Phishing email circulating claiming to be from Microsoft Volume Licensing
A post on the Cisco Managed Threat Defense blog reports Emails that purport to come from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center are circulating
This email will have a custom subject line and will look very similar to a real email from Microsoft. Clients should be very careful when receiving any VLSC emails while this is circulating.
Source: Cisco
Curve-Tor-Bitcoin (CTB) Locker ransomware Alert
A variant of Curve-Tor-Bitcoin (CTB) Locker ransomware is being distributed in a spam campaign now offers victims additional time to pay the ransom, but also requires them to pay a whole lot more than previously, according to the latest research by Trend Micro. This is just the latest wave of this type of malware and users need to be vigilant.
The bad news is that, as its name implies, ransomware holds your system ransom. The first thing this package does is corrupt your files – all your files. Photos, videos, office documents; Local files, network files, shared files… Then a warning screen from the criminals alerts you, telling you that your files are “encrypted” and demanding that you pay a ransom via electronic fund transfer or your files will be lost forever.
Source: Trend Micro
My computer is infected with what??
We have been asked for a cheat sheet to quickly explain some of the terms our staff and other companies staff are using are when explaining your workstation is infected:
Common types of Malware designed to harm your computer, such as viruses, worms, Trojan horses and rootkits.
- A computer virus is a program that attaches itself to an application or “host file” and then spreads by making copies of itself. Some type of human action (e.g. opening an attachment) is always required for a virus to take effect. Once a virus gets onto your computer it might modify, delete, or steal your files, make your system crash, or take over your machine.
- A computer worm is like a virus, but it infects other computers all by itself, without human action and without a host file. It usually infects other computers by sending emails to all the names in your email address book.
- A Trojan horse is a program that tricks you into running it by appearing useful or harmless. However, once it is run it damages your computer, usually by providing “back door” access to the computer. This allows hackers to control or use your computer, destroy or steal files, install viruses or spyware, or run arbitrary programs.
- A rootkit is a program that allows an intruder to gain access to your system without your knowledge by hiding what it is doing on the system. The intruder can then install difficult-to-detect back doors into your system to seize control.
Symantec retiring some Antivirus Products
Symantec will be streamlining there product lineup. While our clients use various Symantec products which will be retired you should expect them to be available for some time as the new Cloud based solution is in Beta.
While do have clients using the existing Symantec.cloud product and results have been overwhelmingly positive, we have doubts about the “No virus 100% virus-free money-back guarantee” they mention here.
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