A strange bug is affecting many Safari users today, causing crashes on iPhone, iPad and Mac. For many users, simply tapping in the URL bar will cause the browser app to crash completely.  The exact issue causing the crashing has not been locked down, but it appears to be related to Apple’s Safari Suggestions service. It’s a very annoying bug that is affecting a lot of people all of sudden today.

When you type a URL, Apple sends what you type to its servers, returning a response with autocomplete search queries, Top Sites and other info. There appears to be a bug in this server request that is causing Safari to randomly crash. Users are discovering some potential workarounds until Apple fixes the problem properly …

Disabling Safari Suggestions seems to be helping resolve the bug for many people on iOS. On your iPhone or iPad, go into Settings, tap Safari, and toggle off the ‘Safari Suggestions’ switch. This will fix the crashing, obviously its only a temporary fix until Apple sorts its servers out as it will disable the Safari Suggestions functionality.

Another option is to enter Private Browsing mode. In private browsing, by design Safari does not contact the suggestions server for intelligent completion options, so the server is never contacted and the crash never arises.

The bug is affecting users in many countries, but not all. It also depends on the state of your Safari, whether it has certain data cached already. The crash has been seen on iOS 8, iOS 9 and OS X 10.11. The bug could be even more widespread beyond these platforms however. It is pretty crazy flaw that is affecting so many people this morning, with many reports across European iOS customers.

We have contacted Apple about the issue for clarification, but it’s such a serious functional flaw that we expect a fix very shortly. Please note: this is an unrelated incident to the prank site CrashSafari.com.

Update: The Safari crash bug has now been fixed, according to Apple.

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Microsoft is rolling out a host of new email security features for Office 365 later this quarter, as it looks to thwart hackers and criminals.

‘Insider spoofing’ or faking the CEO’s email address to trick the CFO into transferring millions to criminal bank accounts is big business. Now Microsoft is using big data and reputation filters to try and squish the threat.

According to the FBI, between October 2013 and August 2015, 7,066 US businesses have fallen prey to ‘business email compromise’, netting criminals an estimated $747m.

Non-US victims lost a further $51m over the period, with the FBI estimating a 270 percent increase in identified victims since January 2015, when it first released figures about the threat category.

As Microsoft notes, when a corporate email domain is spoofed, it makes it hard for existing filters to identify the bogus email as malicious.

However, Microsoft reckons it has achieved a 500 percent improvement in counterfeit detection using a blend of big data, strong authentication checks, and reputation filters in Exchange Online Protection for Office 365.

It’s also rolling out new phishing and trust notifications to indicate whether an email is from a known sender or if a message is from an untrusted source, and therefore could be a phishing email.

The company is also promising a faster email experience as it vets attachments for malware and new tools to auto-correct messages that are mis-classified as spam. The aim is to boost defences without impairing end-user productivity.

Malicious email attachments remain a popular way for attackers to gain a foothold in an organization and, as RSA’s disastrous SecurID breach in 2011 showed, a little social engineering can go a long way to ensuring someone opens it.

Microsoft’s new attachment scanner, called Dynamic Delivery of Safe Attachments, looks to reduce delays as it checks attachments for potential threats.

Currently it captures suspicious looking attachments in a sandbox with a ‘detonation chamber’ where it analyses it for malware in a process takes five to seven minutes.

Microsoft hasn’t figured out a faster way to analyse the attachment, but instead of holding up the email as it conducts the scan, it will send the body of the email with a placeholder attachment. If the attachment is deemed safe, it will replace the placeholder and if not, the admin can filter out the attachment.

The feature is part of Microsoft’s Office 365 Exchange Online Protection and Advanced Threat Protection services.

The company is also tackling false-positive spam, or legitimate messages that are mis-identified as spam, and vice versa, with a new feature called Zero-hour Auto Purge, which allows admins to “change that verdict”.

“If a message is delivered to your inbox and later found to be spam, Zero-hour Auto Purge moves that message from the inbox to the spam folder; the reverse is true for messages misclassified as spam,” Microsoft notes.

