Flashback Virus for Mac is back!

Lock up your Pros and hide your Airs, because it turns out that one of the more notorious Mac trojans is back in action. Known as Flashback, this trojan was found to be in action about five months ago, disguising itself as a new Flash Player for Mac. It was soon identified by security researchers and the alert was raised, but now it’s back and trying not one but three different tactics to install itself on a user’s Mac.

First up is a pair of Java vulnerabilities. If those are already patched, then the trojan tries to find vulnerability in the user instead. It displays a digital signature supposedly belonging to Apple and asks for access to your computer. There are a few things fishy about this, but the average user is unlikely to pick up on them. Many people, especially if tired or distracted, could easily click “Continue” without realising.

If successfully installed, Flashback goes back to its old tricks of looking for usernames and passwords. It specifically targets banking websites, no doubt seeking information useful for identity theft.

Now, let’s talk about the good news. This version of Flashback purposely attempts to avoid systems that have an anti-virus installed, so the mere presence of security software is a boon. In addition, the method used by this trojan to intercept and report passwords will cause some software that requires network access, such as Skype, to crash. This can give you the heads-up.

I would recommend installing a free version of antivirus from www.iantivirus.com

(Source: )

Does your MAC have a virus?

by Lex Friedman, Macworld.com   Feb 23, 2012 11:20 am

Intego announced on Thursday that it has discovered more strains of the Flashback Trojan horse. The company says that “many Mac users have been infected by this malware,” especially the latest variant, Flashback.G.

Image courtesy Intego.

Intego describes three unique methods that the Trojan horse uses to infect Macs: It attempts to exploit a pair of Java vulnerabilities in sequence, which the company says allows infection with no further user intervention. Failing those two approaches, resorts to social engineering. In that last case, the applet presents a self-signed digital certificate, falsely claiming that the certificate is “signed by Apple Inc”; if you click Continue, the malware installs itself.

To fall victim to the Flashback Trojan horse, you first need to run software. By definition, Trojan horses disguise themselves as other kinds of software, tricking the user into, say, double-clicking an icon to launch a new download—thereby infecting themselves. Note, however, that if you’re still running Snow Leopard and your Java installation isn’t current, a maliciously-coded webpage could cause the malware to install without further intervention on your part, depending on your browser’s security settings.

According to Intego, the latest Flashback.G variant can inject code into Web browsers and other applications that connect to the Internet, often causing them to crash. It attempts to sniff out usernames and passwords that you enter into many popular sites (like banking sites, Google, PayPal, and others), presumably so that the malfeasants behind the software can exploit that information in other nefarious ways.

As part of its installation process, the malware puts an invisible file in the /Users/Shared/ folder; that file’s name is variable, but it uses a .so extension. Other files the malware creates include/Users/Shared/.svcdmp, ~/.MACOSX/environment.plist, and ~/Library/Logs/vmLog. It also places a Java applet in ~/Library/Caches.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Intego’s own VirusBarrier X6 software can detect Flashback if it’s installed, and even prevent it from installing in the first place.

If you suspect you’ve already been infected, you can check by launching Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/) and pasting in the code below, and pressing Return:

ls /Users/Shared/.*.so

If the response you see in Terminal includes “No such file or directory,” you’re in the clear. If you instead see a list of one or more files with a .so extension and no “no such file” declaration, you may well have fallen victim to the malware.

If you do find that you’re infected, removing the files referenced above or installing antivirus software like Intego’s should remove any traces of Flashback.

Updated 8:32 a.m. PT to clarify how the malware can install itself.

Twilight website hosting malware.

Twilight fans who normally frequent the official website of Stephenie Meyer, infamous writer of the said book and saga, may have found their systems captured by a “being” that is neither a blood-sucker or a giant, feral dog. It might be something supernatural, but not in the security world: zombies.

Our friends at Avast have unearthed a recent attack on the author’s website not so long ago:www.stepheniemeyer.com had been hosting Crimepack, an exploit kit that takes advantage of known vulnerabilities of various Web browsers and the Windows OS to install malware. Brian Krebs ofKrebsOnSecurity.com took a closer look at this particular exploit pack back in 2010, and it is indeed a nasty one. Not only is it capable of targeting holes of software installed on your system, it also “lets customers [buyers of this Crimepack exploit kit] test various Web reputation services to discover whether any include their exploit sites.” Computers successfully exploited by the Crimepack exploit kit are eventually turned into zombies, which online criminals use to do malicious tasks, such as spamming and launching denial of service (DoS) attacks.

www.stepheniemeyer.com is now free from malicious codes.

