Since the FIFA Worldcup is going on, this is the best time to spread the malwares. So the malware coders might have been working on very hard for this time. So its you guys who should be worried about.

If you are careful about a few things, you don’t have to worry about anything!

1. Everyone will be trying to watch the online streaming videos for WORLDCUP. But searching these things might cause you to reach the wrong page and it will be the last thing you will ever want. Some websites will be loaded with lots of malwares while some other will be loaded with porn. In both cases it could cause problems for you, especially if you are at work.

So if you reach some pages and it is asking you to download and install any missing codec, don’t download it. Don’t accept any files from that website. Most probably it will be some kind of trojan.

2. Now one other the most effective threat is by using emails. If you are getting any emails saying Worldcup updates or something similar to that, don’t download the attachment. It may be a PDF file. But it may have stuffed with some bad code, which can probably install some kind of trojan in your system.

Read more about this from these links

• http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/fifa-world-cup-themed-malware-campaign-spreads-malicious-pdf-files/5903
• http://blog.trendmicro.com/latest-online-scam-targets-fifa-fans/
• http://blog.trendmicro.com/fifa-and-gaza-attack-tweets-dump-backdoors/
• http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/targeted-attack-uses-fifa-world-cup-2010-hook
• http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/fifa-world-cup-used-lure-victims-targeted-attack
• http://www.securecomputing.net.au/News/174182,fifa-world-cup-spam-strikes-again.aspx

Technology is getting improved day by day. The reasons for us to use computers are getting more and more. All this is the good part. Now comes the bad part, Viruses and other Malwares. BlackHats are making hell lot of money just by these malwares. But these malwares use layman’s computers for making this happen. As of now if you just leave your computer online without any firewalls or antivirus softwares, it is said that, it will get infected in just 10 mins.

With the plethora of viruses, bugs, worms and threats invading the desktop these days, antivirus products have become a critical tool for any PC user. Again there are lots of Antivirus softwares for you to choose. Each one is having its own advantages and disadvantages.

And let me tell you at first only. There are Rogue AntiVirus softwares, which may disguise you .

Wikipedia says,

Rogue security software is a form of computer malware that deceives or misleads users into paying for the fake or simulated removal of malware. Rogue security software, in recent years, has become a growing and serious security threat in desktop computing.

So just don’t fall for this.

Now let me come to the Comparison of Top 5 AntiVirus softwares.

Nod32 Antivirus promises you fast, effective and easy-to-use protection. The system wil not slow down a little bit because of NOD32 and yet it is quite powerful. Almost all emerging threats are detectable by NOD32. The database updates are very frequent offering one of the best real time protection even from the latest malwares. The user interface is quite good. The UI very easy to eyes.  It has 2 profiles for both advanced PC users and normal PC users.  But still the user configurable options are less compared to some other Antivirus. For some users this may be a disadvantage. But still I can sya it is good for its simplicity.

Key Benefits

• Keeps you safe from viruses, spyware, trojans, password stealers and other malware threats
• Stops most new threats proactively, well before other vendors have issued a signature, maximizing your defense against new and unknown threats
• Scans and cleans Internet traffic and email, even when it’s SSL-encrypted, so your email is always safe
• Stops threats from entering through removable devices so you can share files with confidence
• Integrated SysInspector and SysRescue simplify system diagnosis and recovery
• Self defense prevents malware from degrading your level of protection
• Tiny signature updates happen discretely as needed and won’t bog down your system
• Free technical support via the Web, email or phone

avast! Home Edition

Avast is famous for their Home Free version. They offers an unmatched protection from viruses free. This free version is only for  Home users. FREE avast! antivirus Home Edition includes ANTI-SPYWARE protection, certified by the West Coast Labs Checkmark process, and ANTI-ROOTKIT detection based on the best-in class GMER technology even with No additional purchase.Avast has a skinnable user interface. The gallery for this skins contain awesome skins. If you haven’t tried avast till now, I will tell you to try it atleast once. Anyway avast detection for Script files is somewhat bad for Home edition.

Then one best part of avast is the BootTime Scan. It helps you to remove viruses at the boot time. This helps to remove the viruses which are very difficult to remove when windows is working. Another thing about avast is its disinfection capability. Its just awesome. If you are disinfecting with avast, a corrupt file hardly happens.

• Anti-spyware built-in
• Web Shield
• Anti-rootkit built-in
• Automatic updates
• Strong self-protection
• Virus Chest
• Antivirus kernel
• System integration
• Simple User Interface
• Integrated Virus Cleaner
• Resident protection
• Support for 64-bit Windows
• P2P and IM Shields
• Internationalization
• Network Shield

Kaspersky^®

Anti-Virus 2010

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 – the backbone of your PC’s security system – offers protection from a range of IT threats and provides the basic tools needed to protect your PC.

• Overall the best detection rate, Frequent database updates, Good detection of potentially unwanted and dangerous applications, Good self defense, etc etc The good parts of Kaspersky antivirus is incomparable with many of its competitors. As far as I know the only bad part of Kaspersky is, its usage of system resources is a little bit more, and this may make your system a little bit slow.

• Real-time scanning of files, web pages and e-messages
• Basic identity theft protection Improved!
• Color-coding of links to unsafe websites New!
• Disabling of links to malicious websites
• Blocking of suspicious programs based on their behavior Improved!
• Protection from hijacking of your PC
• Self-protection from malware
• Regular and emergency updates for always-on protection

BitDefender Antivirus 2010 provides advanced proactive protection against viruses, spyware, phishing attacks and identity theft, without slowing down your PC. Bitdefender is one of the most stable Antivirus Software. Whatever happens to the system, this application runs like a charm. And this helps to recover from any bad conditions. Besides this, the software is just a usual antivirus application.