Microsoft is testing this approach with 50 customers and says it will be rolled out for all Exchange Online Protection global clients in the first quarter of 2016.

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The must-read IT business eNewsletter

“There is no such thing as perfect security,” says Jim Waldron, Senior Architect for Platform Security at HP. If you can access a website or server, consider it vulnerable to security breaches. That’s why so many businesses account for fraud in their business models—they expect to lose a certain amount each year to security leaks, lost IP, and more.

While you can never be 100% secure from hackers while connected to the internet, there are steps you can take to help protect your personal and professional data. All you need to do is activate features that are increasingly common (or easy to manage) on modern business-class PCs: Multi-factor authentication, client-based user authentication, and password best practices.

Multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication is a simple but effective security system that involves the use of at least two factors (or methods) of authentication. It groups different factors together so that even if one is compromised, the data remains protected. Under this system, factors are divided into three domains:

• Something you know: Password, PIN, etc.
• Something you have: ATM card, smartcard, etc.
• Something you are: Fingerprint, iris, etc.

For multi-factor authentication to be successful, you want to pull from at least two different domains, with a maximum of three domains. A common example of multi-factor authentication is when you withdraw cash from an ATM. To do so, you insert your ATM card (something you have) and enter your PIN (something you know). Without both factors you can’t access your account—and neither should anyone else.

Businesses are taking notice too, and multi-factor authentication’s popularity is rising. In 2014, 37% of enterprise organizations surveyed used multi-factor authentication for the majority of their employees, and that number is expected to grow to 56% by 2016.

What you can do now
If you have a business-grade PC, chances are your PC already includes the technologies you need to start using multi-factor authentication. In fact, HP offers multi-factor authentication on all of its business PCs. Consult your manual or HP Support, and identify the factors your PC supports in addition to traditional passwords, such as fingerprint or smartcard readers. Just make sure to choose factors from separate domains.

Client-based user authentication
Every time you log into a system, your identity needs to be authenticated by that system. This process occurs one of two ways: server-side authentication or client-based authentication. With server-side authentication your unencrypted information—such as your password or fingerprint—is sent to a server where it is compared against that server’s records. With client-based authentication, the authentication process—e.g., “Does this fingerprint match the one in our records?”—is performed on the client device, such as your work PC.

While client-based authentication is not as common as its counterpart, it is far more secure. In fact, “In almost all authentication scenarios it is preferable to perform the direct authentication on the client and then communicate an ‘Identity Assurance’ to the relying party,” says Waldron.

Everyone wins when it comes to client-based authentication. The client no longer has to send unencrypted, private information over the internet or store that information on another party’s server, while the relying party no longer has to store sensitive client information on their server—reducing the amount of information that can be stolen if and when a hack occurs.

What you can do now
One of the easiest ways to use client-based authentication is with a hardened fingerprint sensor. The sensor authenticates your fingerprint directly in the hardware, rather than sending it to a server or hard drive, and returns a key that can be used to decrypt password vaults.

Password best practices
As we’ve mentioned before, passwords aren’t perfect. While implementing and using the above features might not seem practical for some of us, everyone can benefit from following basic password best practices. They are quick to implement, and can save you a lot of hassle down the line.

To make the most of your password security, your passwords should be:

• Long—at least 16 characters. Use a password manager to store unique passwords and fill out log-in forms so that you don’t have to memorize them.
• Complex—containing symbols, numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and spaces (if possible)
• Unique—only use a password once, don’t recycle or repeat across accounts
• Short-lived—the National Cyber Security Alliance suggests changing your password every 60 days
• Difficult to guess—avoid common words found in a dictionary, all or part of your name, repeated letters, or combos that align to your keyboard layout, such as “QWERTY” or “123456”

If you are uncertain whether your password is secure enough or if it meets enough of the criteria above, there are several reliable services that will check your password strength for you. Microsoft’s Safety & Security Center offers a free password checker you can access through your browser, while Mac users can access Apple’s Password Assistant through the Keychain Access utility.

