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Category — antivirus software
Kaspersky Exits U.S., Automatically Replaces Software With UltraAV, Raising Concerns

Kaspersky Exits U.S., Automatically Replaces Software With UltraAV, Raising Concerns

Sep 24, 2024 Antivirus / National Security
Antivirus vendor Kaspersky has formally begun pulling back its offerings in the U.S., migrating existing users to UltraAV, effective September 19, 2024, ahead of its formal exit at the end of the month. "Kaspersky antivirus customers received a software update facilitating the transition to UltraAV," the company said in a post announcing the move on September 21. "This update ensured that users would not experience a gap in protection upon Kaspersky's exit from the market." The Russian company, which was banned from selling its software in the U.S. due to national security concerns, said it "worked closely" with UltraAV to ensure that the standards of security and privacy were maintained after the switch. However, some users who experienced the update have taken to Kaspersky's forums and Reddit , stating that Kaspersky's software was automatically deleted and replaced by UltraAV without any prior notice. UltraAV, in an FAQ , said &quo
Critical RCE Vulnerability Discovered in ClamAV Open Source Antivirus Software

Critical RCE Vulnerability Discovered in ClamAV Open Source Antivirus Software

Feb 17, 2023 Sysadmin / Endpoint Security
Cisco has rolled out security updates to address a critical flaw reported in the ClamAV open source antivirus engine that could lead to remote code execution on susceptible devices. Tracked as  CVE-2023-20032  (CVSS score: 9.8), the issue relates to a case of remote code execution residing in the HFS+ file parser component. The flaw affects versions 1.0.0 and earlier, 0.105.1 and earlier, and 0.103.7 and earlier. Google security engineer Simon Scannell has been credited with discovering and reporting the bug. "This vulnerability is due to a missing buffer size check that may result in a heap buffer overflow write," Cisco Talos  said  in an advisory. "An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted HFS+ partition file to be scanned by ClamAV on an affected device." Successful exploitation of the weakness could enable an adversary to run arbitrary code with the same privileges as that of the ClamAV scanning process, or crash the process, resu
Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!"

Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!"

Nov 21, 2024Threat Detection / Pentesting
As a relatively new security category, many security operators and executives I've met have asked us "What are these Automated Security Validation (ASV) tools?" We've covered that pretty extensively in the past, so today, instead of covering the " What is ASV?" I wanted to address the " Why ASV?" question. In this article, we'll cover some common use cases and misconceptions of how people misuse and misunderstand ASV tools daily (because that's a lot more fun). To kick things off, there's no place to start like the beginning. Automated security validation tools are designed to provide continuous, real-time assessment of an organization's cybersecurity defenses. These tools are continuous and use exploitation to validate defenses like EDR, NDR, and WAFs. They're more in-depth than vulnerability scanners because they use tactics and techniques that you'll see in manual penetration tests. Vulnerability scanners won't relay hashes or combine vulnerabilities to further attacks, whic
New Updates for ESET's Advanced Home Solutions

New Updates for ESET's Advanced Home Solutions

Nov 11, 2022
It's no secret that antivirus software is as essential to your computer as a power cord. However, the threats don't stop at your devices. For example, criminals trying to steal your data can attack your Wi-Fi router, and phishing attempts can target your email.  ESET's latest consumer product release takes a comprehensive approach to security to guard against a full range of threats. All are built with ESET's signature light footprint for gaming, browsing, shopping and socializing with no interruptions or slowdowns. Introducing enhanced security for Windows, Mac and Android For more than 30 years, ESET® has created industry-leading IT security software and services, protecting businesses worldwide from ever-evolving digital threats.  ESET's solutions for consumers use the same advanced technologies. By protecting your digital life, ESET delivers real-world protection against criminals trying to steal your identity, hack your bank account or lock down your com
cyber security

Creating, Managing and Securing Non-Human Identities

websitePermisoCybersecurity / Identity Security
A new class of identities has emerged alongside traditional human users: non-human identities (NHIs). Permiso Security's new eBook details everything you need to know about managing and securing non-human identities, and strategies to unify identity security without compromising agility.
Kaspersky Antivirus Flaw Exposed Users to Cross-Site Tracking Online

Kaspersky Antivirus Flaw Exposed Users to Cross-Site Tracking Online

Aug 15, 2019
In this digital era, the success of almost every marketing, advertising, and analytics company drives through tracking users across the Internet to identify them and learn their interests to provide targeted ads. Most of these solutions rely on 3rd-party cookies, a cookie set on a domain other than the one you are browsing, which allows companies including Google and Facebook to fingerprint you in order to track your every move across multiple sites. However, if you're using Kaspersky Antivirus, a vulnerability in the security software had exposed a unique identifier associated with you to every website you visited in the past 4 years, which might have allowed those sites and other third-party services to track you across the web even if you have blocked or erased third-party cookies timely. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2019-8286 and discovered by independent security researcher Ronald Eikenberg, resides in the way a URL scanning module integrated into the antivir
Microsoft Releases Patches For A Critical 'Wormable Flaw' and 78 Other Issues

Microsoft Releases Patches For A Critical 'Wormable Flaw' and 78 Other Issues

May 14, 2019
It's Patch Tuesday—the day when Microsoft releases monthly security updates for its software. Microsoft has software updates to address a total of 79 CVE-listed vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and other products, including a critical wormable flaw that can propagate malware from computer to computer without requiring users' interaction. Out of 79 vulnerabilities, 18 issues have been rated as critical and rest Important in severity. Two of the vulnerabilities addressed this month by the tech giant are listed as publicly known, of which one is listed as under active attack at the time of release. May 2019 security updates address flaws in Windows OS, Internet Explorer, Edge, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Office Services and Web Apps, ChakraCore, .NET Framework, and ASP.NET, Skype for Android, Azure DevOps Server, and the NuGet Package Manager. Critical Wormable RDP Vulnerability The wormable vulnerability ( CVE-2019-0708 ) resides in Remote Desktop
U.S. Believes Russian Spies Used Kaspersky Antivirus to Steal NSA Secrets

