SockBot Discovered in Development

Recently we reported on the first ever ransomware which changes both the user PIN and encrypts user data on Android devices, discovered by researchers at ESET. In less than a week another piece of malware was discovered targeting Android users. SockBot, discovered by researchers at Symantec, is a Trojan which was used to target users who play Minecraft Pocket Edition mobile game. A total of 8 apps have been discovered carrying the Trojan on Google’s Play Store. The apps which were advertised as player skin apps and legitimate had total installation count ranging between 600,000 and 2.6 million. All of the apps were created by the same developer going by the name of FunBaster. Google has since removed the apps. Fortunately, for those who may have been infected with SockBot, Google is able to remove infected apps from user’s mobile devices. This action taken by Google would have drastically reduced the number of po...

How to remove “Your device has been blocked” ransomware virus from Android tablet or phone?

Cyber criminals have been spreading ransomware viruses on Windows-based computers for some time. These types of infections became popular in mid-2006 and continue to infect personal computers and extort money from their victims. Recently, security research began showing a rise in Android-based mobile ransomware infections. Commonly, ransomware viruses exploit the names of authorities including the FBI, USA Cyber Crime Investigations, and The ICE Cyber Crime Center - making fake claims that users must pay an amount of money (for supposed law violations such as watching pornography, using copyrighted files, etc.) in order to unblock their devices. In most cases, cyber criminals employ the Green Dot MoneyPak, Ukash, or PaySafeCard pre-paid card services to collect fake fines from unsuspecting mobile device users. Tablet and mobile phone users should be aware that paying these fines as ordered by these messages ...

Chromesearch.today Redirect

chromesearch.today is presented as a high-quality Internet search engine that generates improved search results and, therefore, enhances the browsing experience. Judging on appearance alone, chromesearch.today barely differs from Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other legitimate search engines. Therefore, many users believe that chromesearch.today is also legitimate and useful. In fact, this website records various user-system information (mostly, relating to browsing activity). Furthermore, developers promote chromesearch.today using rogue download/installation set-ups that modify Internet browser options without users' consent. Browser-hijacking set-ups target Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. Following infiltration, they assign the new tab URL, default search engine, and homepage options to chromesearch.today and append this same URL to the target of each browser shortcut. Therefore, user...