"Hacking like its 1964"... by fax!
News that renowned companies in the IT security industry had apparently been hacked quickly spread through Twitter and other channels. It soon became clear, however, that the report was inaccurate. There was no hacking involved, but employees of two domain registries who had been tricked in an…
"Potentially Unwanted Programs": much more than just annoying
Technology forums are full of complaints and questions about "Potentially Unwanted Programs", or PUPs. Users complain that "a virus has infected their browser" or "a toolbar has hacked into the PC" and they justifiably feel extremely aggrieved by this. However, this does not involve malware in the…
Email account hacked, phishing messages sent, traces obliterated
A very unusual case of account hacking has been reported to G Data Security Labs: the victim's Gmail account was not only hacked and used for sending spam to the addresses stored in the account – which is bad enough in itself. Settings were also changed to cover up the deed!
A curious phone call – when a help desk scammer offers you a job
A few days ago, someone called my landline number. I saw that the incoming number was ‘unknown’ so I suspected some media representative. However, it turned out to be somebody completely different: a self-proclaimed computer tech support with heavy Indian accent, trying to talk me into following his…
Football enthusiasm can turn into fan frustration
The upcoming UEFA Champions League final is an absolute highlight for German football fans as well as international football followers. The hype surrounding the "Duel of German Giants" is driving up the prices of tickets on the (black) market and is naturally inspiring fraudsters as well.…
A new bot on the market: Beta Bot
In the beginning of March 2013, a new bot called “Beta Bot” entered the market. With less than €500, Beta Bot is sold relatively cheap, considering its vast feature list. Even though most of those features are pretty standard for today's bots, like different DOS-attack methods, remote connection…
Apparent security certificate turns out to be Android malware
The fraudsters are targeting Android mobile devices with which users receive mTANs for online banking services. If a user installs the offered app, which was even available in the Google Play store, this does not increase the user's online banking security but opens the gates to attackers.
Explosions at Boston Marathon inspire cyber attackers
The bomb explosions during the famous marathon in Boston have shocked people around the globe – it is still unclear who is behind them and cyber attackers are shamelessly exploiting this fact. They promise news about the events but transmit malware to unsuspecting users!
Primed browser extension delivers unwanted Facebook likes
A primed browser extension works in the background every time a website is opened, almost without the user noticing. The unaware users see mysterious "likes" in their personal accounts, but where they have come from remains obscure to many at first. Experts at G Data SecurityLabs have been taking a…
A different kind of contact: malware attack instead of an online business card
Most users think that spam emails are mainly used for phishing attacks. That is a fairly reasonable assumption, however, the number of malware attacks initiated using emails is also on the rise. In a recent example of this, attackers used fake LinkedIn contact requests to lure their victims to…
Karsten Hahn
Virus Analyst
Tim Berghoff
Security Evangelist
