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Panda Security

Regain your privacy: Facebook’s new (creepy) ad system

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PandaSecurity-Facebook

Running a service as large as Facebook is extremely expensive. So rather than charge users like you and me a fee for accessing the social network, Facebook use our profiles to sell adverts. The more they know about us and our preferences, the more advertisers are willing to pay to show us online ads that match our tastes.

For most people, a few targeted ads in their Facebook timeline is a more than fair swap for the entertainment they get in return. However a new development in the Facebook advertising model may not be quite so agreeable.

All your advertisement profile data in one place

Claiming they want to “enhance” the online advertising experience for their users, Facebook has announced a new partnership with four data brokers, Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom and BlueKai. These businesses also create profiles based on our shopping and dining habits (among other factors), giving Facebook a way to link up our on- and off-line lives.

Combining all of these profiles gives Facebook an incredibly detailed insight into every detail of our lives – and means that they can target adverts at us even more accurately. They will also be showing us adverts outside the confines of the Facebook site and apps. We will start to see highly targeted ads everywhere as we surf the web.

For anyone concerned about retaining even the smallest degree of privacy, this is a concerning development. So what can you do about it?

1. Check your Facebook advertising settings

Facebook does provide you with a (limited) selection of account controls. You can find out more in this blog post here.

2. Install ad-blocker and security software

Many of the systems used by online advertisers and data brokers are incredibly similar to the malware used by cybercriminals. Panda Gold Protection provides tools designed to protect your data on social networks (or elsewhere on the web) for instance.

A second tool, like AdBlock or Ghostery allows you to block specific trackers used by advertisers for an additional layer of privacy. These tools are especially effective for preventing BlueKai from collecting your web browsing data.
We highly recommend non Panda users to download and use our Panda Cloud Cleaner to check if their computer is free of malware and Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs).

3. Opt out from the brokers

Three of Facebook’s data broker partners allow you to opt out of their data collection routines. Although relatively straightforward, you have to do the hard work to make it happen.

The instructions below will help you opt out:
• Acxiom (complete the form, and click the confirmation link in the email that follows): https://isapps.acxiom.com/optout/optout.aspx
• Datalogix (simple – just click this link): https://www.datalogix.com/privacy/rel-opt-out-confirmation/
• Epsilom (click the “Choose all companies” button on the AdChoices website to opt out): http://www.aboutads.info/choices/

What happens when you opt out?

Following these steps will somewhat limit the tracking habits of these companies, but it won’t stop them entirely. After all, everything you share on Facebook is fed into their advertising algorithms.

You will also find that the adverts you do see online may have no relevance to your interests at all. So you need to weigh up the importance of relevant advertising to your web browsing experience.

Ready to improve your online privacy? Start your free Panda Protection Service trial today.

The post Regain your privacy: Facebook’s new (creepy) ad system appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.

Panda Security

Anti-malware Testing Undercover

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lab malware

This week Cylance’s Chad Skipper published an article called “Security Testing Houses: Know the Truth!” that all people interested in security solutions testing should read. There are some serious accusations against some testing houses and vendors (without naming them) such as:

–          “vendors who pay so that their test results will show 100% efficacy”

–          “bribing the testing house to hide the negative results of their tests.”

Even though I have been involved in this industry for more than 17 years, I am not aware of any case like those described above. That being said, I do agree with most of the article. To name a few: outdated testing methodologies, not enough samples being used, having to pay to challenge the test results… that happens. And it has to be fixed, that’s why organizations like AMTSO exist, and the first thing that came to my mind after reading the blog was “we need to have Chad in the next AMTSO meeting”. Guess what, when I asked AMTSO about it they told me he had already registered for the next meeting we’ll have next month in Malaga. Awesome!

Chad ends the article saying “Test for Yourself”. I also agree with this, and in fact it is something that has been happening for a long time. The largest customers we have in different areas (Governments, Telecommunications, Financial, Health, Facilities industries) have selected our EDR solution (Adaptive Defense 360) after several months of intensive and deep testing of different solutions.

