Though we see it advertised as an antivirus app, it doesn’t seem to do too much!

Lately there has been a lot of investigation done with Google Play and the growing number of untrustworthy programs that are hidden in various apps.  For the most part they aren’t too malicious but they certainly are unsuitable for most business networks.  Many of these hidden apps fall into a category called Potentially Unwanted Applications.

The apps being studied usually have features that users are wanting, like editing tools, or a device power optimizer but unfortunately they are also bundled with things that can leach off a phone or tablet’s processing power or can also push unwanted ads onto the users screen.  The app called Super Antivirus 2018 is an example for sure!

This Super Antivirus 2018 is certainly not an antivirus.  After the app was uploaded to Google Play in early October of last year, it has been downloaded by users up to 50,000 times.  With claims to detect 100% of viruses and malware through personalized scanning, it seems as though it is less then accurate.

After analyzing the code, it seems that this app basically provides a smokescreen to throw security researchers off track.  It gives the appearance of doing legitimate security work and even scans and detects nearly 500 apps, but again…just a smokescreen as it provides no effective protection for the end user.

Super Antivirus 2018, does a fake virus scan and frequently displays a pop-up for another app called “Security Elite – Clean Virus, Antivirus, Booster.”  More pop-up adverts are what you can expect with this new app.  These deceptive promotions and pop-ups of course violate the Google Play Developer App Promotion Policy, specifically:

We don’t allow apps that directly or indirectly engage in or benefit from promotion practices that are deceptive or harmful to users or the developer ecosystem.

Issues connected to Super Antivirus 2018 include:

• Does not provide a proper malware removal feature
• It can mislead users into believing there is a virus on their Android device
• It can entice users to download another malware removal tool

Read more on the study done by SophosLabs and the paper written by Android specialist Rowland Yu.

Click here

Quick Tips

Stay Vigilant and keep antivirus up to date

Topic:  Super Antivirus 2018

The threat inside your company

Take a look around your company, and you will see one of the biggest IT security threats you face—the people you work with.  Even the most well-intentioned employees who are the biggest advocates for your company risk leaking sensitive data or inadvertently letting in malware that can wreak havoc on your network and systems.

For companies of all sizes, the threats from within are an ongoing concern and the hardest to predict. With employees using multiple devices—often in multiple locations—your IT department faces the challenge of monitoring a perimeter that is a moving target. But there are steps you can take to ensure that you’re protected.

To continue reading click here.

Quick Tips

Ensure your employees have access to company security policies.

Topic:  Foolproof Employee Security Checklist

Typo-squatting and why you should be concerned.

No matter who you are, I think it’s safe to say that we have all misspelled words.  Whether it’s because we’re typing too fast and didn’t realize…or maybe we just don’t know how to spell the word!  In any case, these annoying Cyber-criminals are now taking advantage of our mistakes and causing a lot of stress to those who fall for their tricks!

So what is Typo-squatting?  Quite simply, it’s when we make a typo while typing a URL into a browser.  If you are off by just one or two letters this can be your downfall.  An example being, if you are wanting to find Costco, but type in Costoco instead.  Such an easy mistake, but hackers look for those common misspelled words or words that can be easily miss-typed and create websites that look exactly like the intended page.  From there, once they have the user on their “fake” site, that is when the user is tricked into giving away personal or financial information.

Some common scams are ones that ask you for your personal information because you have won a prize or the one that says your computer has an infection and you need to download a malware-laden file to fix it.  I’m sure many of you can relate!

Security Adviser for Sophos, James Lyne was recently on NBC Nightly News speaking with Tom Costello about the risks of typo-squatting, why hackers use it and of course the precautions you can take to stay safe.

To read more and watch the segment click here.

Quick Tips

Always pay close attention to spelling.

Topic:  Typo-squatting