New Facebook and advertising virus threats

Cars have keys, doors have locks and computers need to be protected

The latest virus threats to your computer are real. They can and do attempt to hack your computer regularly. Unlike the early prank virus programs, the new threats are criminal. They are attempting to steal your id or to infect your computer with a trojan. Infected computers can silently be used to infect other computers without the owner noticing.

The only way to keep them from stealing your identity is to have up-to-date virus software. Here are the latest threats.

Display advertising on websites – yes, it sounds too fantastic to be true but a new bot virus can infect your computer even if you don’t click on the ad. Two media outlets in the US were infecting their readers computers last month.The virus is called JS:Prontexi. This threat was discovered in February and Avast has detected and blocked it. Norton advised us as of yesterday they had blocked it as well although they said at first they hadn’t heard of it.

The new Facebook virus says your security has been compromised. “Login in and change your password” is the advice. Sorry, it’s not Facebook: it’s a bot trying to steal your passwords. I got that one twice yesterday. If you’re busy you just might fall for the trap. Beware the new Facebook password reset scam

This week the University of Calgary medical clinic was hit by the Coreflood virus. It’s a variant of the one that infected the Alberta government computer last year. Alberta system is successfully hacked by common Trojan horse

Backdoor.Sykipot has attacked the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT)

The list is endless since criminals are devising new ways to attack weekly.

The only solution is to keep the latest virus protection software on your computer. Stick with the known brand names like Norton, Avast, McAfee, Trend.  If you have more than one computer, there are 3 and 5 family pack licenses or you can stick with the free software such as Avast and Avira.

To block the phishing attempts to get your credit card number, login or password, the software should have anti-phishing controls. Personally, I instantly delete any email about my bank account, paypal, credit cards, FedEx or UPS deliveries, or anyone I don’t know.

Cars have keys, doors have locks and computers need to be protected. I’m neurotic and have Norton and Avast running all the time since I find Avast faster with the latest threats but not as comprehensive as Norton.