sophos

Mac OS X Trojan catches Sophos' eye

A new Trojan has cropped up and it's targeting Mac OS X users, one security firm says.

According to Sophos, the Trojan, called "BlackHole RAT" by its author and "MusMinim" by the security firm, is a variant of the Remote Access Trojan on Windows. The author of the Trojan says the malware is not yet completed, but it already does some annoying things.

Overall, Sophos believes that the prevalence of the Trojan is relatively low. The malware can be removed by using antivirus software.

If a Mac becomes infected, the Trojan places text files on … Read more

Report: U.S. leads world in spam output

The U.S. is the spam leader across the world, responsible for one out of every five junk messages sent, according to a report out today from Sophos.

The security vendor's fourth-quarter "Dirty Dozen" report of spam-relaying countries found that the United States upped its percentage of global spam from the third quarter and now accounts for 18.83 percent of all junk e-mails.

That percentage is almost three times higher than second-place India, which is responsible for deploying 6.88 percent of all spam across the globe, according to Sophos. Other countries named on the Dirty … Read more

Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac is free (and a good idea)

Security expert Sophos has announced its latest antivirus product for Mac owners, and it's completely free. Sophos has created a home version of its popular corporate Mac antivirus solution, offering Apple users a simple and elegant way to stay virus-free.… Read more

Sophos unveils free antivirus software for the Mac

Sophos unveiled free antivirus software today that Macintosh users can install to detect and block malware that targets computers running the Mac operating system.

Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac also detects malware written for Windows that Mac users can spread via USB drives and e-mail, Chet Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at Sophos, told CNET.

The software is a noncommercial version of Sophos Anti-Virus 7.2 for Mac, targeted at home users and modified so it is easier to install and use, he said.

The free Mac antivirus software from Sophos, which also launched a Mac support forum, will … Read more

Report: United States is world's top spammer

The United States is now the top source of spam, accounting for almost 19 percent of all junk e-mail sent throughout the world, according to a new report out today from Sophos.

The security firm's "Dirty Dozen" report highlighted the top 12 countries responsible for the world's supply of spam during the third quarter. With the United States generating almost 2.5 times more spam than second-place India, the country now accounts for almost one in five junk messages. The United States' 18.6 percent share of all global spam also showed a significant jump from … Read more

Twitter patches flaw that ran rampant

Security firm Sophos posted a blog entry early Tuesday highlighting a new and potentially dangerous hack of Twitter's Web interface that's begun to make the rounds. It affects only Twitter.com, not third-party clients.

Here's how it works, basically: By putting a bit of JavaScript code ("onmouseover") into a URL in a tweet, a user can cause a pop-up message to emerge when someone hovers a cursor over that link. Sophos notes that right now primary exploiters of the loophole are using it for "fun and games," but that it could potentially be … Read more

Cheerleaders Gone Wild clickjacking tempts Facebook users

A new clickjacking scam was spreading on Facebook luring victims with a purported video of "cheerleaders gone wild," a security expert warned on Thursday before Facebook shut the attack down.

Victims' accounts were posting messages that said "cheerleaders gone wild - have to see this" with a photo of, you guessed it, a cheerleader carrying pom poms. Clicking the link led to a warning that the content may be inappropriate for some users and prompted users to confirm that they are 18 or older, said Graham Cluley of Sophos, who bravely clicked the link for research … Read more

Apple's Ping dinged by spam

Apple's new social media service, Ping, is already getting hit by a barrage of comment spam.

The Ping network integrates with iTunes 10 to let you follow your favorite artists and swap comments with other fans. But it took less than 24 hours for the comments sections to be swamped by phony offers for free iPhones and other hot gadgets, according to a Thursday blog from security vendor Sophos.

Sophos expressed bemusement that although it's no secret that blogs and forums have become the new playing ground for spammers and scammers, Apple apparently has set up no spam … Read more

Finjan sues McAfee, Symantec over patents

Former security company Finjan has filed a lawsuit against five companies--McAfee, Symantec, Webroot Software, Websense, and Sophos--claiming they are in violation of its patents.

Finjan is asking for financial damages and an injunction to stop the five security companies from selling software allegedly tied to the patents.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, targets two patents.

The first, Patent No. 6,092,194, is for a "system and method for protecting a computer and a network from hostile downloadables" and covers both an interface and a security policy to determine … Read more

Sophos sells majority stake to investors

Private equity firm Apax Partners has bought a majority stake in Sophos, a deal that values the U.K.-based security company at $830 million.

Apax will spend approximately $580 million on a 70 percent stake in Sophos, the security vendor's senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said Tuesday.

Oxfordshire-based Sophos provides antivirus products exclusively to companies, rather than consumers. Its flagship products are Sophos Endpoint Security and Data Protection, its SafeGuard encryption product, Web Security and Control, and Email Security and Data Protection. The company was founded over 20 years ago.