Once again, we implore our readers to make it a point to regularly update their operating system and security software.

Stay safe!

(Source: gfi.com)

Everyone’s Trying to Track What You Do on the Web: Here’s How to Stop Them

by: Lifehacker.com

 It’s no secret that there’s big money to be made in violating your privacy. Companies will pay big bucks to learn more about you, and service providers on the web are eager to get their hands on as much information about you as possible.

So what do you do? How do you keep your information out of everyone else’s hands? Here’s a guide to surfing the web while keeping your privacy intact.

The adage goes, “If you’re not paying for a service, you’re the product, not the customer,” and it’s never been more true. Every day more news breaks about a new company that uploads your address book to their servers, skirts in-browser privacy protection, and tracks your every move on the web to learn as much about your browsing habits and activities as possible. In this post, we’ll explain why you should care, and help you lock down your surfing so you can browse in peace.

Why You Should Care

Your personal information is valuable. More valuable than you might think. When we originally published our guide to stop Facebook from tracking you around the web, some people cried “So what if they track me? I’m not that important/I have nothing to hide/they just want to target ads to me and I’d rather have targeted ads over useless ones!” To help explain why this is short-sighted and a bit naive, let me share a personal story.

Before I joined the Lifehacker team, I worked at a company that traded in information. Our clients were huge companies and one of the services we offered was to collect information about people, their demographics, income, and habits, and then roll it up so they could get a complete picture about who you are and how to convince you to buy their products. In some cases, we designed web sites and campaigns to convince you to provide even more information in exchange for a coupon, discount, or the simple promise of other of those. It works very, very well.

The real money is in taking your data and shacking up with third parties to help them come up with new ways to convince you to spend money, sign up for services, and give up more information. Relevant ads are nice, but the real value in your data exists where you won’t see it until you’re too tempted by the offer to know where it came from, whether it’s a coupon in your mailbox or a new daily deal site with incredible bargains tailored to your desires. It all sounds good until you realize the only thing you have to trade for such “exciting” bargains is everything personal about you: your age, income, family’s ages and income, medical history, dietary habits, favorite web sites, your birthday…the list goes on. It would be fine if you decided to give up this information for a tangible benefit, but you may never see a benefit aside from an ad, and no one’s including you in the decision. Here’s how to take back that control.

Click for instructions for your browser of choice:

How to Stop Trackers from Following Where You’re Browsing with Chrome

If you’re a Chrome user, there are tons of great add-ons and tools designed to help you uncover which sites transmit data to third parties without your knowledge, which third parties are talking about you, and which third parties are tracking your activity across sites. This list isn’t targeted to a specific social network or company—instead, these extensions can help you with multiple offenders.

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  Adblock Plus - We’ve discussed AdBlock plus several times, but there’s never been a better time to install it than now. For extra protection, one-click installs the Antisocialsubscription for AdBlock. With it, you can banish social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ from transmitting data about you after you leave those sites, even if the page you visit has a social plugin on it.
• Ghostery - Ghostery does an excellent job at blocking the invisible tracking cookies and plug-ins on many web sites, showing it all to you, and then giving you the choice whether you want to block them one-by-one, or all together so you’ll never worry about them again. The best part about Ghostery is that it’s not just limited to social networks, but will also catch and show you ad-networks and web publishers as well.
• ScriptNo for Chrome - ScriptNo is much like Ghostery in that any scripts running on any site you visit will sound its alarms. The difference is that while Ghostery is a bit more exclusive about the types of information it alerts you to, ScriptNo will sound the alarm at just about everything, which will break a ton of websites. You’ll visit the site, half of it won’t load or work, and you’ll have to selectively enable scripts until it’s usable. Still, its intuitive interface will help you choose which scripts on a page you’d like to allow and which you’d like to block without sacrificing the actual content on the page you’d like to read.
• Do Not Track Plus - The “Do Not Track” feature that most browsers have is useful, but if you want to beef them up, the previously mentioned Do Not Track Plus extension puts a stop to third-party data exchanges, like when you visit a site like ours that has Facebook and Google+ buttons on it. By default, your browser will tell the network that you’re on a site with those buttons—with the extension installed, no information is sent until you choose to click one. Think of it as opt-in social sharing, instead of all-in.

