How to make online criminals bite the dust?

Geeks, Freaks, Nerds and Weirdos are terms one would associate with a person boasting of an exceptionally high IQ quotient. Sadly, the same qualities would also describe hackers looking to exploit any cyber threat; be it a data breach in a network, data leakage by employees, or extracting data from a lost laptop or a mobile device.

Watch Out!! You may be in line next

With diversity of security attacks recording an unexceptional high across the globe, it is becoming an uphill task for small and medium-sized businesses to assemble the right in-house resources for protecting themselves. So, much so that there has been an uptick in the number of court cases where SMBs (Small and Medium-sized Businesses) were even robbed of six-figure amounts by cyber thieves.

Scared!! Don’t be!! For as they do say prevention is better than cure, I would recommend you to not to jump the gun and instead stick to these 8 simple credos:

• Employing a dedicated PC for financial matters related to online banking and bill pay. Refraining from using the same node for sending, receiving emails or surfing the Web. For as it goes Web exploits and Malicious E-mails are considered as two key infection vectors for malware.
• Taking care and being extra cautious while clicking on links or attachments within emails. Even if you do end up recognizing the sender, confirm the email is authentic before clicking on any links or attachments.
• Reconcile bank statements on a regular basis with an online bank account or credit-card for immediately identifying abnormal transactions indicative of an account takeover.
• Cautioning employees against visiting small, hosted websites featuring community forums related to sports, computer games and anything deemed suspicious. All because a majority of community forums are hosted by ISP’s not really serious about securing their portal.
• Put security protections in place throughout the organization and install regular updates for applications meant to boost the computer’s OS.
• While visiting a website observe the quality of the site. If the site appears to be quickly put together, lack a browsing disclaimer, it indicates the authors are not liable to any danger to the PC.
• Be cautious about installing any software (especially software such as download accelerators, spyware removal tools). Don’t click on pop ups asking for a download or execution of otherwise privileged operations. Often such software and pop-ups are malware embedded.
• Select your anti-virus vendor with a lot of due deliberation, ensuring the application not only provides coverage for key threats but also responds quickly when threats are introduced. Trial versions of the application are a strict NO! Since, viruses introduced after a trial version would end up having an unhindered access to a PC. www.pccare247.com

Beware!! Top 5 Malware Delivery Networks look to prey on unsuspecting netizens

The best of the breed Firewall and Anti-Virus software are bound to fail in front of malware delivery networks comprising of dynamic links and ever changing payload servers. Elements working towards luring innocent netizens by offering them sugar coated baits comprising of online storage solutions and free software downloads. And with those remaining untouched often coming up tagged with categories such as:

·         Search Engines (39.2%)

·         E-mail (6.9%)

·         Pornography (6.7%)

·         Social Networking (5.2%)

Once again driving home the point conventional firewall and anti-virus software would be deemed as incompetent for dealing with dynamic and constantly changing threats. Thus, pushing home the point of employing an intelligent, real-time cloud based Web defense that is dynamic and equally effective at the same time. However, then again coming back to the question of malware delivery networks, on any given day there would be nothing less than 50 operational and highly active malware networks. But since we can’t talk about all of them, herein we are just listing the top 5 networks which may play havoc with any security software.

Take Care!! The evil 5 are still thriving and throbbing

Netizens really need to take care; for there are 5 networks still thriving and throbbing which intend to make a huge dent in any security establishment. Well here goes nothing. Starting with:

1.    Shnakule

As the name sounds, equally is the destructive force of this malware network. With a Unique Attacks Hosts tally comprising of 2001 and going up to teach a maximum of 4357, the network in the first half of 2011 nearly drew about 21000 users on an average, with the maximum touching a whopping 51000 users. Broad based in origin, the Shnakule has a number of malicious activities in its kitty; primarily comprising of fake Anti-Virus and Codecs, Fake Flash and Firefox updates, Fake Wares, Botnet commands and controls. With Search Engine poisoning being a major USP of the network, Shnakule has a stake in many categories such as pornography, gambling, pharmaceuticals, link farming and work-at-home scams.