The truth is that this kind of “do-it-yourself” testing is only available for big corporations. Small and medium companies lack the resources to do it properly, and that’s why they trust professional testing companies’ results to make decisions. Security Week’s Kevin Townsend wrote an article a few months ago about this topic in this fantastic article: “Inside The Competitive Testing Battlefield of Endpoint Security”.

Out of all the regular tests performed by the biggest testing companies one of the tests I like the most is the Real-World Protection Test performed by AV-Comparatives. In the aggregated February-June 2016 test with 1,868 test cases (PDF), how many vendors obtained 100% accuracy with 0 false positives? None of them. It is clear that Chad cannot be referring to AV-Comparatives when he is talking about vendors that pay to obtain a 100% efficacy.

This is the same AV-Comparatives I talked to last year to test our EDR solution, Adaptive Defense 360, with a number of other similar solutions. Have you seen that test? No, that’s because even though Panda offered to pay for each product included in that test, the other vendors (Cylance was NOT one of them) didn’t want to.

In 3 weeks I will be in Denver to discuss these topics at the 26th Virus Bulletin conference with ESET’s Righard Zwienenberg in our talk “Anti-malware Testing Undercover”.

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Panda Security

5 simple tricks to boost your PC security

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Because we rely on technology to manage every detail of our lives, devices are a natural target for criminals. Why steal your wallet when they can grab your online banking password and empty your account remotely?
Keeping your PC and other devices secure is incredibly important. Here are five ways you to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime.

Security Tips:

Use your PC’s built-in tools

Since the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft has included a feature called “User Account Control” in every version of their Windows operating system – including Windows 10. This built-in security function prompts you to enter a user name and password every time a new piece of software is installed. Without the password, the software will not be installed.
For many people, this constant prompting for a password is extremely annoying – so they simply disable User Account Control (UAC). Once turned off, software can be installed silently – making it much easier for viruses and malware to infect your PC. If you have disabled UAC, you need to re-enable it now.

Treat email with caution

There are over 205 billion emails sent every day, making it one of the most popular communications methods available. This is why email is used so often to launch cyberattacks.
From infected attachments that install malware, to phishing scams that trick you into disclosing sensitive information, your inbox is a potential minefield. You must learn to treat incoming email with caution, double-checking attachments and links before clicking them.
If you can get into this habit, your mailbox will be a lot safer place.

Install antivirus and internet security tools

Cyberattack methods are constantly evolving, and staying on top of security developments is a full-time job for seasoned IT experts. You can reduce the risk of becoming a victim by installing a trusted anti-malware solution like those offered by Panda Security.
Antivirus and internet security tools are designed to test files and we links automatically, blocking and removing harmful content before it can infect your PC. Preventing malware infections is much more effective that trying to remove them later.

Don’t reuse your passwords

The average internet user has 26 different online accounts. It’s no surprise then that we tend to use the same logon details over and over again – we typically share the same five passwords between our accounts. But if a password is cracked by hackers, they have everything needed to access all of the accounts that share that same word.

If you really can’t remember all of your different passwords, a tool like a Password Manager can. This apps generate unique, “strong” passwords and store them securely. When you need to logon, the password app “remembers” the correct logon details for you automatically.

Treat “free” WiFi with caution

When out and about, free WiFi hotspots can be a lifesaver, but everything is not always as it seems. Criminals have been known to set up wireless networks in public places in order to trap unsuspecting victims. These fake WiFi hotspots then collect all of the data sent and received by people connected to it – including sensitive data like credit card numbers and passwords.

You must always check that the hotspot is from a reputable provider – if you’re not sure, don’t connect. You can always ask a member of staff for assistance. If you will be using your device on public networks regularly, you should also consider whether a secure VPN subscription would help to keep you even safer.

Although keeping your PC safe may feel like a battle, many of the challenges can be overcome through the use of good security tools, and your own common sense. For more help and advice on how to keep your PC secure from criminals, please get in touch.

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Panda Security

Nougat, the new, more secure version of Android

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nougat panda security

The most recent update to Google’s operating system, the most widely used around the world, is now available for Nexus devices and will soon be out there for users of all other devices, as manufacturers begin to include it.

