Malware warnings

[Rich]

Good morning,

 

This was taken from AvWeb this morning. Wondering if it's the same that's possibly trying to gather information from this group?

 

Rich

 

 

Malware Mining Civil Aviation Data

 

A computer security company, TrendMicro, Thursday reported that it has found a particular family of malware gathering information "related to the civil aviation sector." The company says that the intentions of the latest targeted information gathering are not clear, but the programs are "now being used to gather intelligence about the civil aviation sector in the United States." The particular malicious program is called Sykipot, a "malware" program that has been known since 2007, according to the company, and has traditionally attacked other industries including telecommunications. The new attacks "indicate a certain level of expertise and funding," says TrendMicro, which offered basic advice for self-defense.

 

The best defense against the Sykipot malware is to keep your computer systems updated with the most current security software. Sykipot attacks normally arrive via email attachments that exploit applications like Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office but has evolved to use a target's operating system, web browsers and Java scripts. The security company says that the new attacks are not especially more sophisticated than older attacks associated with the same malware. But they campaign is "just sophisticated enough to be effective." It has been targeting U.S.-based entities and outside of civil aviation the company advises that "other U.S. sectors should also be aware and able to identify it."

 

 

[Doug G.]

My son who is a computer security specialist sent me a note on this a week ago. Good to be aware of. The one thing that is lacking in the reports I have seen is who exactly is being attacked. It does not say GA in the report, it says "civil aviation" that may mean airlines, but who knows?

I hope we are always vigilant and always keep our anti-virus and anti-spam ware up to date.

[CT4ME]

Keep Updates "up-to-date".... this means Windows, Java, Flash, Acrobat.... and beware of fake updates (they usually appear as part of a web page, kinda like ads). Most malware attack YOU, not the computer, so your AntiMalware protection has very little to do with your safety.

Tim