Hackers have wormed their way into the Google Play Store, as evidenced by the recent BankBot malware trickery. Simple dummy apps doubled as Trojan horses, and once an unsuspecting user downloaded these flashlight or solitaire apps, they also downloaded…
What’s on your family’s Christmas list this year? Let me guess – technology! Our desire for shiny, fast, connected devices is almost a biological condition this time of year. However, our single-minded desire to get these devices in our hands at all costs, often means we forget about the risks… To try and understand how […]
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Cryptocurrency mining is a hot and trending topic at the moment, especially since websites have recently resorted to mining cryptocurrency instead of showing ads. As with many malicious trends, the cybercriminals have quickly moved from PC to mobile. T…
At Mobile World Congress Americas last week, we unveiled our new collaboration with Aircel Limited Partners to provide Avast Mobile Security to the Indian network’s 85 million subscribers. Over seventy-five percent of India’s mobile users rely on smartphones as their primary internet source; and at a time when mobile threats are increasing on a worldwide scale, Aircel realized the necessity of safeguarding their customer’s personal information and privacy. They turned to Avast.
In July 2017, independent test lab AV-Comparatives ran a string of cybersecurity tests on leading brands, and Avast has emerged from each of them with high marks. First we earned its anti-phishing certificate for our protective solutions, then we recei…
In today’s digital world, we are literally surrounded by IoT (Internet of Things) devices. Manufacturers of toys, furniture, cars, and medical tools add appeal to their products by including “smart” features. (Even bottle manufacturers sell smart, connected water bottles!) Unfortunately, in this rush to get smart devices to market, there’s a critical component that is all too often an afterthought: security.
Why IoT devices lack security
With no regulations around smart-device security, manufacturers are left to create their own proprietary standards for communication. You can imagine the consequences. Consider a toaster manufacturer, now producing “smart toasters.” Beyond enabling your mobile device to fine-tune the browning levels, now the manufacturer also has to consider how to protect those toasters from hackers?! It’s easy to see how basic principles of modern security can be often neglected, causing unprotected products to get shipped out to consumers who are eagerly awaiting their next “connected” device.
Constant pursuit. Near captures. Repeated escapes. Hackers and their targets seem to be caught in this unending loop of cat-and-mouse action. The hackers pursue incessantly, and while their targets may sometimes escape, at other times they’re not so lucky. How can we change the game?
Avast unveiled new data today that shows a 40% surge in cyberattacks on Android smartphones and tablets. We have addressed these concerns with updates to both Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus and AVG Antivirus mobile apps, now combining the best of each brand’s mobile threat-detection technology in one strong engine. More data will be released next week during Mobile World Congress Americas. Check back here for an update on mobile cybercrime.
Meet our Network Operation Center. Its main display is an enormous world map that constantly receives new information about malware threats from over 400 million sensors around the globe. The map displays points of light, representative of the cities in which our protected users reside. (User location is approximated from their IP addresses.) The info this map receives essentially arrives in real time, or within four seconds. When a threat is detected, we immediately take action to identify and block the cyberattack. This aggressively proactive defense is necessary, and it’s made possible using AI-based and machine learning technology—what we call “next-gen cybersecurity.”
A spyware app communicating via the Telegram Bot API has recently targeted Iranian Android users, uploading extensive personal data about users on a remote server in Iran.