What you can do now
The first thing you can do—right this second—is revise your most important passwords to align with password best practices. That includes your work accounts, personal email, bank accounts, and any other services that contain sensitive data. If you need help remembering your new passwords, consider using a password manager such as HP Password Manager. That way you only have to authenticate once to gain access to all your systems. You can also adopt a system to make your passwords easier to remember. Using acronyms, for example, you can turn the phrase “I was born in 1986 and my parents still live on Lake Street!” into “Iwbi1986ampsloLS!”—creating a strong password that’s easy to remember.

Passwords are changing, and while they will never be perfect, they can still provide an effective first layer of defense against hackers and ne’er do wells. The above features and techniques are increasingly common on modern business PCs, making it easier than ever to protect your private data. All you have to do is use them.

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Ashley Madison (2015)

All data breaches are scary, but some just have that extra scream factor.

In arguably the most embarrassing data breach of the bunch, a group calling itself “The Impact Team” stole 37 million records from adultery website Ashley Madison, including many records that customers had paid to have deleted.

Virtually all of the company’s data was stolen in the hack, including records that suggest most female accounts on the site are fake, and that the company used female chat bots to trick men into spending money.

LivingSocial (2013)

Daily deals company LivingSocial had its network compromised in 2013, with hackers stealing roughly 50 million names, email addresses, birthdays, and encrypted passwords from its SQL database.

Sony PlayStation Network (2011)

Game over, man. In April 2011, hackers raided Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) service, stealing personally identifiable information from more than 77 million gamers.

Sony was further criticized for delaying the release of public information about the theft and for storing customer data in an unencrypted form.

The attack took Sony’s PSN out of service for 23 days.

Internal Revenue Service (2015)

Nigerian scammers pilfered more than $50 million from the U.S. Treasury via an embarrassingly simple 2015 hack of the Internal Revenue Service website.

Information scraped from previous data hacks was used to steal Americans’ identities and request copies of past tax returns on the IRS website. The crooks then filed new tax returns with falsified data, requesting big refunds.

The hack caused massive nightmares for the estimated 334,000 people whose records were stolen before the IRS shut down the transcript request service.

Target (2013)

Hackers installed point-of-sale malware on Target’s computer network sometime in 2013, resulting in the theft of more than 70 million customer records. Stolen data included payment card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV codes.

The retailer reached out to affected customers by offering free data monitoring (standard practice) and a 10% off discount on a future shopping trip. But it was too little, too late; same-store sales slid in the quarter following the hack.

Anthem (2015)

Anthem, the United States’ second largest for-profit health insurer, disclosed in February 2015 that it had lost 78.8 million unencrypted customer records to criminals. Names, social security numbers, email addresses, and income data was stolen.

The rare piece of good news: Financial and medical records were not affected.

Adobe (2013)

Adobe revealed in October 2013 that hackers had stolen 38 million active customer IDs and passwords, forcing the company to send out a wave of password reset warnings.

Weeks after, the news got worse for the company: The thieves also made off with the source code for its popular Adobe Photoshop software.

eBay (2014)

Talk about an inside job: In 2004, online auction house eBay suffered the largest hack in U.S. history, losing 145 million login credentials to a hacker using an internal eBay corporate account.

Names, email and street addresses, phone numbers, and birth dates were compromised, but thankfully, passwords were stored in encrypted form.

Home Depot (2014)

In September 2014, Home Depot admitted that it fell prey to hackers who installed antivirus-evading malware on its self-checkout registers. An estimated 56 million sets of customer payment card data were stolen in the attack.

The company’s losses related to the event are expected to top $1 billion when all of the lawsuits are finally settled. Only $100 million of that will be covered by insurance.

JP Morgan Chase (2014)

The September 2014 breach of JP Morgan Chase proved that even the largest U.S. banks are vulnerable to data theft. Online banking login details were not stolen, but crooks did get their hands on 76 million sets of names, emails, addresses, and phone numbers of bank customers, creating serious phishing concerns.

