The Bitdefender labs are currently working on an analysis of a Mac OS X backdoor that has been discovered by independent security researcher Jacob Applebaum on an Angolan activist. The victim, who had fallen victim to a phishing scam, ended up installing a malicious piece of code that acts as a backdoor, taking screenshots, and then uploading them to the command and control center. While relatively basic, t...

Organized crime, data theft, and other “old school” methods for stealing information have re-gained control over the internet underworld  in the past year, shoving aside the hacktivists who had dominated the virtual landscape from 2011. Verizon's Data Breach Report is the best place to explore the reasons behind such a change. This report comprises millions of lost records, cataloging some 47,000 incidents ...

Bitdefender Antivirus Free for desktop computers is designed to minimize both the performance footprint on computers and user interactions. Using the same award-winning technology proven to fend off even the most intrusive malware, Antivirus Free not only offers 24/7 protection, but is also fully compatible with Windows 7 and Windows 8. Since we’re always trying to improve user experience by including new f...

Cyber criminals stole more than $500 million last year, according to the latest IC3 study based on reported incidents. In 2012, the organization received almost 300,000 complaints, an average of more than 24,000 a month. Compared to the previous year, losses by users tricked over the Internet increased by 8.3 percent. Almost half of the complaints reported financial losses, and most of the users bilked last...

The SysAdmin scam that makes people believe they need to restore their account because of hacking attempts went international. The Spanish are now sending their passwords straight to the cyber-criminals’ database. The e-mail targeting the Spanish in their language claims the user's email account needs to be urgently restored. “Several incorrect login attempts on your email account,” the phishing e-mail read...

A recent wave of malware-laden spam e-mails infects recipients with the Gamarue Trojan. The malware is delivered as an attachment disguised as an on-line train ticket reservation at Deutsche Bahn, the German passenger transportation and logistics company. The dangerous messages inform receivers of a successful on-line ticket reservation at Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) and politely ask them to print the a...

A new wave of malicious FedEx spam delivers Trojans instead of packages, infecting users with malware when opening the attachments. In the last couple months, the Gamarue Trojan has spread intensely in the US, Australia, Croatia, Romania, Iran, the UK, Germany and Spain. “This tracking update has been requested and attached to this email,” the malicious message reads. “Reference information includes: Invoic...

A new variant of the Dorkbot malware infects Facebook users worldwide, spreading from one friend to another through the social network’s internal chat. The Bitdefender Labs have caught and blocked the worm, which is capable of spying on users’ browsing activities and stealing their personal details. The malware family mainly circulates in the US, India, Portugal, the UK, Germany, Turkey and Romania. The inf...

Barclays Wealth & Investment Management is testing the biometrics solution offered by Nuance’s FreeSpeech to authenticate phone customers. The bank identifies customers by checking callers’ voices against pre-recorded customers’ voice patterns. The bank logs the vocal sample without customers’ knowledge, by recording several calls after  security identification checks are passed by its clients. A 20 to ...

 The Bitdefender anti-spam lab is issuing a warning over a fast-growing phishing campaign that steals bank account log-in data through a “verify your account” scam. Innocent bank, debit or credit card account owners and customers of financial institutions including The Royal Bank of Canada, Permanent TSB of Ireland, Discover Bank and American Express of the US or NatWest of the UK are targeted by fraudsters...