Computer and furniture leasing company Aaron’s took 185,000 e-mails with highly sensitive information from its customers via spyware installed on the leased machines. The spyware application provided by DesignerWare came preinstalled on the laptops leased through Aaron’s. It was designed to allow the rental company to kill the laptop remotely if customers fell beyond payment, but also was able to record key...

Japanese police have “arrested” a cat carrying a computer virus that a hacker installed on a memory card attached to the pet’s collar, according to the AFP. Cyber cops managed to find the feline on an island near Tokyo after being teased for several months with e-mail riddles sent to the media. The riddles promised journalists the “chance for a big scoop” and used “mountainside” and other clues to lead them...

A new illicit campaign using celebrity names such as Madonna and Rihanna infects computers with malware and recruits users into rapidly growing botnets, according to Bitdefender. Both Rihanna, the 6th most popular star in the US this year with 4.090.000 local monthly searches, according to a Google search tool, and Madonna, who ranks 19th, with 1.830.000 searches a month, are used as baits to make users cli...

A young man was arrested in Northern France after defrauding 17,000 people with a virus hidden in applications for handsets. In less than two years, the 20-year-old managed to steal from thousands of people small amounts of money that added up to a total of 500,000 euros. He used his parents’ residence in France to con victims into downloading applications advertised as free. Under a camouflage of original ...

We’ve seen our share of malware, adware and other interesting Android threats this summer. With autumn upon us, it’s time to recap the sizzling highlights that plagued our top 10 Android mobile malware summer charts. Although we didn’t start to break down adware until July, it’s worth mentioning that June kick started what we would later discover to be an avalanche of adware. In July, 77.34% of the total An...

Some 36 Brits were scammed out of £100 each by malware that posed as police messaging on more than 1,100 computers, according to a press release. The ransomware was installed on the devices after people accessed infected websites, and caused the PCs to freeze and lock, with a message allegedly coming from the British e-crime Unit, advising users to pay a fine to unlock their computer. “This is a fraud and u...

A malware-infected Android app that scammed users out of 20 million yen (£160,740) lead to the arrest of six men in Tokyo. Posing as a video playback app, the malware affected 9,252 users who visited an adult site believed to have been created to deliver the virus. Two IT executives were involved in the scam and the six-man operation was dismantled shortly after officials started investigating. Once install...

New malware morphs into different shapes unattended by humans...

Fake DHCP server sends your requests to cybercrime ring...

The updated file-infector features botnet capabilities and is extremely viral...