GFI Backup 2009 Home Edition (build 20100730) now available

Read more

First human ‘infected with computer virus’

A British scientist says he is the first man in the world to become infected with a computer virus.

Dr Mark Gasson from the University of Reading contaminated a computer chip which was then inserted into his hand.

The device, which enables him to pass through security doors and activate his mobile phone, is a sophisticated version of ID chips used to tag pets.

In trials, Dr Gasson showed that the chip was able to pass on the computer virus to external control systems.

If other implanted chips had then connected to the system they too would have been corrupted, he said.

Medical alert

Dr Gasson admits that the test is a proof of principle but he thinks it has important implications for a future where medical devices such as pacemakers and cochlear implants become more sophisticated, and risk being contaminated by other human implants.

“With the benefits of this type of technology come risks. We may improve ourselves in some way but much like the improvements with other technologies, mobile phones for example, they become vulnerable to risks, such as security problems and computer viruses.”

However, Dr Gasson predicts that wider use will be made of implanted technology.

“This type of technology has been commercialised in the United States as a type of medical alert bracelet, so that if you’re found unconscious you can be scanned and your medical history brought up.”

Professor Rafael Capurro of the Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute of Information Ethics in Germany told BBC News that the research was “interesting”.

“If someone can get online access to your implant, it could be serious,” he said.

Cosmetic surgery

Professor Capurro contributed to a 2005 ethical study for the European Commission that looked at the development of digital implants and possible abuse of them.

“From an ethical point of view, the surveillance of implants can be both positive and negative,” he said.

“Surveillance can be part of medical care, but if someone wants to do harm to you, it could be a problem.”

In addition, he said, that there should be caution if implants with surveillance capabilities started to be used outside of a medical setting.

However, Dr Gasson believes that there will be a demand for these non-essential applications, much as people pay for cosmetic surgery.

“If we can find a way of enhancing someone’s memory or their IQ then there’s a real possibility that people will choose to have this kind of invasive procedure.”

Dr Gasson works at the University of Reading’s School of Systems Engineering and will present the results of his research at the International Symposium for Technology and Society in Australia next month. Professor Capurro will also talk at the event.

By Rory Cellan-Jones, http://news.bbc.co.uk

Watch out from new type of spams that attack Facebook users

Today I received a private message  at my Facebook account, its says that I win money and it asked me for my information so its look the same spams that attack e-mails account but it moved to Facebook by maybe fake users so be careful and press on  ”Report Spam” .

Example of spam message :

New Mac backdoor Trojan horse discovered

Pinhead or HellRTS? What’s in a name?

Mac malware is making the headlines again – this time in the form of a remote access trojan which has been given the name OSX/HellRTS.D by French security firm Intego.

The folks at Intego blogged about the new Mac threat they discovered, which when run on a Mac OS X computer can allow remote hackers to gain access.

Users of Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac are protected, as we detect the malware as OSX/Pinhead-B, but presently it looks like this is not considered a serious threat and we have received no reports of infections from customers.

It does, however, appear to have been distributed disguised as iPhoto, the photo application which ships on modern Mac computers. This is clearly an attempt to fool victims via a social engineering trick into installingt the malicious code on their computers.

As always, be careful about the origin of applications you run on your computer, and keep your protection up-to-date. As many Mac users do not presently run any anti-virus software at all, they could be considered a soft target for more attacks like this in the future.

There’s a lot less malicious software for Mac computers than Windows PCs, but the fact that so many Mac owners don’t take security seriously enough might encourage an increasing amount of crime on their platform going forward.

By Graham Cluley, Sophos

VirusTotal Uploader 2.0

The new version of Virus Total Uploader can make you upload any file and any running process to scan then it will show you the report directly.

How to use Virus Total Uploader:

1. Right Click > send to > Virus Total on any file that you want to upload to scan.

2. Run Virus Total Uploader icon the choose your process that you want to upload to scan.

Download VirusTotal Uploader

Virus Total Uploader

(Windows, 140KB, MD5: 9edab310d6d226164026e555a2daed97)

ESET released Free ESET Mobile Antivirus for Symbian OS

• Activation – performed online via graphic user interface
• Archive Scaning – variable in-depth scanning of archives
• Heuristics – pioneering proactive protection for
  mobile platforms
• Logs and Statistics – provides information about scanning tasks and virus signature database status as well as a report on scanning history
• On-Access Scanning – scans newly-created and opened files; scanning of files received via Bluetooth, IR and Wi-Fi
• On-Demand Scanning – scans running processes and storage (including specific subfolders); standardized logs
• Quarantine – infected objects can be deleted or moved to a quarantine folder; once in quarantine, objects can be deleted or restored
• Updates – updates can be performed automatically on a daily (default), weekly or monthly schedule, or performed manaually by the user on an on-demand basis
• User Interface – friendly, easy-to-use user interface

ESET’s Mobile Antivirus is compatible with Symbian S60 3rd Edition, both Feature Pack 1 and Feature Pack 2, and on smartphones powered by Symbian S60 5th Edition. It requires 1MB of free memory to run on a Symbian OS-powered handset.

This release is the first ever release on ESET’s part. ESET Mobile Antivirus is still in the beta-testing stage, just to inform all readers out there.

Download the free ESET Mobile Antivirus for Symbian OS by clicking this download link.

For instructions on how to use the Mobile Antivirus on the OS, you can download the user manual in PDF format.

Source: http://softgeeek.blogspot.com

Kaspersky Lab detects new version of Conficker worm (Net-Worm.Win32.Kido.js)

Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, announces that a new version of the malicious program Kido (aka Conficker and Downadup) has been detected.

Read more