Analysis reports of several sources (US, UK) show that email is and remains the number one delivery vehicle of malware. The reason why email is so popular is because half of the people will open an email of an unknown sender. Email scams play on people’s emotion to trick them into opening emails. In this month’s ‘spotlight on security’ we will explain what psychological tactics scammers use to take you off-guard and lower your fences.
Security News
On this page you will find links to selected IT-security related news articles from various sources, including news from conferences and some test results. Posts in this category might be written by externals and students. If you find some interesting news, please let us know!
Malware in the media – Once bitten twice shy or double dumb?
The historic summit between North and South Korea is of course the most important security related news in April 2018. This promising security news was countered by tragic-comical IT-related security news. It is not about the privacy (Facebook) or security (Google Play) hassles of social media, but about a big city hit twice by malware.
Spotlight on security: three reasons why you should select an Android security app with care and caution
In 2014 an antivirus program called “Virus Shield” was able to earn over 100.000 dollars in less than 10 days. The only thing this fake security app did was to change its icon color and show a progress bar of an imaginary malware scan. After the scan finished it told the user the device was free of malware. Over 30.000 people downloaded the app and gave it a 5-star rating on Google Play Store. Here are three reasons why you should select an Android security app with care and caution:
Spotlight on security: New initiatives on IoT security
On the 25th of May the European Union will effectuate new legislation on data protection and privacy. Both the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ePrivacy legislation will have a positive impact on data privacy and security. On top of this new EU legislation, both the British and Dutch government have published statements which will lead to additional regulation on IoT security. Will these initiatives force vendors to improve IoT security for home users in general?
Malware in the media – IoT-devices a new playing field for botnets
Dutch government and financial infrastructure is under heavy DDoS attacks (Reuters, SecurityWeek). These attacks occurred a week after Dutch media disclosed that Dutch counter-intelligence warned US homeland on the democratic party email hacks. On social media and the internet people soon connected the two events and a conspiracy story was born.
Spotlight on security: AV-Comparatives was invited to the European Parliament to speak about a safer Internet for children
With the United States of America making good progress on minimum Internet-of-Things security, we hoped the European Union was willing to listen to our ideas to fast track existing EU plans and programs. On Monday the 6th of November, we were very pleased to get the opportunity to speak to a Member of the European Parliament, who understands the issues of digitalisation in general, and cybersecurity in particular.
Malware in the media – Smart devices with stupid security
With Thanksgiving, a lot of smart products have found their way from vendor to consumer. Most people buying smart products do understand that these products are ‘connected’. Most buyers assume those smart products are tested and safe to use. But there is a huge problem with smart technology: the technology is evolving faster than the legislation protecting people using those smart devices. There is no legislation to force vendors to test and certify that their smart devices are really safe to use.
Malware in the media: Bad Rabbit ransomware and Wifi-Krack vulnerability
At AV-Comparatives we follow around 50 security related news sources for the selection of the malware of the month. Often the blog post headers of the news feeds show a variety of security issues and news items addressed. To Determine which malware(s) got substantial media attention normally requires further reading of the blog posts. This month it was an easy choice. Bad Rabbit and the Wifi-Krack dominated the media.
Spotlight on security: New Windows 10 security features
On Tuesday the 17th October, Microsoft started to rollout the ‘Fall Creators Update’ of Windows 10. This second major update in 2017 has some interesting new security features. Microsoft was so generous to give Windows 10 Home users also the added protection of the new Exploit Guard and Controlled folder access. The only catch is that they are built into Windows Defender.
Malware in the media: anti-malware tests are our legacy and future
The DerbyCon security conference reminded us of an important AV-Comparatives advantage. In his keynote speech John Strand stated that “researchers are terrified that they are going to get sued”. At AV-Comparatives we have some experience with security firms threatening to go to court to prevent publish our (independent) test report. One vendor for example tried to prevent us publishing our Next Gen endpoint protection test results by publicly announcing to sue one of our partners.