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NEWS ABOUT: computer virus

Status-Stealing Spammers Lurk on Twitter, Facebook

Hijacked accounts leave sting of shame

(Newser) - These days a computer virus can hijack not just your hard drive but also your online identity. Twitter and Facebook users are often mortified to learn that viruses have stormed their accounts, sending out messages to all their friends and followers. And all the more embarrassing when co-workers and loved... More »

.Com the Second Riskiest Domain

McAfee roots out the world's sketchiest domains

(Newser) - It may be the most familiar domain, but .com is also the extension second most likely to screw with your computer—beaten only by Cameroon's .cm. A whopping 32.2% of .com addresses pose a security risk, according to McAfee’s third annual “Mapping the Mal Web” report, compared... More »

iPhone Hacker Gets Job Writing Apps

21-year-old is hired by an Australian tech company

(Newser) - The 21-year-old who created the first-ever iPhone worm has landed a job developing apps for the phone. Ashley Towns revealed via his Twitter account that he's been hired by Australia's monogeneration. Towns has said he created the "ikee" worm—it changed users' wallpaper into a photo of Rick Astley—... More »

Your PC May Be Rife With Kid Porn

Victims face tough fight to clear names

(Newser) - Pedophiles troll the darkest corners of the Internet for abhorrent images—images that PC viruses let them download, store, and access on your computer until the police come knocking on your door. Lives and reputations are being ruined as unwitting users take the fall for images they were unaware of,... More »

Twitter Overflows With Malware

One in 500 tweets links to malicious software, experts say

(Newser) - Twitter is the perfect malware delivery system, enabling cybercriminals to lure users with a quick tweet on a hot topic and a shortened URL that hides a shady website’s identity. One in 500 URLs posted on Twitter links to live malware, says Kaspersky international, which make a program that... More »

Virus 'Scareware' Scams Millions

Alarming virus warnings part of major rip off

(Newser) - Alarming warnings that internet surfers' computers are being invaded by a devastating virus are almost always scams used to either hack into computers or rip off consumers for phony protective software. More than 40 million people have fallen victim to the "scareware" scam in the past year. Experts have... More »

Microsoft's Free Antivirus Software Actually Works!

Program performs well in stress test

(Newser) - Want a great, free antivirus program from a big software brand? OK, it’s from Microsoft, and … wait! Come back! Believe it or not, Microsoft’s new Security Essentials software is pretty darn good. AV-Test.org ran it through a bevy of tests and found the freebie performed admirably.... More »

New Trojan Horse Virus Stalks Online Banking

Infected computers provide secret log-ins to hackers

(Newser) - A complex new Trojan horse virus called Clampi is stealing online banking log-in codes from infected computers and broadcasting them to hackers who can then empty the victim's bank account, reports the Times of London. The virus spreads via websites laced with the malicious code, including banks, credit card companies,... More »

Jessica Biel Is Most Dangerous Celeb Online

Searches for actress yield most viruses, spyware: McAfee

(AP) - Jessica Biel is the most dangerous celebrity on the web, says a security tech firm. McAfee reported that searches for the 27-year-old actress are more likely to lead to online threats such as spyware and viruses than searches for any other celebrity. Fans searching for the actress have a one-in-five... More »

'Every iPhone in the World' at Risk Tomorrow

Text-messaging flaw could let hackers take over your mobile

(Newser) - The iPhone’s text-messaging system has a dangerous flaw that hackers could exploit to take control of your phone, researchers say. They’ll reveal the trouble at a conference tomorrow, Forbes reports. So if you get a text with a “single square character,” turn off your phone right... More »

Conficker Worm's Still Out There ... Doing Nothing

(Newser) - An April Fools information apocalypse did not occur, but the widespread Conficker virus that caused so much fear of is still out there, CNN reports. Experts are puzzled over the lack of an attack, but the sheer size of the Conficker infection—5 million computers—yields a clue. “The... More »

Experts Fear Robots Will Outsmart Humans

(Newser) - With Predator drones bombing villages and robots plugging themselves in, is Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey around the corner? Leading researchers met recently in Monterery Bay, Calif., to address such fears. Runaway superintelligence seems unlikely, they concluded, but speech synthesis technology could aid data-hunting crooks, and autonomous robotic... More »

Sorry Folks, No 'Twitpocalypse' Tonight

(Newser) - Rumors of a Y2K-style Twitter bug crashing the microblogging site tonight are mere tweeter-tattle, Ryan Paul writes on Ars Technica. True, Twitter assigns each missive with a numerical ID, and their total will soon exceed 2,147,483,647—the most a 32-bit assigned interger can fit. But the site,... More »

Microsoft to Release Free Anti-Virus Software Soon

(Newser) - Microsoft is developing free anti-virus software to compete with subscription services from Symantec and McAfee, Reuters reports. The program, codenamed Morro, will be released in beta “soon” and will likely have similar features to other companies’ entry-level products that cost about $40 a year. Microsoft made an attempt to... More »

Conficker Virus Comes Alive, Attacks PCs

(Newser) - Weeks after causing an April Fool's scare, the Conficker bug has come to life and used some personal computers to send out spam, Reuters reports. The computer virus, which has infected millions of PCs, downloaded the spam software onto a small percentage of them in recent weeks. One expert warns... More »

Conficker Worm Springs Into Action

Mysterious update begins to spread; millions vulnerable

(Newser) - The Conficker worm is showing signs of life a week later than expected, but experts aren’t quite sure what it’s doing, the BBC reports. The program, believed to be on millions of PCs worldwide, began updating itself last night, downloading encrypted software, researchers at Trend Micro found. The... More »

Computer Virus Phobia Leads to ... Computer Viruses

(Newser) - Fear of computer viruses is now one of the major reasons people are getting them in the first place, Reuters reports. According to Microsoft, seven of the 25 top threats come in the form of fake security programs, which users terrified of malware like Conficker are installing indiscriminately. Losing market... More »

Conficker Worm Threat Lingers

27 tech giants have banded together to fight it

(Newser) - April Fools’ Day passed without major incident, but the Conficker computer worm is still contacting 500 websites daily from millions of infected computers, reports PC World. A conglomerate of 27 tech heavyweights—including Microsoft, Facebook, and AOL—have managed to limit the peer-to-peer worm’s communicability. But Conficker is still... More »

Conficker Worm Date Passes Quietly—So Far

Experts warn megavirus could still pose a serious threat

(Newser) - The Conficker worm came to life on its April 1 trigger date but failed to cause any major incidents—so far, Infoworld reports. Fears that the internet itself might be affected have yet to materialize, though experts warn that the malware—estimated to be lying in wait in 10 million... More »

How to Find, Kill the Conficker Worm

Computer invader may cause trouble tomorrow

(Newser) - Millions of PCs have been infected with the Conficker worm, and word has it the program may cause mischief tomorrow—April Fool’s Day. But routing it out needn’t be difficult, the AP reports. Here’s how:
  • The worm blocks access to Microsoft and antivirus vendor sites, which offer
... More »

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