Author Archives: Avast Blog

Essentials packing list for FETC attendees

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The AVAST Free for Education team is excited to be attending FETC 2014 in Orlando, Florida for the first time! As part of our preparations we’ve been making an essentials packing list, which we thought we’d share with you… Personal essentials Comfy spring clothes We checked the weather report and were excited to see that it’s going to […]

Malformed FileZilla FTP client with login stealer

Beware of malformed FileZilla FTP client versions 3.7.3 and 3.5.3. We have noticed an increased presence of these malware versions of famous open source FTP clients. The first suspicious signs are bogus download URLs. As you can see, the installer is mostly hosted on hacked websites with fake content (for example texts and user comments […]

What is your Privacy IQ? Take our quiz and find out!

AVAST Software is proud to be a champion of Data Privacy Day, celebrated every year on January 28th. We encourage you to make protecting privacy and data a greater priority. Read on to find out if you are a Privacy Pro! Find out if you are a Privacy Pro or if you need to learn more to […]

The top 5 things we need to know for our trip to Florida

The team that runs AVAST Free for Education is excited to be attending this year’s Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC 2014) in Orlando, Florida, but also a little nervous about what to expect. Here’s the top 5 things we have been alerted to about our trip to The Sunshine State – Florida, USA! 1. Everything […]

Ransomware worse than CryptoLocker?

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The name CryptoLocker makes the hairs on the back of our neck stand up, and now researchers tell us that something worse may be coming. You recall that CryptoLocker locks up users’ machines, encrypts the files, then demands a payment to unlock the encrypted files. Even if the actual malware is removed, the data remains […]

Facebook music theme scam hits a sour note

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By now, we are all familiar with Facebook scams that claim to give your Newsfeed a designer look. Remember Facebook Red or Facebook Black? Those pretty themes ended up spreading spam and malicious links via online surveys and fake videos. Today, the AVAST Virus Lab experts discovered a unique variety– the Facebook Music Theme Scam. […]

WhatsApp bogus email tries to install Zeus Trojan on your computer

Have you received an email from WhatsApp? No? That’s because the company usually sends their users messages directly via the app itself, typically notifying them of updates. If you have received an email from WhatsApp recently, we urge you to not open it and to delete it immediately. The email is a hoax that contains […]

Win32/64:Blackbeard & Pigeon: Stealthiness techniques in 64-bit Windows, Part 2

Last week we promised to explain in detail how the “Blackbeard” Trojan infiltrates and hide itself in a victim’s system, especially on its 64-bit variant. Everything described in this blogpost happens just before Pigeon (clickbot payload) gets downloaded and executed. The most interesting aspects are the way it bypasses the Windows’ User Access Control (UAC) […]

5 security tips from an expert AVAST Evangelist

Earlier this month we introduced you to AVAST Evangelist: Paulius Yla. With nearly 10 years of experience gained from supporting users on the AVAST forum, Paulius can be easily called an AVAST expert. He has been using our software since 2003 and participated in testing dozens of AVAST products. Paulius has shared with us 5 […]