Computer Security News

It's the end of Cyber Security Month. Check out our Storify as we take a look back at the Twittersphere and some helpful hints and tips to keep your computer secure such as installing missing security patches and keeping your wi-fi network secure.

If you were to try and update all of these, you would need 21 different update mechanisms. (statistic from Secunia)

New computer viruses are found every day. It’s important to know what the latest are so you can avoid and protect your system from being infected. Whether it’s your home PC or your business’ network, you can keep your files and information from reaching the hands of cyber attackers.

Make sure you have the necessary security such as antivirus, a firewall and a patch management application. Here are just some of the viruses that could affect you.

Skype is everyone’s favourite instant messenger. But its popularity means it’s a prime target for attackers. With so many people using Skype to communicate for personal and business use, there are millions of users cybercriminals can target. Microsoft has issued a warning of malicious activity and has asked users not to click on any strange or unexpected links. This is good advice to follow on emails and social networks too.

By clicking the link you unexpectedly download a Trojan horse malware. The computer then joins a botnet while log-in details for websites are recorded. If that wasn’t enough, users can be locked out of their system and be held to ransom. A message will appear that suggests the users files will be deleted unless they pay $200 dollars within 48 hours.

It seems ransomware like the Skype virus is on the up. There’s also another ransom note asking for $200, but this time using a drive-by virus. A drive-by virus is usually initiated by visiting an infected website. When you close the window using the red X on the top right corner, the virus is activated, locking you out and a message appears asking for money. The message however is from the FBI, who suggest you’ve been found illegally downloading. Ransomware is affective because many people have never heard of this method and it panics users.

Google Chrome is one of, if not, the most popular web browsers for personal and business’. One of the great aspects of Chrome is the store. There is a plethora of apps and games to install and really personalise your browser. Cyber criminals have this time used the popular game Angry Birds to infect systems. A spin-off of the game titled Bad Piggies is available from the developers Rovio, but only on iOS, Windows and Mac. But a number of fake versions appeared on the Google Chrome store with around 82,000 people downloading it. Little did they know the game actually installs adware and records data.

Elsewhere, Adobe continue to take a zero tolerance on vulnerabilities in their software. Flash Player in particular has been often found to contain vulnerabilities, but Adobe are quick to release a patch each time. Without the patch, users Flash Players would be open to attacks. This highlights the importance of software such as patch management which keep your software up to date automatically.