A group of Russian hackers is believed to be responsible for the attack.

PNI Digital Media (2015)

PNI Digital Media, the company that handles online photo printing for CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Costco, and many more national chains, lost an unknown number of customer records to hackers in 2015.

Given that the company boasted more than 18 million transactions in 2014, it’s likely that this breach affected tens of millions of Americans.

Heartland (2008)

Credit and debit card processing firm Heartland Payment Systems became one of the largest data breach victims in U.S. history when hackers compromised more than 130 million accounts in 2008.

The criminal ring involved in the Heartland data theft was also found to be responsible for the 2005 hack of TJX Companies involving 94 million records.

TJX Companies (2005)

In a 2005 scheme dubbed “Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin,” a group of hackers used an unsecured Wi-Fi network at a Marshalls store to break into parent TJX Companies’ computer system and steal 94 million customer records, including payment card data.

Albert Gonzalez, the ringleader of the hack, is serving a 20-year sentence in Leavenworth.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (2015)

Earlier this year, the United States Office of Personnel Management admitted that hackers had taken 21.5 million records belonging to those who had undergone government background checks or otherwise applied for federal employment. The hackers stole a wealth of sensitive data, including security clearance information and fingerprint data belonging to secret agents.

The Washington Post reported that the attack is believed to have originated in China.

Zappos (2012)

In January 2012, online shoe retailer Zappos stated that cybercriminals had stolen data of 24 million customers, including names, addresses, and the last four digits of their payment cards.

After the announcement, Zappos had to disconnect its phone lines to keep upset customers from calling in and overloading its phone system.

Have questions?

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Anna Kournikova (2001)

The Anna Kournikova virus is so named because it tricked its recipients into thinking they were downloading a sexy picture of the tennis star. Financial damages associated with Kournikova were limited, but the virus had a big pop culture impact: It became a plot point in a 2002 episode of the sitcom Friends.

Sasser (2004)

In April 2004, Microsoft issued a patch for a vulnerability in Windows’ Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). Shortly after, a teenager in Germany released the Sasser worm to exploit the vulnerability in unpatched machines. Multiple variants of Sasser took out airline, public transportation, and hospital networks, causing $18 billion in damage.

Skulls.A (2004)

The Skulls.A is a legitimately spooky mobile trojan that affected the Nokia 7610 smartphone and other SymbOS devices. The malware was designed to change all icons on infected phones to Jolly Rogers and disable all phone functions, save for making and receiving calls.

F-Secure says Skulls.A caused little damage, but the trojan is undeniably creepy.

Zeus (2009)

While many malware programs on this list are little more than nuisances, Zeus (AKA Zbot) was a tool used by a complex criminal enterprise.

The trojan uses phishing and keylogging to steal online banking credentials, draining a cumulative $70 million from the accounts of its victims.

Melissa (1999)

Named after a Florida stripper, the Melissa virus was designed to propagate by sending itself to the first 50 contacts in its victims’ e-mail Outlook address book. The attack was so successful that the virus infected 20 percent of the world’s computers, causing an estimated $80 million in damage.

Virus creator David L. Smith (shown) was caught by the FBI, served 20 months in jail, and paid a $5,000 fine.

Sircam (2001)

Like many early malware scripts, Sircam used social engineering to trick people into opening an email attachment.

The worm chooses a random Microsoft Office file on victims’ computers, infects it, and sends it to all the people in the victims’ email contact list. A University of Florida study pegged Sircam cleanup costs at $3 billion.

Stuxnet (2009)

Stuxnet is one of the first known viruses created for cyberwarfare. Created in a joint effort between Israel and the U.S., Stuxnet targeted nuclear enrichment systems in Iran.

Infected computers instructed nuclear centrifuges to physically spin until they broke, all while providing fake feedback that operations were normal.

SQL Slammer/Sapphire (2003)

Taking up just 376 bytes, the SQL Slammer worm packed a lot of destruction into a tiny package. The worm slowed down the Internet, disabled 911 call centers, took down 12,000 Bank of America ATMs, and caused much of South Korea to go offline. It also crashed the network at Ohio’s Davis-Besse nuclear power plant.