U.S. Believes Russian Spies Used Kaspersky Antivirus to Steal NSA Secrets

Oct 06, 2017
Do you know—United States Government has banned federal agencies from using Kaspersky antivirus software over spying fear? Though there's no solid evidence yet available, an article published by WSJ claims  that the Russian state-sponsored hackers stole highly classified NSA documents from a contractor in 2015 with the help of a security program made by Russia-based security firm Kaspersky Lab. Currently, there is no way to independently confirm if the claims on the popular security vendor published by the Wall Street Journal is accurate—and the story does not even prove the involvement of Kaspersky. "As a private company, Kaspersky Lab does not have inappropriate ties to any government, including Russia, and the only conclusion seems to be that Kaspersky Lab is caught in the middle of a geopolitical fight," Kaspersky said in a statement. The NSA contractor working with the American intelligence agency, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, reportedly do
Microsoft Adding Artificial-Intelligence Based Advanced Antivirus to Windows 10

Microsoft Adding Artificial-Intelligence Based Advanced Antivirus to Windows 10

Jun 28, 2017
Microsoft is making every effort to make its Windows operating system more secure and advanced than ever before by beefing up its security practices and hardening it against hackers and cyber attacks in its next release. With the launch of its Windows 10 Creator Update (also known as RedStone 3), which is expected to release sometime between September and October 2017, Microsoft is planning to release lots of security features in an effort to prevent major global malware crisis. Just a few days ago, we reported about Microsoft's plan to build its EMET or Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit into the kernel of the upcoming Windows 10 to boost the security of your computer against complex threats such as zero-day vulnerabilities. Also, the tech giant has planned to remove the SMBv1 (Server Message Block version 1) — a 30-year-old file sharing protocol which came to light last month after the devastating WannaCry outbreak — from the upcoming Windows 10 (1709) Redstone 3
Webroot 'mistakenly' flags Windows as Malware and Facebook as Phishing site

Webroot 'mistakenly' flags Windows as Malware and Facebook as Phishing site

Apr 25, 2017
Popular antivirus service Webroot mistakenly flagged core Windows system files as malicious and even started temporarily removing some of the legit files, trashing user computers around the world. The havoc caused after the company released a bad update on April 24, which was pulled after approximately 15 minutes. But that still hasn't stopped some PCs from receiving it, causing serious issues for not just individuals, but also companies and organizations relying on the software. Webroot even Blocked Facebook According to the reports by many customers on social media and Webroot's forum , hundreds and even thousands of systems were broken down after antivirus software flagged hundreds of benign files needed to run Windows and apps that run on top of the operating system. The faulty update even caused the antivirus to incorrectly block access to Facebook after flagging the social network service as a phishing website, preventing users from accessing the social netw
VirusTotal now Scans Mac OS X Apps for Malware

VirusTotal now Scans Mac OS X Apps for Malware

Nov 19, 2015
Do Mac Computers Get Viruses? Yes, Of Course, they do!  According to stats, malware for MAC OS X has appeared five times more in 2015 alone than the previous five years combined. As malware for Macs is becoming more common, Google has decided to add support for Mac  OS X malware detection to its VirusTotal web-based service. VirusTotal — launched in 2004 and acquired by Google in 2012 — is a free and popular online service for security researchers and Hackers that lets you upload files to check them for viruses. VirusTotal scans uploaded files with more than 55 different Antivirus products and Online scan engines to provide a combined report on the results. VirusTotal also runs certain ' Windows PE files and Android apps ' files in the Sandbox , a controlled research environment used for malware analysis. According to the recent announcement, VirusTotal will also be able to execute suspicious Mac executable files inside its Sandbox environment
AVG Antivirus Plans to Collect & Sell Your Personal Data to Advertisers

AVG Antivirus Plans to Collect & Sell Your Personal Data to Advertisers

Sep 19, 2015
We at The Hacker News are big fans of Security Software – The first thing we install while setting our Computers and Devices. Thanks to Free Security Software that protects Internet users without paying for their security. But, Remember: Nothing comes for FREE " Free " is just a relative term, as one of the world's most popular anti-virus companies is now admitting. Czech Republic-based antivirus company AVG has announced its privacy policy in which the company openly admits that it will collect and sell users' data to online advertisers for the purpose of making money from its free antivirus software. This new policy, which will come into effect on October 15 , clearly explains that AVG will be allowed to collect and sell users' " non-personal data " in order to " make money from our free offerings so we can keep them free ." Have a Look on Your Data AVG wants to Sell  Here's the list of, what AVG calls, &q
How to Use Linux to Rescue a Malware-Infected Computer

How to Use Linux to Rescue a Malware-Infected Computer

Oct 30, 2010 Cybersecurity / IT Solutions
If you use Linux on your company's desktop or server computers, you're likely familiar with the security advantages the open-source operating system offers over Windows and Mac. What many people don't realize, however, is that Linux can also rescue a computer crippled by malware. Malware is a frequent issue in the Windows world, and it can be devastating. When a Windows virus strikes, it can become difficult or even impossible to continue using the affected machine. Moreover, prolonged use can further the infection. Here's how Linux can help you recover from such a situation without ever installing it permanently on your PC. Step 1: Get a LiveCD or Live USB LiveCDs and USBs are great because they let you boot a machine directly from the CD or USB stick without accessing the computer's boot records. They allow you to test Linux and can be used when Windows fails. The fastest way to get a LiveCD or USB is to download the .iso file of the Linux distribution you wan
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