Ghostery, AdBlock Plus, and Do Not Track are the ones you’ll need the most. ScriptNo is a bit more advanced, and may take some getting used to. In addition to installing extensions, make sure you practice basic browser maintenance that keeps your browser running smoothly and protects your privacy at the same time. Head into Chrome’s Advanced Content Settings, and make sure you have third-party cookies blocked and all cookies set to clear after browsing sessions. Log out of social networks and web services when you’re finished using them instead of just leaving them perpetually logged in, and use Chrome’s “Incognito Mode” whenever you’re concerned about privacy.

Mobile Browsing

Mobile browsing is a new frontier. There are dozens of mobile browsers, and even though most people use the one included on their device, there are few tools to protect your privacy by comparison to the desktop. Check to see if your preferred browser has a “privacy mode” that you can use while browsing, or when you’re logged in to social networks and other web services. Try to keep your social network use inside the apps developed for it, and—as always—make sure to clear your private data regularly.

Some mobile browsers have private modes and the ability to automatically clear your private data built in, like Firefox for Android,Atomic Web Browser, and Dolphin Browser for both iOS and Android. Considering Dolphin isour pick for the best Android browser and Atomic is our favorite for iOS, they’re worth downloading.

Extreme Measures

If none of these extensions make you feel any better, or you want to take protecting your privacy and personal data to the next level, it’s time to break out the big guns. One tip that came up during our last discussion about Facebook was to use a completely separate web browser just for logged-in social networks and web services, and another browser for potentially sensitive browsing, like your internet shopping, banking, and other personal activities. If you have some time to put into it, check out our guide to browsing without leaving a trace, which was written for Firefox, but can easily be adapted to any browser you use.

If you’re really tired of companies tracking you and trading in your personal information, you always have the option to just provide false information. The same way you might give a fake phone number or address to a supermarket card sign-up sheet, you can scrub or change personal details about yourself from your social network profiles, Google accounts, Windows Live account, and others.

Change your birthdate, or your first name. Set your phone number a digit off, or omit your apartment number when asked for your street address. We’ve talked about how to disappear before, and carefully examine the privacy and account settings for the web services you use. Keep in mind that some of this goes against the terms of service for those companies and services—they have a vested interest in knowing the real you, after all, so tread carefully and tread lightly if you want to go the “make yourself anonymous” route. Worst case, start closing accounts with offending services, and migrate to other, more privacy-friendly options.

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These are just a few tips that won’t significantly change your browsing experience, but can go a long way toward protecting your privacy. This issue isn’t going anywhere, and as your personal information becomes more valuable and there are more ways to keep it away from prying eyes, you’ll see more news of companies finding ways to eke out every bit of data from you and the sites you use. Some of these methods are more intrusive than others, and some of them may turn you off entirely, but the important thing is that they all give you control over how you experience the web. When you embrace your privacy, you become engaged with the services you use. With a little effort and the right tools, you can make the web more opt-in than it is opt-out.

Do you have any additional tools that you’d recommend? Any other tools or tips for protecting your privacy from the likes of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, or others? Share your tips and suggestions in the comments below.

New Quickbooks Scam

by: BrightFlow Technologies

February 6th, 2012

There is a new phishing attack hitting the interwebs and mailboxes currently.  It pretends to be from INTUIT; the company that writes a software package called Quickbooks.  You might have heard of it?  

I have received about 10 in my inbox over the last week.  It is really annoying because it is bypassing my spam filter.  I have since blacklisted the sender.  If you hover the link in the email you will find that it is actually sending replies to: STATEMENTSMEDIA<dot>COM.  It may pay to blacklist them as well.  Whatever you do, do not click the link in the email.