Storm Trojan (2007)

Storm Trojan is a particularly sinister piece of email-distributed malware that accounted for 8 percent of all global infections just three days after its January 2007 launch.

The trojan created a massive botnet of between 1 and 10 million computers, and because it was designed to change its packing code every 10 minutes, Storm Trojan proved incredibly resilient.

Code Red (2001)

The Code Red worm, named after the Mountain Dew flavor preferred by its creators, infected up to one-third of all Microsoft ISS web servers upon release.

It even took down whitehouse.gov, replacing its homepage with a “Hacked by Chinese!” message. Estimated damages due to Code Red were in the billions of dollars worldwide.

Nimda (2001)

Released just after the 9/11 attack, many thought the devastating Nimda worm had an Al Qaeda connection (never proven).

It spread via multiple vectors, bringing down banking networks, federal courts and other key computer systems. Cleanup costs for Nimda exceeded $500 million in the first few days alone.

ILOVEYOU (2000)

The ILOVEYOU worm, AKA Love Letter, disguised itself in email inboxes as a text file from an admirer.

But this Love Letter was anything but sweet: In May 2000, it quickly spread to 10 percent of all Internet-connected computers, leading the CIA to shut down its own email servers to prevent its further spread. Estimated damages were $15 billion.

Cryptolocker (2014)

Computers infected with Cryptolocker have important files on their hard drives encrypted and held at ransom. Those who pay approximately $300 in bitcoin to the hackers are given access to the encryption key; those who fail to pay have their data deleted forever.

Netsky (2004)

The Netsky worm, created by the same teen who made Sasser, made its way around the world by way of email attachments. The P variant of Netsky was the most widespread worm in the world even more than two years after its February 2004 launch.

Conficker (2008)

The Conficker worm (AKA Downup, Downadup, Kido), first detected in December 2008, was designed to disable infected computers’ anti-virus programs and block autoupdates that may otherwise remove it from computers.

Conficker quickly spread to numerous important computer networks, including those of the English, French, and German armed forces, causing $9 billion in damage.

Michaelangelo (1992)

The Michelangelo virus itself spread to relatively few computers and caused little real damage. But the concept of a computer virus set to “detonate” on March 6, 1992 caused a media-fueled mass hysteria, with many afraid to operate their PCs even on anniversaries of the date.

Sobig.F (2003)

The Sobig.F trojan infected an estimated 2 million PCs in 2003, grounding Air Canada flights and causing slowdowns across computer networks worldwide. This tricky bug-in-disguise cost $37.1 billion to clean up, making it one of the most expensive malware recovery efforts in history.

MyDoom (2004)

In September 2004, TechRepublic called MyDoom “the worst virus outbreak ever,” and it’s no surprise why. The worm increased the average page load time on the Internet by 50 percent, blocked infected computers’ access to anti-virus sites, and launched a denial-of-service attack on computing giant Microsoft.

The worldwide costs associated with cleanup of MyDoom is estimated to be just shy of $40 billion.

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In October of last year news broke about a new form of malware called Cryptolocker. This malware posed a particularly large threat to many business users and led to many quick and important security updates. Now, almost a year later, it appears that the second version of this – CryptoWall – has been released and is beginning to infect users.

What is Crypto malware?

Crypto malware is a type of trojan horse that when installed onto computers or devices, holds the data and system hostage. This is done by locking valuable or important files with a strong encryption. You then see a pop-up open informing you that you have a set amount of time to pay for a key which will unlock the encryption. If you don’t pay before the deadline, your files are deleted.

When this malware surfaced last year, many users were understandably more than a little worried and took strong precautions to ensure they did not get infected. Despite these efforts, it really didn’t go away until earlier this year, when security experts introduced a number of online portals that can un-encrypt files affected by Cryptolocker, essentially neutralizing the threat, until now that is. A recently updated version is threatening users once again.