2.    Ishabor

Exclusively devoted to distributing fake anti-virus scareware and comprising of unique attack hosts averaging up to 766 and the maximum touching up a whopping figure of 1140, extensive research revealed Ishabor was riding piggy back on Shnakule from the very beginning to spread around its nefarious designs.  

3.    Cinbric

With unique attack host raking up an average of 505 hosts and going up to touch a maximum of 1602 hosts, Cinbric as a network tends to primarily rely on spam to drive traffic to porn-centric ransomware. At the same time luring users with the promise of exclusive Web cam access, if they were to download and install their software.  

4.    Naargo

Notching up impressive figures of 199 for unique attack hosts and the maximum number going up to as good as 299, even though Naargo is not devoted to malware delivery, the network tends to exhibit a number of shady characteristics; calling for continued tracking and investigation. The network also tends to heavily rely on using spam and search engine poisoning for driving traffic to porn sites.

5.    Vidzeban

Boasting of a significant Russian-language presence, the malware network with its unique attack hosts tallying up to 156 and the maximum tally climbing up to as good as 347, Vidzeban ends up wooing netizens by promising them easy to download and install software. In short, the basic premise on which the network tends to thrive is Search Engine Poisoning. http://www.pccare247.com/pc-security/malware-removal.html

Is Social Networking really an evil or more of a necessity?

The platform of social networking is always ready to embrace one and all. For not only in reality is it a concept where old acquaintances and friends can go ahead and catch up on old times but rather are also at a liberty to opinionate and shop around for some of the most lucrative deals around. 

In fact, as trends would point out social networking as a concept also does well to blur boundaries, increase transparency and create fluidity in almost anything and everything we do. Linking a twelfth of society and growing rapidly, it may be added companies large and small can no longer ignore or even try blocking social networking. In essence, all I can say it is the part of the fabric in which we not only learn but play and work at the same time.

Making sense of social networking

The reality is you need to go where your target audiences are and people are more likely to participate in a social media forum than any other venue. Clients, channel partners and employees alike are more or less likely to engage via social media –  in short, it is a way for you to stay connected, gather feedback, recruit, and collaborate. As a result, I can really vouch that supporting social media in any environment readily gives an impetus to innovation, productivity, and accelerated growth which will ensure a business expands well and beyond what is expected.

The Ugly face of Social Networking

In spite of factors such as personalization, the ease with which information can be shared, and the real-time nature of the medium, it might be worth pointing social media also ends up posing significant risks to a business. And following are the top four risks which come tagged along with social networking. Starting with:

·         Malware

With more than 700 billion minutes being spent per month on Facebook alone, social networking sites are fast turning into ideal malware targets. And yes, if statistics would be anything to go by then nearly 40% of users are infected by malware from social networking sites. Typical attacks often stem from the trust relationship established between users and their connections users are tricked into giving up financial information that can be further exploited for financial gain. Some examples of malware are:

o   Phishing: Employing increasingly sophisticated techniques; attackers pose as legitimate social networking connections and try to lure PC users into providing sensitive information, such as your login credentials. Preying on the tendency of most people to use same passwords for all accounts hackers believe PC users are tricked into divulging confidential information related to banking and other financial transactions.

o   Click-Jacking: This concept uses the dynamic nature of social networking and a willingness to click on links from known contacts, and even those ones you don’t know to reach a large audience, cajoling you into revealing private information (e.g. through surveys), collecting hits for ad revenues and eventually allow access to an entire social network.

·         Productivity Loss

Online destinations such as social networking enable you to post and read messages, date, shop, upload or check out videos, and play games. In turn making such platforms an increasingly convenient and engaging target for users, drawing them to spend more and more time and better still at the end of the day making it increasingly challenging for a business to apply control.

·         Bandwidth Consumption

With nearly 40% of employees accessing social networking sites at work, a potential strain on bandwidth ends up acting as a detriment of other business applications.

·         Data Loss

There been cases in which employees have unintentionally posted proprietary software code to social networking sites, exposing sensitive intellectual property. These actions, though unintentional, can potentially violate industry specific regulations, impact reputation, or put an organization at a competitive disadvantage with unprecedented data loss. Just visit any kind of Support for Malware Removal http://www.pccare247.com/pc-security/malware-removal.html