Nearly 50,000 Minecraft accounts have been infected with malware designed to reformat hard-drives and delete backup data and system programs, according to Avast data from the last 30 days. The malicious Powershell script identified by researchers from Avast’s Threat Labs uses Minecraft “skins” created in PNG file format as the distribution vehicle. Skins are a popular feature that modify the look of a Minecraft player’s Avatar. They can be uploaded to the Minecraft site from various online resources.
If you are in San Francisco this week, check out RSA at the Moscone Center and swing by the Avast booth to witness the effects of real-time cryptomining firsthand. We’ll be hosting a challenge that reveals the vulnerabilities in IoT and mobile devices through the mining of Monero using smartphones. We will also have a PC on display as an infected Amazon Fire TV stick forces it to cryptomine, so the effects (such as overheating) will be plain to see.
PC makers often preload your desktop and laptop with toolbars, app trials, advertising software and other programs that you don’t want – all software commonly known as “bloatware.” The result? A super slow PC that runs out of disk space faster than you can fill it. In this blog post we’ll show you a few easy steps to help you get rid of such stuff.
This month’s “Patch Tuesday” is turbo-charged
Microsoft releases system updates on the second Tuesday of each month, and this month’s “Patch Tuesday” is a whopper. It covers nearly 70 security issues, 20 of which are rated “critical.”
Ad blockers exist for every platform—desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. But is it worth it to install this software? On the surface, it seems like a no-brainer. We fast-forward through the commercials on television, throw out the junk mail we find in our mailboxes, delete the spam that infests our email inboxes, so why wouldn’t we want to eliminate those obnoxious and distracting ads that ruin our browsing experience?
In parts 1 and 2, we unveiled the top draining apps on Android across the board: the ones that ruin your battery life, hog up your storage or monthly data volume, and the ones that do it all at once. By using data anonymously collected from millions of…
The security industry is convening at the RSA Conference 2018 in San Francisco’s Moscone Center next week to discuss current and future security issues for both companies and individuals. Attendees will discover the latest and greatest technologies that can help protect them and their companies against cybercriminals. This year’s theme is “Now Matters” — as cybersecurity becomes front and center for both businesses and individuals alike, “now” definitely does “matter” as cybersecurity must constantly evolve and upgrade to stay ahead of today’s sophisticated cyberattacks.
Free premium products are just a click away, thanks to the new Avast Recommendation Program. If you’re one of the hundreds of millions of users protected by Avast — the most extensive threat detection network in the world — then you can earn major rewards if you recommend us to others.
Fashion faux pas: Data breach at Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor
Toronto-based retail enterprise Hudson’s Bay — parent company to Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks OFF Fifth, and Lord & Taylor — disclosed on Sunday that no less than five million of their customers may have suffered credit card compromises in a data breach that occurred last May.