Cryptolocker 2.0, aka. CryptoWall

Possibly because of efforts by security firms to neutralize the Cryptolocker threat, the various developers of the malware have come back with an improved version, CryptoWall and it is a threat that all businesses should be aware of.

With CryptoWall, the transmission and infection methods remain the same as they did with the first version: It is most commonly found in zipped folders and PDF files sent over email. Most emails with the malware are disguised as invoices, bills, complaints, and other business messages that we are likely to open.

The developers did however make some “improvements” to the malware that make it more difficult to deal with for most users. These changes include:

• Unique IDs are used for payment: These are addresses used to verify that the payment is unique and from one person only. If the address is used by another user, payment will now be rejected. This is different from the first version where one person who paid could share the unlock code with other infected users.
• CryptoWall can securely delete files: In the older version of this threat, files were deleted if the ransom wasn’t paid, but they could be recovered easily. In the new version the encryption has increased security which ensures the file is deleted. This leaves you with either the option of paying the ransom or retrieving the file from a backup.
• Payment servers can’t be blocked: With CryptoLocker, when authorities and security experts found the addresses of the servers that accepted payments they were able to add these to blacklists, thus ensuring no traffic would come from, or go to, these servers again. Essentially, this made it impossible for the malware to actually work. Now, it has been found that the developers are using their own servers and gateways which essentially makes them much, much more difficult to find and ban.

How do I prevent my systems and devices from being infected?

Unlike other viruses and malware, CryptoWall doesn’t go after passwords or account names, so the usual changing of your passwords won’t really help. The best ways to prevent this from getting onto your systems is:

• Don’t open any suspicious attachments – Look at each and every email attachment that comes into your inbox. If you spot anything that looks odd, such as say a spelling mistake in the name, or a long string of characters together, then it is best to avoid opening it.
• Don’t open emails from unknown sources – Be extra careful about emails from unknown sources, especially ones that say they provide business oriented information e.g., bank statements from banks you don’t have an account with or bills from a utilities company you don’t use. Chances are high that they contain some form of malware.

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Managed IT Services is a new solution to an old problem. Instead of the traditional pay to fix a problem as it happens, you pay one  consistent monthly price and your computers, servers and network are  continuously and proactively kept running efficiently.

Automate IT Actions

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Cut Operational Cost

Our  Managed Services enable you to focus more on your business while South Jersey Techies, LLC  proactively manages and monitors your data, security and voice networks.

South Jersey Techies automates your repeated activities such as updating antivirus definitions, upgrading Internet Explorer, installing software, executing scripts, etc. and helps you to concentrate on things that offer more value to your business.

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Remove Windows 7 Antispyware 2012, Vista Antivirus 2012, and XP Security 2012 (See Uninstall Guide Below)

Win 7 Antispyware 2012, Vista Antivirus 2012, and XP Security 2012 are all names for the same rogue anti-spyware program. This family of rogues is promoted in two ways. The first is through the use of fake online antivirus scanners that state that your computer is infected and then prompt you to download a file that will install the infection. The other method are hacked web sites that attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in programs that you are running on your computer to install the infection without your knowledge or permission. Regardless of how it is installed, once it is running on your computer it will install itself as a variety of different program names and graphical user interfaces depending on the version of Windows that is running. Regardless of the name, though, they are all ultimately the same program with just a different skin on it. This rogue goes by different program names, which I have listed below based upon the version of Windows that it is installed on:

When installed, this rogue pretends to be a security update for Windows installed via Automatic Updates. It will then install itself as a single executable that has a random consisting of three characters, such as kdn.exe, that uses very aggressive techniques to make it so that you cannot remove it. First, it makes it so that if you launch any executable it instead launches Vista Home Security 2012, XP Internet Security 2012, Win 7 Security 2012, or any of the other names it goes under. If the original program that you wanted to launch is deemed safe by the rogue, it will then launch it as well. This allows the rogue to determine what executables it wants to allow you to run in order to protect itself. It will also modify certain keys so that when you launch FireFox or Internet Explorer from the Window Start Menu it will launch the rogue instead and display a fake firewall warning stating that the program is infected.

