Windows malware 'Snake' ported to Mac for first time, masquerades as Adobe Flash: "A piece of malware long targeting Windows users —known sometimes as "Snake," "Turla," or "Uroboros" —is now reportedly being turned against Mac owners."

Labels: malware

Don’t trust OAuth: Why the “Google Docs” worm was so convincing | Ars Technica: "An evil phishing worm masquerading as "Google Docs" took the Internet by storm today. It sent an e-mail claiming to be from a friend or relative who wanted to share a document with you. Clicking on the "Open in Docs" button asked you to log in to Google, then it popped up a familiar OAuth request asking for some permissions."

Labels: malware

Microsoft Word macro malware automatically adapts attack techniques for macOS, Windows: "When executed, the macro reads and decodes base 64-encoded data stored in the file's "comments" property. This code turns out to be a python script that attempts to detect the operating system the file is opened inside, running one of two different functions depending on if the host system is running macOS or Windows. "

Labels: malware

Inside the Hunt for Russia's Most Notorious Hacker | WIRED: "Werner, as it happened, knew quite a bit about Evgeniy Bogachev. He knew in precise, technical detail how Bogachev had managed to loot and terrorize the world’s financial systems with impunity for years.

Labels: malware, security, security is hard

Lad cuffed after iOS call exploit knocks out Arizona 911 center • The Register: "The flood of calls from smartphones and tablets was eventually traced to Desai's personal site hosted in San Francisco, California; the cops managed to get the plug pulled on the site. The teen was arrested, taken to jail, and booked on three charges of computer tampering. A search warrant was also carried out at his home."

Labels: malware

Three times as bad as malware: Google shines light on pay-per-install • The Register: "As some point you have probably downloaded a "free" piece of software only to find it has come with a whole host of other unwanted friends that go on to redirect your browser search bar or inject ads where there weren't any before.

This is the world of pay-per-install (PPI) and Google, along with New York University and the International Computer Science Institute, spent a year digging into the little-understood market, publishing their results in a paper [PDF] this week."

Labels: malware, pay per install

Another Mac-specific malware pops up, but Apple's Gatekeeper still prevents infection: "A second piece of Mac-specific malware has been discovered this week, one that could expose the passwords stored in the macOS Keychain. But once again, Apple's Gatekeeper security — when properly configured — will block the attack from succeeding."

Labels: mac, mac os x, macOS, malware

Security features in Mac OS X Yosemite | Kaspersky Lab Official Blog
It doesn’t, however, mean that it is an “absolutely” protected operating system – unfortunately, there are no such systems. Moreover, the number of threats targeting OS X, specifically, is growing as is the number of Mac users. This certainly has drawn the attention of criminals, who are looking into vulnerabilities and occasionally finding them.

Labels: mac, mac security, malware

Malwarebytes takes in $30M, its first round since launching in 2008 | VentureBeat | Deals | by Richard Byrne Reilly: "It is an astonishing tale that continues to amaze. Today, Malwarebytes’ anti-virus security software protects the computers and mobile devices of more than 206 million clients who are fiercely loyal, employs 140 — 90 of whom occupy R&D roles — and will soon begin acquiring smaller players in the space."

Labels: malware

Apple pulls Russian malware from iOS App Store: "Hours after it was highlighted by a security firm, Russian-language malware on the iOS App Store was removed by Apple and is no longer available for download.

Labels: app store, malware, sandbox, security