Malware – Page 4 – Paul's Tech Talk

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Movie Spreads Malware

PaulJune 19, 2009

It seems in anticipation of the release of Half Blood Prince the Malware authors are starting to send for the movie. For example:

As you can see they really try to fool you into think your are going to be able to watch it for free. They even put it the movie poster to try to get you to click that link. It is on a blogspot page and has a few Google followers, which I am amazed at because what I have found it. If you were to click that play link (usa-top-news.info) it will redirect your to (world-news-scandals.com) and then to the final destination (tubes-portal.com). Each site is surprisingly in the US and tries to look like it is a real site. It sends you a file called streamviewer.40018.exe, which I am surprised AVG hasn’t picked this up so I went to see if this was a virus and Virustotal showed me this:

[ad]Very few actually detect this trojan downloader even [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]AVG[/intlink] hasn’t detected this as being malware. So you best bet is not try to go watch it early because 9 times out of 10 it will be a virus. You also should know that there are even some links in Digg.com and other popular websites that are promoting this. The top rated sites are what I call Google Juice to put the blog spot website onto the first page of Google. So you should install a good [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Anti-virus software and Firewall[/intlink]. I also believe this will be coming out on DVD in December according to my sources this movie has been ready for quite some time and they are anxious to have it ready for Christmas so you won’t have to wait long to see it. Afterall they have had this movie ready since last Year.

This seems to be like the [intlink id=”3448″ type=”post”]Fake Codecs[/intlink], I have talked about. In order to see this you have to install this software to view this movie. I don’t even know if it is a true movie but I do expect in the coming weeks to days there will be even more Fake Sites like this trying to promote watching it for Free. Thank goodness [intlink id=”3385″ type=”post”]we don”t have to worry about Zango anymore[/intlink]. Nothing in life comes free, so be on your guard. Only you can prevent virus infections on your system.

Nikki Catsouras being used to spread Malware

PaulMay 2, 20096 Replies

I was doing my usual perusing the internet and I came across this site about Nikki Catsouras Accident Photos, I won’t go into gruesome details but looks like the Malware Authors are at it again with trying to have you install Fake codecs into your system.

These are some of the nicer pictures on the site

I must warn you if you go to the site there are some very gruesome and disturbing pictures of the accident, but that not what is computer related. On the site they also have a Video that isn’t really a Video. Clicking that video link pops up this in my AVG warning window:

This is the Free Version of AVG

As you can see, the Malware authors are using the accident video to get people to install the Fake Codec to install some Trojan, worm, or even a Virus onto your system. I’ve talked about this from time to time but if you need to install a codec from a site you don’t trust. I don’t recommend this to anyone. I would keep with the known Codecs and keep away from any site that says you will need to install a codec or tries to install a codec. I also recommend some Free Antivirus and Free Firewall software to better protect you. As you can see the free AVG software that I was using did detect this and prevented me from going any further. So the Free software Antivirus providers are keeping even the most common users safe.

If you did visit that and get the virus, Trojan, or worm, you can visit my Maleware resources to find tools to help remove this problem.

As of writing the post this seems to be on the Google Trends on May 2. I will always tell people to go to the trust media sites if they are wondering who this person or what happen. It looks like they Media is going wild over the court cases right now to take down the pictures. I am all for the family wanting those picture. I do hope they take them down.

Fake Emails about Windows Support spam!

PaulMarch 9, 2009

According to Trend Micro, Some malicious software is being sent to unsuspecting users about Windows SP1 andSP2 having a error that could damage software or even hardware. See Trends blog with the photos of the fake spam.

[ad#ad2-right]Although from time to time Microsoft does send out security information to Technet subscribers people have also used this in the past to get people to install Viruses and Malware, like this one that installs TSPY_BANKER.MCL. TSPY_BANKER.MCL monitors the affected user’s online transactions and steals banking related information

Microsoft sends e-mail messages to subscribers of our security communications when we release information about a security software update or security incident. Unfortunately, malicious individuals can and have sent fake security communications that appear to be from Microsoft.

[Via Microsoft]

So if you get an email from Microsoft you’ll probably want to delete it. Any Microsoft communications will be sent from the Update center. You should never install software that is from an untrusted website. If you are concerned you should check the web and find out what people are saying about the situation and see if it is a scam or true!! Remember only you can prevent a virus or Malware!

5 Steps in Finding the right Affiliates!

PaulMarch 9, 2009

So you want to make Money with your blog but don’t know how? I thought I would share with you what I’ve learned in the past few months to earn enough money to pay for the space and web address. I’ll go through each step talking about steps:

First you will need to explore all the great Affiliate programs like OpenX, TMIWireless, Adsense, Converseon, and Commision Junction. There is of course even more out on the Internet, but these are ones that I like and have given me some insight as to Commission and Affiliate marketing. I have been using TMIWIRELESS and Converseon more and more. I still have Adsense but you have to get a balance on Advertising and what people are wanting.

Find the right fit for you blog and talk about the products you like the most. I like TmiWireless because you give out free phones and still get money in return and Converseon for recommending Cell Phones. You should figure out what does better, and always keep looking. There are more than a few out that will work for you better. If you know one that I should look into let me know.

[ad#ad2-right]Remind readers about the affiliate programs so others can find them and blog about them. It can also help with people coming to your site because the will encourage other people to check out what you’ve written and your recommendations. You should come up with ways to promote your affiliates and encourage users to click on them and buy stuff from them. This has brought in money by having them searched and indexed by Google. You should find a niche that you have very little competition in, that way you get most of the traffic in for your self.

Create a Sneeze page, although this sounds rude, it is really a page talking about having helpful topics around your products or have them for people to find even more information about your affiliates. Just like I have a Malware Resource, and Cricket Resource, also Cricket Reviews. These will make it much easier for people to find what they are looking for and make it more enjoyable for the reader. It also encourages people to come back and stay a while.

Although this is overlooked it is sometimes necessary to remind your readers about affiliates and talk about a product in detail by asking them to comment on a articles and encourage them to link to you. This will bring in even more people to look at your blog and your reviews to get your page views higher and get more people to click your affiliate links.

I’ve not followed these steps very well in the beginning of starting my blog but I have learned a lot since then. I’ve also learned that you need to update your blog on a weekly or even daily to basis to keep readers to come back. You should always keep searching for even better affiliates to make your blog better. You can also start advertising your blog by yourself without the middle but that is of yet I’ve not done enough on. I will in the future when I get more experience under my belt. I hope this has helped you in some way.

And the Oscar goes to . . . Not these guys!

PaulFebruary 23, 2009

Sans Internet Storm is reporting on Anti-virus Scareware tactic. I’ll quote from them:

[ad#ad2-right]

ISC reader Gary wrote in to let us know that searching for “oscar presenters” and “oscar winners” with Google brings up a prominently ranked result on a web server in Poland, on a subdomain of “beepl”, which – surprise, surprise – includes a malicious JavaScript. The end result currently seems to reside on stabilitytracewebcom, and is yet another incarnation of the “Fake Anti-Virus Program” malware that we have covered repeatedly. Watch out, the EXE has a meager 6/39 on Virustotal.
[Via Sans]

I did my own research and it is true they are at least 3 sites with the .pl Domain that are used to send you to these fake sites. You should consider checking your system for possible viruses if you been to these sites and are worried. You should also report any site like this to Phishtank to fight this type of scare tactics. Please remember if you are worried about your system this is the best time to install software to prevent these types of scare tactics. Remember you don’t always have to buy software to be safe. There are free anti-virus and Firewall solutions at your fingertips, use them well. It is also a good idea to make sure you have the latest updates from Microsoft while your at it.