Win 7 Antispyware 2012 Screen shot

Once started, the rogue itself, like all other rogues, will scan your computer and state that there are numerous infections on it. If you attempt to use the program to remove any of these infections, though, it will state that you need to purchase the program first. In reality, though, the infections that the rogues states are on your computer are all legitimate files that if deleted could cause Windows to not operate correctly. Therefore, please do not manually delete any files based upon the results from this rogue’s scan.

While running, XP Internet Security 2012, Win 7 Antivirus 2012, and Vista Security 2012 will also display fake security alerts on the infected computer. The text of some of these alerts are:

XP Home Security 2012 Firewall Alert
XP Home Security 2012 has blocked a program from accessing the internet
Internet Explorer is infected with Trojan-BNK.Win32.Keylogger.gen
Private data can be stolen by third parties, including credit card details and passwords.

Malware Intrusion
Sensitive areas of your system were found to be under attack. Spy software attack or virus infection possible. Prevent further damage or your private data will get stolen. Run an anti-spyware scan now. Click here to start.

System danger!
Your system security is in danger. Privacy threats detected. Spyware, keyloggers or Trojans may be working the background right now. Perform an in-depth scan and removal now, click here.

System Hijack!
System security threat was detected. Viruses and/or spyware may be damaging your system now. Prevent infection and data loss or stealing by running a free security scan.

Privacy threat!
Spyware intrusion detected. Your system is infected. System integrity is at risk. Private data can be stolen by third parties, including credit card details and passwords. Click here to perform a security repair.

Stealth intrusion!
Infection detected in the background. Your computer is now attacked by spyware and rogue software. Eliminate the infection safely, perform a security scan and deletion now.

XP Antispyware 2012 Alert
Security Hole Detected!
A program is trying to exploit Windows security holes! Passwords and sensitive data may be stolen. Do you want to block this attack?

Just like the scan results, these security warnings and alerts are all fake and should be ignored.

While running, Win 7 Home Security 2012, XP Antivirus 2012, and Vista Antivirus 2012 will also hijack Internet Explorer so that you cannot visit certain sites. It does this so that you cannot receive help or information at sites like BleepingComputer.com on how to remove this infection. When you attempt to visit these sites you will instead be shown a fake alert stating that the site you are visiting is dangerous and that the rogue is blocking it for your protection. The message that you will see is:

Vista Security 2012 Alert
Internet Explorer alert. Visiting this site may pose a security threat to your system!
Possible reasons include:
– Dangerous code found in this site’s pages which installed unwanted software into your system.
– Suspicious and potentially unsafe network activity detected.
– Spyware infections in your system
– Complaints from other users about this site.
– Port and system scans performed by the site being visited.

Things you can do:
– Get a copy of Vista Security 2012 to safeguard your PC while surfing the web (RECOMMENDED)
– Run a spyware, virus and malware scan
– Continue surfing without any security measures (DANGEROUS)

Just like the fake security alerts, the browser hijack is just another attempt to make you think that your computer has a security problem so that you will then purchase the program.

Without a doubt, this rogue is designed to scam you out of your money by hijacking your computer and trying to trick you into thinking you are infected. Therefore, please do not purchase this program , and if you have, please contact your credit card company and dispute the charges stating that the program is a computer infection. Finally, to remove Win 7 Antispyware 2012, Vista Antivirus 2012, and XP Security 2012 please use the guide below, which only contains programs that are free to use.

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

Automated Removal Instructions for Win 7 Antispyware 2012 & Vista Antivirus 2012 using Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware:

1. Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix.

2. It is possible that the infection you are trying to remove will not allow you to download files on the infected computer. If this is the case, then you will need to download the files requested in this guide on another computer and then transfer them to the infected computer. You can transfer the files via a CD/DVD, external drive, or USB flash drive.

