It’s enough of a nightmare to have malware of any sort, but the more persistent the stuff is, the scarier it gets. That’s why the rumors of badBIOS, a bug so bad that it can affect Macs and PCs and communicate itself wirelessly while the infected computers are being taken apart is terrifying. But maybe not entirely true.
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A weird thing happened in St. Petersburg last week. The Russian press reports that local officials intercepted a shipment from China that contained home appliances with "spy" microchips capable of spreading malware to wi-fi enabled devices within 200 meters. Tea kettles were apparently the chief culprit.
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Grand Theft Auto 5, or GTA 5 for short, is a game that has more or less captured the imagination of many, having broken a whopping 7 Guinness World Records along the way. In fact, it has also been noted that GTA 5 itself comes with nearly 30 Easter Eggs to boot! Having said that, one thing must be established first – GTA 5 is available only on the console platform, so those with a Windows computer would only be getting themselves into trouble if they happen to download a GTA V PC port that they have found online.
In any case, DO NOT download this alleged GTA V PC port, since it is actually a malware disguised as such. The file download began to appearing on torrent sites earlier this week, where it weighs in at a massive 18GB, and has been downloaded thousands of times to boot. Most folks might be fooled into thinking that they are downloading a setup.exe file for GTA V, but it actually has a veiled intention of tricking folks to surf to a website in order to “register” their personal information. Needless to say, this is but a phishing scheme that is deviously executed, preying on the naivete of the masses.
Now that you know, go warn everyone else in your contact circle about this malware, too.
Malware Parades As Grand Theft Auto V For Windows original content from Ubergizmo. 
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The PC version of Grand Theft Auto 5 is currently in production. There is no final version out in the wild, nor is there a way for you to download this game for the PC in any way at all – it simply does not exist. That fact hasn’t stopped a seemingly large amount of […]
If there are two things Android users are constantly thinking about when they’re walking around with their device in their pocket or bag, we’d guess it’d be “How’s my battery?” and “Did I download any malware recently?” Recharging your battery is pretty easy as you can just plug your device into a wall or a portable charger, but knowing whether or not your live wallpaper of Adventure Time has malware hidden inside of it is a bit more difficult. Thankfully, Belkin has unveiled a new portable charger that helps keep your Android device both charged and safe from any malware. (more…)
Belkin Skorpion Will Detect Malware While Recharging Your Android Device original content from Ubergizmo. 
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We’ve long suspected that the NSA, the world’s premiere spy agency, was pretty good at breaking into computers. But now, thanks to an article by security expert Bruce Schneier—who is working with the Guardian to go through the Snowden documents—we have a much more detailed view of how the NSA uses exploits in order to infect the computers of targeted users. The template for attacking people with malware used by the NSA is in widespread use by criminals and fraudsters, as well as foreign intelligence agencies, so it’s important to understand and defend against this threat to avoid being a victim to the plethora of attackers out there.
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While Google has shown some effort at combating malware for Android devices, the numbers do not lie as it has been recently found that about 79% of malware targets Android devices, while malware for iOS sits at a lowly 0.7%. This is not to say that iOS is the perfect system, it’s just the way Apple and Google have setup their respective ecosystems, but it seems that despite these numbers, Google chairman, Eric Schmidt, seems to believe that the Android operating system is more secure than the iPhone. When told that Android has notorious security problems, Schmidt was quoted as saying, “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone,” which reportedly drew some laughs from the audience. (more…)
Google’s Eric Schmidt Believes Android Is “More Secure Than The iPhone” original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Numbers show that malware on smartphones is a bigger and bigger problem every year, and it’s not like the phone companies are making it any easier. Would it really kill them to include a native virus scanner in iOS or Android? This is where the Skorpion comes in.
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FBI-themed ransomware has been around for a long time, scaring non-tech savvy computer users into believing the government agency had identified them as violating various laws, threatening jail time if a “fine” isn’t paid immediately. While many have fallen prey to the scam, never before have users been so vulnerable towards believing the nature of […]
According to our earlier report, the US government has found in a study of their own that about 80% of malware targets the Android operating system, about 0.7% for iOS, and 0.3% for Windows Mobile. Given that the Windows Phone operating system is not as popular compared to Android, we guess malware creators don’t see a need to target the operating system, yet, but we expect a day will come when those numbers rise. In the meantime to assuage the fear of Windows Phone users, Microsoft has detailed how they will go about preventing malware from arriving on their Windows Phone platform.
For starters they state that the Windows Phone Store is the exclusive distribution platform for Windows Phone apps, meaning that quality is ensured, not to mention that since it is being distributed by Microsoft, there are certain assurances one can take from it. They then state that every app is tested and certified by Microsoft to help weed out bad apps and malware that is disguised as an app, and lastly they claim that when malware is detected, they will remove it, which is more reactionary rather than preventive, but like they said, no system is perfect.
While having an exclusive app store and a team reviewing and certifying apps does help, you might recall it wasn’t too long ago that researchers managed to slip malware past Apple’s app review team, but once again, no system is perfect but it’s something worth taking note of.
Microsoft Details How They Guard Against Malware On Windows Phone original content from Ubergizmo. 
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