Here is a copy of the email verbatim.  It is all in italics with the links disabled.  Be on the lookout.  If you do get infected, CALL US!  704-631-9983 or email info@brightflow.net

Dear Account Holder,

In order to ensure that correct data is being maintained on our systems, as well as to be able to grant you better quality of service; INTUIT INC. has taken part in the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] Name and TIN Matching Program.

For some reason your name and/or Social Security Number, that is specified on your account does not correspond to the information on file with the SSA.

In order to verify the information on your account, please use the following link.

Yours sincerely,
INTUIT INC.

Corporate Headquarters
2632 Marine Way
Mountain View, CA 94043

Why You Should Choose Refurbished If You’re Buying Apple Products

(Source: CNET)

How To Restore Your Computer Using Windows 7

One mistake doesn’t need to leave you with an unusable computer. Using Windows 7’s built-in tools, you can preserve and reinstate whole hard drives with just a few clicks.

How to Create a System Image

By far the easiest way to maintain your system in exactly the state you use it every day is to create a system image. This is exactly what it sounds like: a snapshot of your computer at a specific point in time, well beyond the system and program settings regularly archived with System Restore. Having at least one on hand ensures that you’ll always be able to return your computer to exactly the way it was when you made the image. The down side is that system images can be big, and they can be slow to create and restore. But if your PC melts down, you’ll be glad you made the space—and the time—to protect yourself this fully.

1. Click “Create a system image” in the “Back up or restore your files” window.

2. In the “Create a system image” window that appears, you’ll be presented with three options for storing the image. Click the radio button next to the one you want, then click the Next button.

On a hard disk. If you have one or more extra hard drives hooked up to your system, this is the way to go. Find the drive on which you want to store the image in the drop-down box (you can’t save to a drive you’re also backing up). Click the Next button; if you have more than one hard drive, you’ll be asked to specify which ones you want to back up. Click Next again, and you’ll be asked to confirm that you want to begin the backup. Click the “Start backup” button and it will start right away.

On one or more DVDs. If you don’t have a spare hard drive, optical discs are probably the better way to go. Just make sure you have a blank disc (or maybe a spindle of them) at hand first. Because the backup could potentially be large, Windows gives you the opportunity to choose which drives you want to include. Click the checkboxes next to all the drives you want to preserve (the system drives may already be selected and grayed out), then click the Next button; check your settings, and then click the “Start backup” button to begin.

On a network location. This obviously works only if you’re on a network, but it’s potentially more convenient than using either a local hard drive or (especially) a pile of DVDs. Once you’ve clicked the Next button, the “Select a network location” window will pop up. Type in the path of the remote system and location to save the file to, if you know it, or click on the “Browse…” button to navigate to it if you don’t. You’ll also need fill in the Username and Password fields so your computer can access the other system across the network. Once you’ve done that, click the OK button, then verify that your settings are correct and then click the “Start backup” button.

3. You’ll receive a notification once the image has been created. If you want to verify that everything worked as it was supposed to, navigate to the hard drive or network location you specified and look for the “WindowsImageBackup” folder—it’s all in there. Be sure not to delete this folder, otherwise you won’t be able to restore your image later. If you backed up your system to DVDs, the stack of discs in front of you should be sufficient evidence of success.

4. After the image has been created, a window will appear asking if you want to create a system repair disk. (For more information about what this is and why you may want one, see the next section.) If you do, click the Yes button (then check out the “How to Create a System Repair Disc” section of this article); if you don’t, click No and you’re done.

If the worst happens and you actually need to use the System Image you created, it’s easy to do if you can get into the OS—just follow the instructions below. If you can’t boot into Windows, you can restore an image by using a repair disc; skip to “How to Create a System Repair Disc” if you need to make one, or “Using the System Repair Disc” for more information about what to do once it’s burned.

1. From the “Back up or restore your files” window, click “Recover system settings or your computer.”

2. From the “Restore this computer to an earlier point in time” window, click “Advanced recovery methods.”

3. Select the first option, “Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer.”

4. You’ll be asked if you want to back up your files to an external device such as a hard drive, optical disc, or USB flash drive, and you’ll be told Windows will help you restore those files after you load the system image. Remember, if you don’t do this you’ll lose any new files created since the last system image, so if they’re not backed up elsewhere you may want to consider this as a preliminary step. Click the “Back up now” button to do this, or the Skip button to pass.