3. This infection changes settings on your computer so that when you launch an executable, a file ending with .exe, it will instead launch the infection rather than the desired program. To fix this we must first download a Registry file that will fix these changes. From a clean computer, please download the following file and save it to a removable media such as a CD/DVD, external Drive, or USB flash drive. FixNCR.reg.  Once that file is downloaded and saved on a removable devices, insert the removable device into the infected computer and open the folder the drive letter associated with it. You should now see the FixNCR.reg file that you had downloaded onto it. Double-click on the FixNCR.regfile to fix the Registry on your infected computer. You should now be able to run your normal executable programs and can proceed to the next step.If you do not have any removable media or another clean computer that you can download the FixNCR.reg file onto, you can try and download it to your infected computer using another method. On the infected computer, right click on the Internet Explorer’s icon, or any other browser’s icon, and select Run As or Run as Administrator. If you are using Windows XP, you will be prompted to select a user and enter its password. It is suggested that you attempt to login as the Administratoruser. For Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you will be prompted to enter your Administrator account password.Once you enter the password, your browser will start and you can download the above FixNCR.reg file. When saving it, make sure you save it to a folder that can be accessed by your normal account. Remember, that you will be launching the browser as another user, so if you save it to a My Documents folder, it will not be your normal My Documents folder that it is downloaded into. Instead it will be the My Documents folder that belongs to the user you ran the browser as. Once the download has finished, close your browser and find the FixNCR.reg file that you downloaded. Now double-click on it and allow the data to be merged. You should now be able to run your normal executable programs and can proceed to the next step.

4. Now we must first end the processes that belong to Win 7 Antispyware 2012 & Vista Antivirus 2012 and clean up some Registry settings so they do not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, please download RKill to your desktop from the following link.RKill Download Link.  When at the download page, click on the Download Now button labeled iExplore.exe download link . When you are prompted where to save it, please save it on your desktop.

5. Once it is downloaded, double-click on the iExplore.exe icon in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Win 7 Antispyware 2012 & Vista Antivirus 2012 and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a message that RKill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just a fake warning given by Win 7 Antispyware 2012 & Vista Antivirus 2012 when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into these infections warnings that close RKill, a trick is to leave the warning on the screen and then run RKill again. By not closing the warning, this typically will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that rkill can terminate Win 7 Antispyware 2012 & Vista Antivirus 2012 . So, please try running RKill until the malware is no longer running. You will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. If you continue having problems running RKill, you can download the other renamed versions of RKill from the rkill download page. All of the files are renamed copies of RKill, which you can try instead. Please note that the download page will open in a new browser window or tab.Do not reboot your computer after running RKill as the malware programs will start again.

6. There have been reports of this infection being bundled with the TDSS rootkit infection. To be safe you should also run a program that can be used to scan for this infection. Please follow the steps in the following guide:

How to remove Google Redirects or the TDSS, TDL3, or Alureon rootkit using TDSSKiller

If after running TDSSKiller, you are still unable to update Malwarebytes’ Anti-malware or continue to have Google search result redirects, then you should post a virus removal request using the steps in the following topic rather than continuing with this guide:

Preparation Guide For Use Before Using Malware Removal Tools and Requesting Help Topic

If TDSSKiller requires you to reboot, please allow it to do so. After you reboot, reboot back into Safe Mode with Networking again.

7. Download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, also referred to as MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Download Link (Download page will open in a new window)

8. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.

9. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.

10. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.

11. MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main program as shown below.

12. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Win 7 Antispyware 2012 & Vista Antivirus 2012 related files.

13. MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.

14. When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.

You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the Vista AntiSpyware 2012 & Win 7 Home Security removal process.

15. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
16. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.

You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.

17. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.

18. You can now exit the MBAM program.

19. As many rogues and other malware are installed through vulnerabilities found in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer. A tutorial on how to use Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs can be found here:How to detect vulnerable and out-dated programs using Secunia Personal Software Inspector

Your computer should now be free of the Vista AntiSpyware 2012 & Win 7 Home Security program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.

If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:

Preparation Guide For Use Before Using Malware Removal Tools and Requesting Help

To see the original article in its entirety click here.