Lavasoft Company Blog

• 2009 Internet Security - Malware Labs' Outlook

  It’s not easy making sense of the Internet security landscape; online threats are constantly changing, as cyber thieves adapt their techniques to get ahold of your valuable private information. To help you, our users, to have a better understanding of what the past year has brought in terms of your online security, we took a few specific questions to our Malware Labs team to get the perspective of our analysts here at Lavasoft, and included this Q & A on malware in 2009 in the latest edition of our monthly newsletter. Here’s an excerpt  – In general, what type of year has 2009 been in terms of online threats that users are faced with? “The number of malware samples added to detection in Q1/Q2 of 2009 has increased by 600 percent compared to Q1/Q2 of 2008. The bad guys have been busy.” What was the biggest challenge that the bad guys presented this past year? “The sheer volume of malware being produced has been the biggest challenge for us - many samples are repackaged versions of the same thing so we have worked hard on making efficient detection routines for ‘same but different’ malware. Malware writers, rather than simply releasing one version of their creation into the wild, will make changes to the malware so that while the functionality of it remains the same, it looks like a different file. They then release thousands of essentially the same file into the Internet. Our new detection system in Ad-Aware, Genotype, allows us to look at core attributes of this series of malware - we then create detection routines that allow us to detect all of the files that share the same core attributes.” You’ll find the full article in the December 2009 issue of the Lavasoft News security newsletter. - 13 hours ago

• New Rogue: AntiKeep

  The cyber criminals behind all cloned WiniGuard applications have now released a new one called AntiKeep. Albin Lavasoft Malware Labs - 5 days ago

• More on Rogues, Scareware - And How to Keep Safe

  As you may have seen, Lavasoft recently announced the launch of a new reference tool to combat rogues - The Rogue Gallery - giving users like you a way to easily identify what security programs are rogue, or fake. News of The Rogue Gallery was quickly picked up by a number of tech and security sites. We’re pleased to see Malware Labs' work in monitoring and apprehending these fake programs being recognized – allowing more computer users to become aware of this growing threat, and to learn how they can avoid becoming the next victim. As PC World’s Erik Larkin put it, “...the site is another welcome tool to help combat the fraudulent schemes that rake in big bucks for the crooks behind the scams.” And there’s no question that the scammers are raking in plenty through this malware model, creating new rogue programs at a rapid rate. According to our researchers at Malware Labs, this past November alone saw the release of 22 new rogues – almost one new rogue program per day. Take a look at this year-long perspective: While these rogue programs abound on the Web, it’s not easy for computer users to tell the difference between real and bogus security software. Considering the number of users who do fall for the fakes, it’s clear that more awarenes is still needed to make sure that rogue vendors stop profiting from unknowing users. On that note, you’ll also find a segment on The Rogue Gallery giving a brief explanation of rogues and scareware, and simple tips you can use to keep safe from them. Check back often at The Rogue Gallery for the latest updates! - 5 days ago