Features and Benefits

• Confidently download, share and open files from friends, family, co-workers – and even total strangers
• Protects against viruses and other malware using industry-leading technology
• Scans all Web, e-mail and instant messaging traffic in real-time
• Provides an unmatched detection rate of new threats based on two different proactive technologies
• Blocks spyware programs that track your online activities
• Protect your identity: shop, bank, listen and watch, privately and securely
• Blocks web pages that attempt to steal your credit card data
• Prevents personal information from leaking via e-mail, Web or instant messaging
• Guard your conversations with top-of-the line encryption
• Instant Messaging Encryption keeps your conversations private on Yahoo! and MSN Messenger
• Play safely, play seamlessly
• Reduces the system load and avoids requesting user interaction during game play
• Get fine-tuned performance from your computer
• Optimized scanning technology skips safe files for better scan speed and lower system load
• Laptop Mode prolongs battery life
• Let professionals solve any security issues
• Assistance with common issues built directly into the product
• Free technical support for the entire duration of the product license

Avira AntiVir Personal – FREE Antivirus

Avira AntiVir Personal – FREE Antivirus is a reliable free antivirus solution, that constantly and rapidly scans your computer for malicious programs such as viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc. Monitors every action executed by the user or the operating system and reacts promptly when a malicious program is detected.Avira AntiVir Personal is a comprehensive, easy to use antivirus program, designed to offer reliable free of charge virus protection to home-users, for personal use only.

Features

• AntiVir protection against viruses, worms and Trojans
• AntiDialer protection against expensive dialers
• AntiRootkit protection against hidden rootkits
• Faster Scanning up to 20% faster
• New User Interface
• AntiPhishing protection against phishing
• AntiSpyware protection against spyware and adware
• NetbookSupport for laptops with low resolution

Now thats all for now. So select a good antivirus, and install. By the way, if you think some oether antivirus should come in this list, put it as comment. Give your reviews also.

A scareware package is on the wild which mimics Windows’ infamous Blue Screen of Death for scaring people and to mislead them to buy some crappy (rogue) anti spyware application.

If you ever came across this kind of screen in which some notice like “your system is infected” is there, dont be scared. Their purpose is to scare you and make you pay for some crap.

The Blue Screen of Death trick is a new social engineering innovation used by the developers of these rogue applications. If you buy their product assuming it would clean your system and make your system safe, then you are wrong. This family of software isn’t necessarily intrinsically malicious, but members of the family often use deceptive sales techniques and false positives, deliberate or accidental, to convince users to pay for a license.

So dont buy any products like this. Use some reputed anti virus product for removing their trails from your system.

Note:

If you are one among the people who used to watch online videos frequently, especially the videos which are illegal to watch, then stop or atleast be careful. Because nowadays malwares are spreading using a new technique. For example you will be asked to download and install some new codec or player for viewing their content. If you download and install this, you will end up with a severely infected system.

Malware Removal Help Forums

Currently the malwares are being spread by various means. The attackers are using their social engineering skills to make the victim’s computers compromised. The bad fact is that these people have a very high level of social engineering skills.

Also the people who uses internet and computers with the lack of good knowledge about computers and internet makes it easy for the attackers to infect the computer they are using.

“Erin Andrews Nude Video Scandal” this is a hot discussion topics on lots of discussion boards and chat rooms. The black hats also used this to popularize their malwares. There have been lots of websites offering the video for this. But trust me, Almost 80% of these websites were hosting malwares and they tried to infect the people who visited their websites for watching this video.

So what these hackers did was, they just asked the visitor to download a required codecpack/player to play this special kind of video. If the visitor does not have a good computer background s/he will click on it . Then the download prompt will display. Guess what, Now the visitor became the victim because of the malware just now s/he downloaded. This malware can be used by the hacker to gain full or partial control of the victim through the internet. Thus the victims system can be used even as a webserver by the attacker if s/he wanted to.

So first principle not to get infetced is, being aware of these kind of threats. Always “Prevention is better than cure”.

Now you may say, i ‘ll be more careful now-onwards but what if i already got infected?.

Then let me say, there are lots of resources for you. Like theres always been this opposite energy, for all these bad people who tries to fill this world with their malwares, there are Good people who tries to help all those victims of these attackers. They try very hard for keeping this world safe.

Now let me come to the point why i made this post.

There are lots of forums a.k.a. BBS a.k.a. discussion boards which offers to help you for disinfecting/cleaning your systems. And once your system got cleaned they will provide you guidelines for not to get infected again in future.

These are the lists of those kind of forums i’m aware of:

English Forums:

Dutch Forums/German Forums:

Nowadays there are places where you can watch movies brand new movies for free.

Malware writers are making use of this thing also.Now a malware is spreading commonly known as harry potter malware which is using the eagerness of people who want to watch the harrypotter new movie.

Cybercriminals are pushing “blackhat” search engine optimization tactics to target the most popular file sharing and P2P networks, pursuing those interested in upcoming movie releases and in particular taking advantage of the sizeable Harry Potter fan base wanting to download the movie in advance of its screening.

the bad guys are populating sites like Digg.com and Blogspot and sending spam e-mail messages with enticements to ‘Watch “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince online free”’ and links to a bogus film site. They are also flooding the comment sections of these sites with various Harry Potter related keywords, to try to trick search engines into displaying their site in search results.

People who click on the play button for this movie will be asked to install a file for installing the streaming pack or codec pack.Normal users will install this file to watch the movie.

Actually this file is nothing but a malware which is koobface worm in almost all cases. This can include keyloggers, Remote administration tools, and even backdoors. the result is you will be using a compromised system by which attackers can use your credit card,emails,social community,etc etc.

So beware of it.think twice before downloading any files like this..

the screen shot for an example is given here.