5. The next window you see is titled “Restart your computer and continue the recovery.” This says it all: Click the Restart button to reboot your PC and restore it from the image you saved, or click the Cancel button to back out.

How to Create a System Repair Disc

A system image is a handy thing to have around, but it’s sort of a “nuclear option”: You can travel backwards in time with it, but that’s all. If you want a more elegant solution, fixing your computer’s problems yourself is definitely it—and usually the preferable choice if the problem is localized in just the boot area, for example, but most of your other data and programs haven’t been affected. For this you’ll want to create a system repair disc. (We’re assuming you have a DVD burner installed.) Just place it in your drive when you turn on your computer, and you’ll have access to a number of repair and recovery tools that might obviate the need for restoring from an image (and possibly losing things you’ve accumulated since that image was created). This type of system repair won’t necessarily solve all your problems, and it may require a bit of know-how to use, but having one around is a smart move.

1. Click “Create a system repair disc” in the “Back up or restore your files” window.

2. The “Create a system repair disc” window will pop up. If you only have one optical drive, it should be preselected in the drop-down; if you have more than one, select which one you want to use.

3. Place a blank DVD in your optical drive.

4. Click the “Create disc” button, and Windows will copy over the appropriate files. Once it’s finished, the autorun window will appear, showing you that the disc is named “Repair Disc Windows 7 64-bit” (or “32-bit,” if you’re using that version of the OS).

5. Label the disc and store it in a safe place.

Using the System Repair Disc

Using a system repair disc you’ve created couldn’t be easier: Just place it in your optical drive and turn on your computer. (You may also need to adjust boot options so your system knows to look for something bootable in the optical drive, but many computers are configured this way out of the box.) The words “Windows is loading files…” will appear, along with a bar that moves slowly across the screen; expect this to take a couple of minutes.

Once that bar has finished its journey, a window titled “System Recovery Options” will appear. It contains two options: “Select a language” (which will be grayed out if you only have one language pack installed) and “Select a keyboard input method,” which will likely already be at your default setting (in our case “US”). Make changes if necessary, then click the “Next >” button.

Now you’ll need to choose from two different system recovery methods.

1. The first is “Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows. Select an operating system to repair.” Below this is a list with all the disks Windows can detect; chances are yours will be here. If it’s not, click the “Load Drivers” button so you can feed Windows the files needed to recognize your hard drive. Click on the drive you want to repair, then click “Next >.”

This will display a list of five recovery tools you can use to help get your system into a bootable state again. Choose “Startup Repair” to have Windows search for and try to fix any problems that may exist with the necessary files in your boot sequence. “System Restore” will let you restore system settings and programs that been previously saved using Windows’ System Restore function. If you followed our instructions in “How to Create a System Image,” choose “System Image Recovery” to restore a full-system image you created. “Windows Memory Diagnostic” may be useful for determining whether the problem you’re experiencing is as a result of a problem with your computer’s memory. Finally, “Command Prompt” will give you access to a limited version of a command-line operating system (much like the old MS-DOS!) that will let you perform a number of actions related to diagnostics, troubleshooting, and recovery. (Keep in mind that this last choice requires an in-depth knowledge of the command-line interface, and will probably not be useful for novice computer users, or those with limited experience using non-graphical operating systems.)

2. “Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier” is the second option. If you followed our instructions in “How to Create a System Image,” you’ll have a folder containing this; after you click “Next >” Windows will let you choose to restore from the most recent system image, or some other image you specify. Click “Next >” to begin the restoration process.

Stay tuned for the video on how to do this: http://www.youtube.com/user/BrightFlowTech?blend=2&ob=5

• By Matthew Murray
• January 19, 2012

5 Reasons It’s Better To Date A Geek [Opinion]

(Source: )

Fix an iPhone Stuck on Apple Logo During Boot

 Occasionally through the standard iOS upgrade process, but most commonly when jailbreaking, the iPhone can reboot and get stuck on the Apple logo. Turning the phone on and off generally doesn’t help, as you’ll be continuously stopped at the white Apple logo and the iPhone never boots. This is different than being stuck on Recovery Mode, which shows the ‘Connect to iTunes” graphic on the iPhone screen, but can be fixed in a similar manner by using DFU mode and iTunes.