NOD32 and Virus News

Virus Signature Database Updates 5417 5418 Error Brief

Virus Signature Database Update 5417 and 5418 of ESET Security products NOD32 and Smart Security may have caused an "ekrn.exe" error. The update 5417 was released on September 2, 2010 at 10:23 CET (08:23 GMT) and was made to enhance a part of the scanning engine that deals with script malware. This error has in some cases caused ekrn crashing, systems not responding and threat notifications with blank name fields.

ESET has responded immediately to resolve the issue, releasing a corrected Virus Signature Database update 5419 at 16:33 CET (14:33 GMT). In most cases, updating your ESET security product and restarting your PC will resolve any issues you are experiencing as a result of this error.
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West Jordan High School Has Been Added

Jereny Haacke just signed up West Jordan High School in West Jordan, Utah for our NOD32 educational discount program.

Is your school enrolled? You can put it on the list and for a limited time qualify for free NOD32 antivirus too!

Search for it now at http://www.BetterAntivirus.com/edu

Winterboro High School Has Been Added

A student or faculty member just signed up Winterboro High School in Alpine, Alabama for our NOD32 educational discount program.

Is your school enrolled? You can put it on the list and for a limited time qualify for free NOD32 antivirus too!

Search for it now at http://www.BetterAntivirus.com/edu

ESET Smart Security awarded highest possible in independent testing

ESET Smart Security 4.2 has received the highest possible rating "Advanced+" in an Anti-Virus Performance Test conducted by the independent non-profit organization AV-Comparatives.

In the AV- Comparatives Performance Test, 14 different internet security products where tested against various day to day operations such as copying files, (un)archiving , (un)installing applications, launching applications, downloading files, etc. where the overhead of the Security Suites where measured.

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Interested in ESET - want to know more?

Every month, ESET runs a number of informational webinars - these are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and are held via Webex - no need to get out of your comfy office chair - let the information come directly to you!

Who should attend? If you work for a business with LESS THAN 250 workstations and servers, this webex is for you:

If you work for a business with MORE than 250 workstations and servers, please contact us for a one-on-one product demonstration.

For those who want to attend the twice-weekly webinar, read on ...
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Beware of fake new Microsoft Security Essentials rogue software

By Windows Club

There is a new fake Microsoft Security Essentials doing the rounds! This Microsoft Security Essentials Alert is basically a Trojan which tries to trick you into buying one of the 5 rogue anti-virus programs that it is pushing.

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Critical vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat - UPDATE AVAILABLE

A critical vulnerability exists in Adobe Reader and Acrobat version 9.3.3 and earlier versions.

Critical is Adobe's highest vulnerability rating and could when exploited allow malicious native-code to execute, potentially without a user being aware.

This vulnerability was announced during the Black Hat conference in USA late July this year.

Adobe has announced an out-of-band security update available NOW.

How to update:
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ESET releases ESET Smart Security 4.2.64 - recommended upgrade!

An uprade to ESET Smart Security 4 was released yesterday - version 4.2.64.12 contains the following enhancements and bug-fixes:

Changelog 4.2.58 - 4.2.64:
Enhancement: Support for Thunderbird 3.1
Enhancement: Added ribbon support for Outlook 2010
Fix: Computer hangs when going to sleep/hibernate on Windows 7 (usually in combination with Dropbox)
Fix: Sysrescue Wizard cannot detect the Czech version of Windows Automated Installation Kit
Fix: Enhanced support of scanning of virtual drives used by Office 2010
Fix: Opening Office documents from Novell shared folder is not possible
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ESET releases ESET Antivirus 4.2.64 - recommended upgrade!

ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.2.64.12 has been released. You can download the new build from the download page.

Changelog:
Fix: Computer hangs when going to sleep/hibernate on Windows 7 (usually in combination with Dropbox)
Fix: Sysrescue Wizard cannot detect the Czech version of Windows Automated Installation Kit
Fix: Enhanced support of scanning of virtual drives used by Office 2010
Fix: Opening Office documents from Novell shared folder is not possible

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My computer is running slowly - could I have malware?

Yes, you certainly could have malware - but have you considered how much memory you have?

We have had a run of computers running "slow" - several minor malware programs, but the biggest reason for "slowness" on computers in the last week seems to be:

1. lots of startup programs loading at windows startup
2. not enough memory in the computer - 1Gb is generally the recommended starting point these days

one computer user with only 256Mb of memory running windows XP was particularly hard hit by "slowness" - they had a lot of programs that ran at startup - including, webcam software, windows messenger, 2 different suites of software for printers, java update checker and more...

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Comparing ESET to the competition - Fast Performance

Fast Performance

"The Best Overall Speed Performance" in 2008 (AV-Comparatives.org)

Because of its highly optimized code and light system footprint, ESET products include one of the fastest scanners in the industry.

ESET scans files faster to reduce lag

File access lag time (s/MB) by Virus Bulletin April 2010

ESET keeps you running faster

PassMark Software, December 2009

Comparing ESET to the competition - Superior Detection

Superior Detection

"The Best Proactive On-demand Detection" in 2008 (AV-Comparatives.org)

ESET's ThreatSense® heuristics closes the window of vulnerability by proactively identifying and stopping malware attempting to enter or run on your system.

"In-the-Wild" viruses are real viruses that have been reported to the Wildlist Organization by at least two independent reporters. When it comes to In-the-Wild virus detection, no one even comes close to ESET as the following chart illustrates.

ESET NOD32 has never missed an In-the-Wild virus

Virus Bulletin tests, May 1998 through August 2010 www.virusbtn.com

ESET protects you better against unknown threats

Proactive Threat Detection by AV-Comparatives May 2010

Siemens Halts Computer Virus as Threat Spurs Effort Against Attacks

by Vanesa Fuhrmans
Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Siemens AG said a computer virus designed to attack the industrial control systems it makes to help monitor power grids and other key infrastructure has been largely suppressed, but the threat has stepped up government and private-sector efforts to ward off future attacks.

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Stealth Trojan Causes Troubles for Banks

By Sue Marquette Poremba

The Trojan Zeus continues to cause problems for both businesses and consumers.

Last month, M86 Security Labs discovered a new malicious code being used to attack PCs. According to a release from M86:

Based on information M86 Security Labs found on the malicious Command & Control (C&C) server, we assume that close to £675,000 [US$1.05 million] was stolen from the bank between July 5 and Aug. 4, 2010, and approximately 3,000 customer accounts were compromised. These cybercriminals used a combination of the new Zeus v3 Trojan and exploit toolkits to successfully avoid anti-fraud systems while robbing bank accounts.

How it worked went like this: The Zeus v3 got into computers while users surfed the Internet. The software stole a customer's online banking ID and, if there was more than £800 [US$1,250] in the account, money was transferred to a different account. The Trojan, after clearing out the bank account, served up a fake bank statement page that made it look like all of the money was still there, but in fact the account was practically empty.

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First SMS-sending Android Trojan reported

The first Android trojan spread via SMS messages has been found - it's payload is that it racks up charges by sending text messages to premium-rate numbers.

Premium rate dialers are a nasty scam very familiar to PC owners, particularly during the dial-up era. Once a trojan is in your system, it makes calls, and now sends text messages, to a premium rate number operated by the criminals who wrote the virus. The best part for the virus authors is that they don't have to rob you of any money directly - your phone provider collects your cash on behalf of the criminals.

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