to be used in a series of attacks in early December. Between 12 December and 7 January, iDefense detected more than 5,000 machines that had been infected with the program. As it installs through security holes in Microsoft Explorer, it’s just another reason to use Firefox or Opera…

Top of Top 10 2007 Lists

As 2007 ends and 2008 starts, professionals sum up the year and start to write the “Top 10 of 2007“. Everyone writes what he\she rate as the top of the year in a certain category, genre, or type. But, I’ll do something different. 🙂 I’ll evaluate their lists and post links to the top 10 listing sites.

1. Time.com: 50 top 10 lists of 2007.
2. Lifehacker.com: Twenty top 10’s of 2007.
3. Techcrunch.com: The year in deals 2007.
4. PCworld.com: The 100 Best Products of 2007.
5. Wired.com: Top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2007.
6. SANS: Top-20 2007 Security Risks
7. Larry Ferlazzo: The best 2.0 Apps for education 2007.
8. Time.com: Best Inventions of the Year 2007.
9. Gamespot.com: Best games of 2007.
10. Slashfilm.com: The Definitive Top 25 Movies of 2007.

20% of world computers infected with rootkits

Malware researchers at Prevx have highlighted what they are calling a ‘massive growth’ in the number of PCs harboring rootkit infections. More than 725,000 PCs were scanned using the Prevx CSI malware scanner over a two-month period. Of the around 291,000 users who scanned their PCs during October 2007, some form of spyware or malware was found on one in six. Significantly, although rootkits were detected on 15.6% of PCs during October 2007, that figure had risen to 22% by early December. Rootkits are often ‘dropped’ or buried by other infections. They then modify a PC’s operating system to hide themselves from both the user and any security products installed on the computer. By so doing rootkits can allow criminals to remotely monitor, record, modify, steal and transfer data from the victim’s PC.