How to Tell If That Pop-Up Window Is Offering You a Rogue Anti-Malware Product

One thing I run into often, is how to know if that program that is
saying it can fix your spyware and malware woes is actually any good.
As many have found out, even programs that remove malware can be
malware themselves. The infamous SpyAxe (which started me blogging)
was the first mainstream one. That was 2006. Since then, there have
been many, many that have followed. They usually get onto your system
by tricking you into installing a video codec to watch something.
There's even been some for the Mac. It can be quite confusing figuring
out what is a legit antispyware program and what is a rogue.

Sunbelt has a good piece on how to find out. I'll link to the blog
post since the it's a pdf file. http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/beginners-guide-is-that-real-anti.html

I command you to rise from the dead

Since using OS X, it's been no fun to to mess with all the updates for Windows. You don't have to deal with 90% or more of the garbage that affects Windows. This isn't to say Windows is no good. I still use it, but nowhere near as much as I used to. Also add the time it takes to filter out all the spam comments that try to get through when comments are enabled, it became tiresome to update this blog.

While looking for up to date info on the election crisis in Iran, I finally started using Twitter. It really is the way to find out information as it happens. Anyways, it has invigorated me to get back to this blog. Tried a few times, so let's see what happens and where it goes.

Oh, Windows 7 certainly has renewed interest in Windows. Running the release candidate and it's looking good.

Antivirus 360 Replaces Antivirus 2009 As New Rogue

The Vundo trojan is now using Antivirus 360 in it's effort to scam money out of victims. The name is play off of Norton 360 it appears. Like all rogue antispyware products, the malware that found it's way on your computer is from the same group that is trying to sell you the solution.

Antivirus 360 removal guide found Bleeping Computer. Hijackthis log symptoms and files:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [13376694984709702142491016734454] C:\Program Files\A360\av360.exe

c:\Program Files\A360
c:\Program Files\A360\av360.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Antivirus 360.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Antivirus 360.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 360
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 360\Antivirus 360.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 360\Help.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Antivirus 360\Registration.lnk

Spywareinfo Domain Now Linking Rogues

The domain spywareinfo.com once was one of the main sites to help with stopping spyware and helping people remove spyware. Once a good source of information and news, it began a slow decline in 2006 when the owner Mike Healan disappeared from the net for personal reasons. The domain was bought recently and is now hosting links to undesirable removal programs, including Antivirus 2009.

Spywareinfo's legacy still lives on. The forums were moved to their own domain and can be found at spywareinfoforum.com . An archive of the old spywareinfo site can be found at spywareinfoforum.info. While archive of spywareinfo is mostly old and out of date, the forums are current , up to date and a good place to go if you need help.

More on the change of ownership of spywareinfo:

Warning at the spywareinfoforum site.

DSLreports security forums discuss the change.

Analysis of the new links.

Need An Update

My poor blog is almost dead. Silly work and real life keeping me from updating it.

Is your Computer running slowly?

Whoops, three months went by without a post. Oh well, no time like now to get back to it.

Malware Removal just put up a page to help with keeping your Windows computer from slowing down and what you can do to keep it from slowing down.

We get a lot of people coming here complaining of slow running computers, and posting HijackThis logs for us to look at. They suspect that an infection is causing their problem. In a great many cases, Malware is not the cause of the problem, and a few simple procedures are all that it takes to resolve things.

Is your Computer running slowly

AntiSpyCheck Rogue Program

AntiSpycheck is a new rogue spyware program. It's installed by the zlob trojan, giving fake alerts that try to get you to purchase it. The zlob trojan disguises itself as a video codec that is supposedly needed to view a video. It really installs spyware to make fake alerts and installs AntiSpyCheck to trick you into buying it.

Here are some lines from Hijackthis that you may find if you are infected:

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer,SearchURL = http://internetsearchservice.com
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://internetsearchservice.com
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://internetsearchservice.com/ie6.html
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://internetsearchservice.com
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = http://internetsearchservice.com
O2 - BHO: WarningBHO Class - {56FA7933-DC3E-403b-8D47-BB5E3F345A21} - C:\Program Files\AntiSpyCheck\IEWarning.dll
O2 - BHO: 514852 helper - {9420D9C5-E151-4D83-B9A6-27DE1A7A0E5F} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\514852\514852.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {99BA268B-4021-4739-9945-3C774217FE75} - C:\Program Files\NetProject\sbmdl.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AntiSpyCheck 2.1.0] "C:\Program Files\AntiSpyCheck\AntiSpyCheck.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Policies\Explorer\Run: [some] C:\Program Files\NetProject\scit.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Policies\Explorer\Run: [start] C:\Program Files\NetProject\sbmntr.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {9034A523-D068-4BE8-A284-9DF278BE776E} - http://www.ietoolpro.com/redirect.php (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: IE Anti-Spyware - {9034A523-D068-4BE8-A284-9DF278BE776E} - http://www.ietoolpro.com/redirect.php (file missing)
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: campaniform - {5c7b71bb-6d49-4bdc-b60d-f9fe0481eb5f} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\kfcpnd.dll