As is often the case, it will be some time before it is universally adopted, though there appear to be good reasons to take the leap as soon as possible, many of them related to security.

Firstly, the new version of Android includes a feature dubbed DirectBoot, designed so that the device begins to operate immediately after a restart. This means that if it is switched off and on again without the user noticing, the services and programs configured to do so will start to operate right away, without having to wait for the device to be unlocked. This includes critical apps such as antivirus solutions, which will be able to protect the device from the moment it is active.

When the device restarts, apps will start to operate without having to wait for the phone to be unlocked.

Nougat also includes a new file encryption system allowing files to be secured individually, without having to encrypt the entire device. For business users, Android for Work also delivers improvements to VPN usage. Company security managers will now be able to force all company devices to be connected at all times, and exclusively through secure VPNs.

android-nougat-2

The Android update also places restrictions on permissions shared across applications, and prevents apps with administrator privileges from accessing particularly sensitive features, such as changing device PINs or passwords.

Nougat will prevent ‘apps’ from changing the PIN or password of a device.

Another welcome new feature that will simplify the essential task of installing new updates is that Nougat users won’t have to wait for apps to configure one by one after an update (but only for new phones optimized for Nougat). This was something that could take up to half an hour, depending on the apps on a device, and in the future will take place in the background, without interfering with the ability to use the phone.

All these improvements, along with some minor changes, mean that making the switch to Nougat should be a priority for all companies that work with Android. It’s just a question of waiting for device manufacturers to have the update ready.

The post Nougat, the new, more secure version of Android appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.

Panda Security

Are your children ready to go back to school?

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It is this time of the year when children are heading back to school. Not only will they be taking with them their memories from an amazing summer spent chasing Pokemons, and their hopes to have fun while learning more about the world… they’ll also be taking lots of consumer electronics. A recent study by the Consumer Technology Association suggests that consumers will spend more than $15 billion on back-to-school technology; this is a colossal sum. No matter how old your children are, they’ll either have a cell phone, a smartwatch, portable memory sticks, a tablet or a laptop. For some of them, this may even be the first time they are alone with the new technology you’ve just bought them. And with great power comes great responsibility.

Here at Panda, we’ve drawn up a list of products that your children will most likely be taking to school with them this Fall:

Cell phone

Cell phones could be a distraction and are forbidden in a number of schools here in the USA. However, there is now a way around it – connected smartwatches. They connect straight to the LTE network making it possible to make and receive calls.

Cell phones are the main focus of new hacker attacks and malware, so don’t forget to install a security product to protect your children. Moreover, in many cases security products can also protect and monitor smartwatches.

Laptop and Tablet

Delivering a presentation and taking notes has never been easier. Having a laptop or a tablet at school is a must, almost every publisher offers digital versions of their textbooks. Say goodbye to the heavy backpack!

Make sure you install trustworthy programs and remember, you should always have the latest version with all security patches applied, this prevents security holes from being exploited by viruses.

USB Stick

Every day children exchange pen-drives with schoolmates. Make sure you have the tools needed to protect your PC and Mac. Most of the time kids don’t even realise their pen drives are infected.

Did you know that many infections occur directly from USB drives? To protect against this type of infection, be sure to choose an antivirus which, when any USB drive (external hard drive, device, USB, etc.) is inserted, offers the possibility to scan it and clean it in case of infection, so you can use it without risk.

PC/Mac Software

Whether it’s the latest graphic design software or simply a tool that helps you solve math problems, the software you have on your children’s learning devices is as important and as the devices themselves.

Nowadays, technology and BYOD devices are a huge part of the learning process and our children’s lives and future have never been so reliant on technology. Let’s make sure we teach them how to take advantage safely of the benefits the 21st century offers them. All these products can be protected as Panda Security detects and blocks 99.9% of threats no matter what devices or platform they are using. So sleep tight while we work on detecting the remaining 0.01%.

