Security > MalwareEssentials

Microsoft said that the anti-malware tool it pushes to Windows users as part of Patch Tuesday removed fake security software from nearly a million PCs during nine days this month.

The shutdown last week of a US-based Web hosting company crippled more than 500,000 bots, or compromised computers, which no longer are able to receive commands from criminals, a security researcher said Tuesday.

The Internet will mark an infamous anniversary on Sunday, when the Morris worm turns 20.

Malware has risen by a staggering 278 percent in the first half of 2008, thanks in part to the large number of websites comprised last month, so says a new study by ScanSafe. And it warns that things are only going to get worse, especially after Dan Kaminsky goes public with details about his 20 year-old DNS vulnerability.

Hackers have seized on the results of the US presidential election to launch a major malware campaign that tries to trick users into installing an update to Adobe's Flash, but actually plants a Trojan on unprotected PCs, security experts warned Wednesday.

A worm that exploits the bug Microsoft patched in an emergency update 11 days ago is actively attacking systems, several security companies and researchers said Monday.

Scammers are sending out phoney e-mails that claim to include critical Windows security alerts, Microsoft warned Monday.

Internet criminals are using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics to help spread malicious software, according to experts from Marshal's TRACE team.

Malware has managed to get off the planet and onto the International Space Station, NASA confirmed yesterday. And it's not the first time that a worm or virus has stowed away on a trip into orbit.

A wiry young man with his head shaved and wearing a tank top points a handgun straight at the camera in a disturbing YouTube video. The man wears what appears to be a wedding ring, and he gazes vacantly away from the viewer.

Security vendor PC Tools has questioned the usefulness of the threat lists used by many security companies to warn of current malware attacks.

Coverage of 'Race to Zero' has focussed attention, at least for a short while, on the very real problem that polymorphism poses for those who are trying to filter out all the different types of malware that can arrive on a user's system.

Mozilla chief executive John Lilly has lambasted Apple for its use of iTunes to offer the Safari web browser to Windows users, saying the technique "borders on malware distribution practices" and undermines the security of the Internet.