Here are some files that you my have if you are infected with this trojan:

c:\Program Files\AntiSpyCheck
c:\Program Files\AntiSpyCheck\AntiSpyCheck.exe
c:\Program Files\AntiSpyCheck\IEWarning.dll
c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\extensions\sotfone-tracker@sotfone.ru
c:\Program Files\NetProject
c:\Program Files\NetProject\sbmdl.dll
c:\Program Files\NetProject\sbmntr.exe
c:\Program Files\NetProject\sbsm.exe
c:\Program Files\NetProject\sbun.exe
c:\Program Files\NetProject\scit.exe
c:\Program Files\NetProject\scm.exe
c:\Program Files\NetProject\scu.exe
c:\WINDOWS\system32\kfcpnd.dll
c:\WINDOWS\system32\514852\514852.dll

For full details and a free removal guide, take a look at Bleeping Computer's AntiSpyCheck Removal Guide.

Internet Explorer Flaw Plus Safari Equals Trouble

An undisclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer, combined with exploiting Safari for Windows' ability to download files without being prompted, apparently allows the bad guys to take over Windows. This affects XP, Vista and IE versions 6 and 7. The unnamed Internet Explorer bug has been around for awhile. Combined with the Windows version of Safari, where files can be downloaded without an option to prompt before doing so, the flaw can be used to take over Windows, reports Aviv Raff.

The flaw in Internet Explorer uses the calculator program in conjunction with Safari for Windows to make two moderate vulnerabilities into a critical one. Microsoft has issued a bulletin, but it doesn't really say too much. Even if Microsoft patches IE, there's still Safari's "carpet bomb" issue that can allow unwanted downloads. Right now, Apple doesn't appear to want to fix this. Simply adding the option to prompt for all downloads before doing the download would help prevent this. Stopbadware wrote on their blog to urge Apple to do so.

You have to visit a specially crafted web page for this exploit to work. So it is not an all out fiasco. So far, there is not a known use of this problem. Right now, the only guaranteed fix to prevent this is to uninstall Safari for Windows. This may not be a bad idea, since there could be more bugs like this that can be exploited in Safari for Windows, said Raff in an interview with Macworld.

Service Pack 3 Available On CD

For those who are not on a good Internet connection or one where you are limited in bandwidth, you can get Service Pack 3 on CD now. You can also download a disk image or stand alone installer, which you can use to take home or save for a re-install. Having SP 3 available will help if you do need to re-install, so you won' have to go online and expose yourself to the evils of the Internet. You can check it out on Microsoft TechNet.

Mac OS 10.5.3 for leopard, Security Update for Tiger

A few hours ago, Apple made the 10.5.3 update available on Software Update. There's lots of changes and fixes in this one. If you have 10.4 Tiger, you do get a nice set of security updates so you don't feel left out.  

The 10.5.3 update details can be found at Apple. The kbase article mentions inprovements or fixes for: Address Book, Automator, Airport, iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Controls, Spaces, Time Machine and voice Over. I also noticed changes to Back to My Mac and Finder. 

For BTMM, there is now a red, green and yellow indicator for the service. I think it is just checking connectivity to the BTMM servers and successful login. I'm behind a crapy Linksys router that doesn't like to keep UPnP on, but I get a green light. So I can see the other mac, but connections still fail, as should since Universal Plug n Play isn't on. 

Finder now has a more accurate display of uploads to network drives, like iDisk. It used to sit on the closing file and would stay there until the file was finished uploading. That could be another 20 minutes or longer. Now it displays a rough estimate of the time remaining in the upload. 

If you have Tiger or haven't updated to 10.5.3, then you still want to use check updates for Security Update 2008-003. Updates include AFP Server, Apache, AppKit, CFNetwork, CoreFoundation, CoreGraphics, CoreTypes, Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), Flash Player Plug-in, iCal, LoginWindow, Mail, Wiki Server and  more. 

I installed 10.5.3 and had no problems. It was faster than the 10.5.2 update. So far, I'v only seen the usual people who seem to have trouble with every update complain. I see no reason to hold off of this set of updates.

Spyware Doctor False Positive Flags Part of XP Service Pack 3

Apparantly, Spyware Doctor may be detecting Rundll32.exe as having Trojan-Spy.Pophot.WX. The latest update, 5.09900, should fix this. In any event, you should run Spyware Doctor's Smart Update t be safe.

MacWindows

Since moving to Mac from Windows, it's been quite refreshing not having to keep multiple security programs running and updated. Sure, I still have several Windows machines here and have used them, but not so much anymore. Now that I have VMWare Fusion on my iMac with a 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 Gigs of RAM, and 24 inch screen, I can run them all. Now I need to get a 2nd display so I can run Windows Full screen side by side with OS X. I've got XP and Vista and can run them at the same time :) Though Aero won't work while I am running it in virtual machine. I can reboot to Vista using Bootcamp and Aero will pop on.

Anyways, with all the Windows going on, I'll need to keep up with the security stuff and will get back to updating here more. I haven't decided what changes there'll be, but I think a real template for this blog is past due. One thing to think about is what to display in updates. Most security programs these days have so many updates with similar names, that it's hard to pick out what it means. It used to be simple. A Look2Me here, a Vundo there and whatever the Zlob trojan was calling itself this week.

I'll see what i can come up with.