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The first computer virus was designed for an Apple computer, by a 15 year old

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
34
3 min read

Contrary to popular belief, the first widespread computer virus that actively spread ‘in-the-wild’ was designed to target Apple computers. This might surprise some staunch Apple users who still feel that their Macs are completely invincible and cannot be infected with any kind of malware whatsoever. In this post we will discuss the Elk Cloner virus, […]

Security news and updates from the last week

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
3
2 min read

New York Times website breached by Chinese hackers The New York Times recently discovered that their computer systems were breached by Chinese hackers. The hackers stole corporate passwords of each and every employee and spied on more than 50 individuals in a time span of 4 months. Apparently these attacks started when the Times started […]

A history of Mac malware: The Apple of a virus developer’s eye

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
1
4 min read

Apple Macs are falsely believed to be invincible and completely safe against malware threats and security breaches. But as we recently discussed, this perpetual myth has gradually been broken over the years. Apple has subtly acknowledged this fact over the last year or so and has made major upheavals in their marketing strategies as a […]

Facebook Graph Search: Useful search engine or phishers dream come true?

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
2
4 min read

Facebook recently launched a notable new feature known as Graph Search. Mark Zuckerberg highlighted this feature as one of the 3 pillars of Facebook (after Newsfeed and Timeline) that make the social network relevant and personalized. But how safe is Graph Search? We feel that there are several security and privacy concerns that accompany this […]

Manhattan Court charges creators of Gozi, the world’s most destructive financial virus

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
2
3 min read

In a landmark development for the cyber security world, three cyber criminals have been charged in a Federal Manhattan Court in New York for stealing ‘tens of millions of dollars’ from online banking customers. The hackers were guilty of running Gozi, one of the most advanced and financially destructive viruses ever seen in the world. […]

Your Apple Mac does not need computer security: Myth or not?

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
25
4 min read

There is a widespread misconception in the mainstream computing market that Apple Macs are more secure than Windows machines. In fact, some staunch Apple lovers even feel that since virus threats for Macs do not exist, no system protection software is essential. But how accurate is this belief? Our expertise in the computer security industry […]

As another Java flaw is discovered, is it time to disable Java completely?

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
12
3 min read

After a massive Java 0-day vulnerability surfaced in August 2012, Oracle released an out-of-cycle update to combat the exploit. However, we advised our readers to simply disable Java on their web browsers to avoid the threat. Java has now become a highly vulnerable program that causes more trouble than it is worth and this is […]

The persistent threat of PC malware: Top Windows malware families of 2012

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
23
5 min read

2012 has seen various malware threats and international cyberespionage tools evolve to new heights. However, the PC still remains the most accessible device for invading homes and planting malware. The number and nature of malware received by the Quick Heal Research & Development Labs in 2012 highlighted this fact. The findings of the Annual Windows […]

Microsoft releases a Fix it solution to prevent Internet Explorer hijacking vulnerability

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
6
2 min read

Microsoft has successfully released a ‘Fix it solution’ for the recently discovered targeted attack, CVE-2012-4792. This attack was specifically targeted at users of Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 and 8. Users of Internet Explorer 9 and 10 were not affected. The attack exploited a vulnerability that allowed an attacker to literally hijack a PC and […]

Top 10 Quick Heal security blogs for 2012

Adithya Omanakuttan / 13 years
4
3 min read

2012 has been an eventful year for malware and security threats. A number of innovative social engineering tricks, malwares and threats reared their ugly heads and caused losses all around the world. We witnessed all kinds of attacks by hackers and posted a number of findings on our blog. Here are the top 10 blog […]