kaspersky lab
Latest
Apple faces anti-trust probe in Russia over rejected parental control app
Apple's removal of a parental control app has now made it the target of an anti-trust probe in Russia. The nation's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) is investigating a complaint by Kaspersky Lab over the rejection of its Safe Kids app from the App Store, reported Reuters. The tech giant believes that the Safe Kids app puts "user's safety and privacy at risk", putting it in the same category as a group of other parental control apps it booted from its store earlier this year.
Report: Kaspersky developed malware to trip up competition
Reuters reports that a pair of former employees have accused Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs of building malware to trick its competition into flagging and quarantining important, non-viral, files on customers' computers. Basically the malware would inject malicious bits of code into important PC files -- like, say, your printer's .ini files -- which would then be flagged as a false positive and quarantined or deleted.
Engadget Giveaway: win one of five backpacks containing a Sony VAIO Fit 15, courtesy of Kaspersky Lab!
As we gently tumble from summer to fall we know you'll invariably start to ponder just what exactly you're going to need to kit yourself out for the school year. While we can't help you with your textbooks, Kaspersky Lab has generously offered up five CaseLogic backpacks loaded with stuff to get you started. The highlight is the Sony Vaio Fit 15 but you'll also find a Microsoft Sculpt Touch Mouse, a $25 Amazon gift card and an activation code for Kaspersky's flagship Internet Security 2014 packed along for the ride. Sound good? All you need to do to get involved is drop down to the widget below and get yourself signed up for the contest. Winners: Congratulations to our five winners: Milton C., Peoria, IL; Asif H., PIttsford, NY; Maya M., Hinesville, GA; Sarah B., Buzzards Bay, MA; and Shannon C., Korbel, CA!
Watch Dogs getting hacking feedback from security firm Kaspersky Lab
Ubisoft Montreal is soliciting feedback on hacking as it is depicted in Watch Dogs, a contemporary action game in which the protagonist exploits interconnected computer networks through his smartphone. Senior Producer Dominic Guay told Joystiq about the developer's work with Kaspersky Lab, the internet security firm that recently claimed to have identified a targeted malware attack on the Android platform. "We're working with Kaspersky Lab, a big security firm," Guay said during a San Francisco press event. "They have really hardcore experts there on hacking. We send them some of our designs and we ask them feedback on it, and it's interesting to see what gets back. Sometimes they say, 'Yeah, that's possible, but change that word,' or, 'That's not the way it works.'" Watch Dogs isn't focused on hacking at a granular level, despite being fictionally fertile ground for the clichéd hacking minigame. Instead, it treats hacking as a shortcut to manipulating doors, cameras, cars, laptops and ATMs in a futuristic "smart city" based on Chicago. The centrally computer-controlled urban environment is a sprawling basis for the game's traversal, shooting, stealth and driving systems. "It's not about the challenges of climbing a wall," Guay says, recalling the simplification of movement in Ubisoft Montreal's flagship series, Assassin's Creed. "It's finding the path I want to follow. "It's not about the minigame that will let me open the door, it's the fact that I'm making a plan. I'm making a plan of how I'm going to chain hacking, shooting, traveling the city and driving to achieve an objective." The input from Kaspersky Lab, and that from Ubisoft's own engineers, is intended to reduce instances of Hollywood hacking: the sexed-up, hyperspeed code wrangling meant to convey skilled computer use and software creation in an exciting/embarrassing way. Watch Dogs is certainly bombastic, but attempts to be more sensible than the likes of "Swordfish." After the break: that scene where Hugh Jackman shows John Travolta where he hid the worm.
Kaspersky Labs preps its own OS to guard vital industry against cyberwarfare
Kaspersky Labs' namesake Eugene Kaspersky is worried that widely distributed and potentially state-sponsored malware like Flame and Stuxnet pose dire threats to often lightly protected infrastructure like communication and power plants -- whatever your nationality, it's clearly bad for the civilian population of a given country to suffer even collateral damage from cyberattacks. To minimize future chaos and literally keep the trains running, Kaspersky and his company are expanding their ambitions beyond mere antivirus software to build their own, extra-secure operating system just for large-scale industry. The platform depends on a custom, minimalist core that refuses to run any software that isn't baked in and has no code outside of its main purposes: there'll be no water supply shutdowns after the night watch plays Solitaire from an infected drive. Any information shared from one of these systems should be completely trustworthy, Kaspersky says. He doesn't have details as to when the OS will reach behind-the-scenes hardware, but he stresses that this is definitely not an open-source project: some parts of the OS will always remain confidential to keep ne'er-do-well terrorists (and governments) from undermining the technology we often take for granted.
Apple doesn't invite Kaspersky Lab to examine Mac security (Updated)
Update: Engadget smelled something funny in this story, and turns out they were right; Kaspersky is now saying that the comment about "working with Apple to analyze OS X" was taken out of context, and that Apple has not invited the security firm to analyze its desktop OS. Full statement is here. The CTO of computer security firm Kaspersky Lab says was quoted as saying that Apple has asked them to take a look at Mac security, and the malware targeting it. Nikolai Grebennikov says that the "Mac OS is really vulnerable," and that the company's "first investigations show Apple doesn't pay enough attention to security." Go figure -- the head of a security firm claiming that people should spend more money and time on security. Who knew? But the recent small outbreaks of malware targeting Macs gives a little more credence to these claims, and if Grebennikov (whose firm has publicly gone after Apple on this before) is to be believed, then Cupertino is finally ready to hear about possible improvements. Grebennikov agrees that there hasn't been any iOS-specific malware spotted yet, but he says we'll probably see it in the next year or so. Hopefully, if Kaspersky is working with Apple, they'll be able to keep the OSes completely secure anyway. [via MacRumors]
Flashback malware removal tools released by security firms
While Apple has said it "is developing software that will detect and remove the Flashback malware" that has affected up to 600,000 Macs worldwide, it has yet to release any fix. In lieu of that a few security and antivirus firms have gone ahead and released their own Flashback removal tools. Kaspersky Lab, a Russian antivirus firm, has released the Flashfake Removal Tool. The firm asks that you first check here to see if your Mac is infected with Flashback. If your Mac is, then you can download Flashfake to rid your Mac of the malware. A second antivirus firm, F-Secure, has also released their own Flashback Removal Tool. Their tool works by creating "a log file (RemoveFlashback.log) on current user's Desktop. If any infections are found, they are quarantined into an encrypted ZIP file (flashback_quarantine.zip) to the current user's Home folder. The ZIP is encrypted with the password 'infected.'" Before Kasperky Lab's and F-Secure's removal tools, users had to manually remove the malware by using OS X's Terminal, which some might have found confusing. There's no word from Apple yet on when their own removal tool will become available.
Adobe dominates Kaspersky Lab's top ten PC vulnerabilities list
Being number one is usually an honor, but not when it comes to Kaspersky Lab's top ten PC vulnerabilities list. Unfortunately for the software giant, Adobe took top dishonors for Q1 this year, pulling in five total spots on the list, including the top three. According to the security firm, all of the vulnerabilities appearing on the list allowed cyber-criminals to control computers at the system level. The number one spot was occupied by a vulnerability in Adobe Reader that was reportedly detected on 40 percent of machines running the application, while Flash Player flaws took second and third. Other dishonorees included the Java Virtual Machine, coming in at fourth and fifth place, Apple QuickTime, Winamp, and Microsoft Office. That ain't bad, considering Microsoft ruled the vulnerabilities roost in 2010.
