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Latest TechTalk
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Latest TechTalk
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Visual Look At How The Trojan.Popuper Infection Works
by Crecia Scovill
The Trojan.Popuper, or popuper infection is very common on the Internet these days. It is most commonly spread through pornographic sites and peer-to-peer file sharing systems. Popuper takes advantage of the common use of ActiveX Controls that are widely used for media content (more on this topic can be found in the article Codec Craze (http://home.stopsign.com/reference/tech-talk/codec-craze-2.php)). Once this infection gets installed, a user will begin receiving popups and warnings telling them that their computer is infected. The infection warnings encourage a user to download and purchase a number of anti-spyware or anti-virus programs, all of which are spyware themselves. Trojan.Popuper will even hijack a user's homepage in attempts to further urge a user to install the rogue applications.
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What are Keyloggers?
A keylogger is a type of surveillance
software that can record every keystroke made to a log file that can
be viewed later. Keyloggers can record instant messages, emails, login
information, and any other sensitive data a user types in. Keyloggers can be used legitimately in
many ways, such as in law enforcement when trying to catch a
criminal, companies monitoring employees' computer usage, and parents
keeping tabs on their childrens' online activities. However, when
used maliciously, a keylogger can be a very dangerous malware
program.
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Malicious Internet Dialers-What They Are and How To Prevent Them
There are legitimate and malicious Internet dialers all over the Internet. The malicious dialers
redirect internet connections to a party that is not the user's
default connection, such as a porn site. These dialers can connect to premium numbers and rack up huge phone bills. Dialers only work through modem-based dialup
connections. Though dialup connections are not as popular as they
once were, there are enough people using a dialup connection to make
a malicious dialer one of the largest threats in the malware realm.
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What is a Browser Hijacker?
Also known as hijackware,
browser hijackers
alter web browser settings to change your default start
pages
and search
pages.
Most browser malware is
written purely to increase web traffic and advertising revenue. Some of the more
dangerous malware hijacker
programs will even leave bookmarks or favorites in your browser, without your
consent.
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Codec Craze
Malware
creators have began to develop fake codecs in order to take advantage
of the rising popularity of streaming
video and video clips on the internet. One of the most common
malware infections on the net right
now is spreading through a number of fake codecs.The infection
installed by these fake codecs are detected by StopSign as Popuper and
Trojan.Popuper, however, there are a number of other aliases for this
infection such as Zlob, W32/Zlob, Trojan.Media-Codec,
Trojan.Emcodec, and Trojan.Zlob as well as many others. The damage caused by these fake codecs
ranges from browser
hijacking to installing other malware and even in some cases, using rootkit
capabilities making them almost impossible to fully detect and remove.
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So What is Adware Anyway?
Adware is a software
application that can display advertisements, and though adware has it's
legitimate uses and there are many legitimate adware programs out there, there
are many that fall into the spyware category. Adware can analyze browsing
habits and display related banners or popups. Even if the advertisement that is
displayed by the adware program is legitimate, that does not necessarily mean
that the adware program itself is legitimate. Due to the fact that adware is
used to help increase profit, it is everywhere on the net.
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Priceline, Travelocity and Cingular Have Been Called Out For Their Use Of Adware
A lawsuit brought against Priceline, Travelocity and Cingular by the New York State Attorney General's Office has been settled, and marks the first time that law enforcement has held advertisers responsible for ads displayed through adware. Direct Revenue, a company that uses known adware programs to plant ads on consumer's machines, delivered the adware advertisements on behalf the three major companies.
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New MySpace Phishing Scam
Recently I have seen some of my friends get their MySpace accounts hacked. Once hacked, their profile is used to post bulletins that try and send unsuspecting users to a phishing site that will steal your MySpace login information.
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New Storm Virus Outbreak
There is a new email virus that debuted in Europe last week. Emails were sent out claiming to have details on the death toll from the storm raging through Europe, which is how it got it's nickname of the storm virus. The email is sent with an executable (.exe) attachment , which is virus that can give hackers backdoor control an infected computer. StopSign detects this threat as BackDoor.Groan.
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Trojan.DnsChange Modifies DNS Settings!
Trojan.DnsChange has the functionality to access the internet and communicate with a remote server via HTTP. It can download files from a remote server and may execute them. DnsChange may modify the Windows System Restore Area, causing it to create infected restore points. Modifies the Windows Registry by changing DNS entries, so that it can communicate with remote servers.
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