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Panda Security

Companies that are making the same mistake as Dropbox

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dropbox panda security

Though it may seem trivial, it is not: the security of your company and of your customers depends largely on the passwords that your employees use. In fact, should any of them make such a serious error as, for example, reusing their login credentials across different services, the consequences could be catastrophic, as Dropbox has recently learned.

The case of Dropbox, in figures.

Just a few days ago, the cloud storage company acknowledged that passwords of more than 68 million accounts had been leaked, with a security issue jeopardizing the information of its more tan 500 million users. All the problems started with a simple lapse on the part of one of the company’s employees

The incident occurred in 2012, when some Dropbox users began to complain: email accounts that they had used exclusively to register for the service had started to receive a lot of spam messages. The key to the mystery lay in the theft of passwords from a Dropbox employee: cyber-crooks had got hold of the employee’s LinkedIn password, which was the same as the one used for the cloud storage account. And in the Dropbox account, the employee had a document with a list of user’s email accounts. The perfect gift for spammers.

Some of the passwords that have now been leaked correspond to those accounts included in the previous theft some years before. In fact, a few days before its acknowledgement of this latest leak, Dropbox asked users that had not changed their passwords for some years to do so as soon as possible: “We’re reaching out to let you know that if you haven’t updated your password since mid-2012, you’ll be prompted to update it the next time you sign in. This is purely a preventative measure and we’re sorry for the inconvenience”, read the email.

Some of the passwords filtered correspond to hacked accounts years ago (…) Dropbox asked users that has not changed their passwords for 4 years ago to do so as soon as possible.

In short, poor password practice by employees in company email or service accounts can put the whole company at risk. In fact, Dropbox has already taken measures to enable employees to comply with corporate security rules, including among other things, not reusing passwords. You can also do the same. Panda’s security solutions include a password manager to facilitate the use of different passwords for different services, without having to memorize each one.

 

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Panda Security

Know the tricks of the new Locky

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tales-ransomware_tales

In this new Tales from Ransomwhere we discovered the tricks of one of the most infamous families in the landscape of the ransomware: Locky .

Recently (our colleagues from Avira reported it in July) they added a new feature, it includes an offline mode so it is able to encrypt files when the connection to the server is not available. The weak point is that this key is the same for every computer which files are encrypted, that’s why this is just something that is performed when for some reason the C&C server is unavailable.

On top of this now they have changed the way they infect computers. Usually these attacks rely on a small downloader Trojan who downloads and executes the ransomware. For example, when the attack comes from a javascript file, this usually downloads a small executable which only function is to get the ransomware and execute it. As I have explained in previous articles, cybercriminals are all the time making small changes trying to avoid detection from security solutions.

Distribution of new attack

In this case the attack is being distributed through email, we have seen a number of them with a zip file that has a javascript file inside named “utility_bills_copies <random characters>.js”. However there are different versions using different subjects and file types, for example this one:

ransomware panda security

 

Which inside has the following file:

ransomware zip

 

They have skipped the downloader Trojan part and the script gets the Locky variant in DLL format (with the downloader in most cases the downloaded file was an EXE), which is executed using Windows rundll32.exe. The first sighting of this was on August 22nd, and so far they keep using the same strategy. As you can see they are launching one wave per week:

Ransomware analytics

The most severely affected territories

We have seen just a few hundred infection attempts mainly in North and South America and Europe, although there are some in Africa and Asia too. In case they get a good return of investment we’ll probably see an increase in the next weeks. Here you can find a few hashes of this Locky variant:

ransomware_list3 (3)

 

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Avast

Zepto ransomware now introduces new features to better encrypt your files

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Zepto ransomware is a relatively new player in the ransomware scene, and it’s closely related to the infamous Locky ransomware. Taking a closer look at Zepto’s code, we found that the code is pretty much the same as Locky’s code, but it has been slightly modified. The malware authors behind Zepto use the same methods used to spread Locky, and even the infection vector and the TOR payment page are the same, which makes us think that the people behind Locky are now spreading Zepto. The only difference between Locky and Zepto is the ransom demand. Zepto’s demand is much higher than Locky’s, 3 Bicoins (approximately $1,850).