[Interim updates removed: later information on Twitter profile attacks and Blackhat SEO attacks using keywords related to this topic to spread malware, has been made public in a later blog at http://www.eset.com/blog/2010/03/30/here-come-more-of-the-ghouls.] Following this morning's bombings in the Moscow Metro (subway system), Aryeh Goretsky suggests the likelihood of criminals using "blackhat SEO" (search engine optimization

I've been having a few conversations lately with friend and colleague Aryeh Goretsky, who's been in this industry "before it was an industry" about auld lang syne. (More about that further down the line.) So it was kind of amusing to find a news article on the BBC web site about wildlife found in the

[Update: added some extra links at http://avien.net/blog/?p=422] Here, so to speak, is a bit of hot potato*. Flippancy notwithstanding, this isn't really funny. For several years now, Brits have enjoyed a banking card system called chip and PIN, a simple form of two-factor authentication for in-person credit and debit card transactions. In countries where the

You might have noticed that there are certain issues that press my buttons: the Beeb's botnet, Mac myopia, using Virus Total as a substitute for comparative detection testing. And malware naming, an issue on which I've blogged several times recently. http://www.eset.com/threat-center/blog/2010/01/09/today-we-have-naming-of-err-malware-1 http://avien.net/blog/?p=121 The estimable Kurt Wismer has taken me to task – well, Tom Kelchner

You may have gathered from some of the blogs published here last year that i'm not biggest fan of the BBC's "Click" programme. I regard the Beeb's forays into buying botnets and stolen credit card details and making active use of them as at best naive. I agree that people need to be aware of such issues,

This blog is a bit of an oddity. ESET UK were approached by Dan Damon, a reporter putting together a piece about “the complications of a digital world when someone passes away”, asking if there was someone at ESET who would be interested in being interviewed for BBC1 radio on the subject. The request got

This wouldn’t normally be the place to discuss the ongoing decline of the fortunes of the British Government, but there have been several IT-security-related stories coming out of the Mother of Parliaments worth a closer look. Back on March 10th, The Register reported that MP (Member of Parliament) Alun Michael had reported to the police that he

The BBC published a self-justification of sorts over the Click fiasco on Friday 13th March: when I came upon it the following morning, I posted a comment there, pointing out Mark Perrow had addressed the issues this industry hadn’t complained about, and ignored the issues that we were concerned about. My comment is number 14,

As we’ve mentioned here before, fake antimalware problems are a serious problem, both to the real security industry and to our customers. So it’s good to hear of action being taken against some of miscreants involved: more specifically, the takedown of the resurrected Traffic Converter site, a major player in the distribution of this particular form

The Tech Herald have brought it to our attention that Comodo, a security company who include an antivirus product in their range, have backed the BBC’s action in buying and exploiting a botnet for the Click programme’s story. This is clearly swimming against the tide – virtually all the mainstream anti-malware companies who’ve commented have