JaypeeOnline » malware

FREE Online Website Malware & Blacklist Scanning Tool

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:26:14 +0000

If your blog or website is infected with malware and/or blacklisted, you will lose a lot of traffic (and probably earnings) because it will not show up on search results and regular visitors will not visit your site because it is flagged as a dangerous site. To check whether your blog/website is infected with malware or blacklisted, you can use this free online website malware and blacklist scanning tool provided by Sucuri Security.

The free website malware & blacklist scan tool, checks if a certain website contains or is infected with malware, malicious javascript, malicious iframes, drive-by downloads, anomalies, IE-only attacks, suspicious redirects and spam.

It also checks whether the website in question is blacklisted by Google Safe Browsing, Norton Safe Web and Phish Tank. To get more detailed information regarding the Blacklisting results, click on the reference links beside each source.

Aside from that, the Sucuri website malware & blacklist scan tool also provides certain website information like web server details (hostname, IP address, server system, software, etc.), list of links (similar to sitemap) and list of javascripts.

I like the Sucuri website malware & blacklist scan tool because it’s FREE, easy to use and its a very useful and handy tool for any blogger, webmaster or anyone who owns a website.

Check out the FREE Online Website Malware & Blacklist Scanning Tool

Have your blog or website been infected with malware or have been blacklisted? What tool or procedure did you use to check for website malware or blacklisted status? Anyone tried the free website malware & blacklist scan tool by Sucuri? Please share your thoughts.

HowTo: Avoid/Remove Mac Defender Malware

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 27 May 2011 22:03:32 +0000

A few days ago, Apple finally acknowledged the existence of the Mac Defender malware which has already victimized a lot of Mac users. Apple has also announced that they will soon be issuing a software update that will specifically detect and remove the Mac Defender malware and any of its variants (Mac Security, Mac Protector).

For those who haven’t heard or aren’t aware of the Mac Defender, it is malware (malicious software) masquerading as an anti-virus program. It is not a virus, worm or Trojan but a type of malware classified as scareware (scam software) that uses scare tactics to trick users into giving out their credit card information and pay for a useless or worthless program.

Here’s a demo video on how the Mac Defender malware works:

If you haven’t been yet infected or victimized here are some tips on how to avoid installing the Mac Defender malware.

How To Avoid Installing Mac Defender

If notifications about viruses or security software appear on your Mac, immediately QUIT or CLOSE the web browser that you’re using. If you can’t close it, do a Force Quit on the browser.
For some cases, the browser automatically downloaded and launched the malware installer. If that happens, cancel the installation process and DO NOT enter your administrator password.
Delete the installer from the Downloads folder or specified download location, drag the installer to the Trash bin and Empty the Trash.
Open Safari go to General Preferences and uncheck “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading” option. (You should also do the same for other web browsers installed on your Mac)

If your Mac has already been infected by this malware, below are steps on how to remove the Mac Defender malware.

How To Remove Mac Defender

Move or close the Mac Defender scan window.
Go to the Utilities folder on your Applications folder and launch the Activity Monitor.
Choose “All Processes” from the pop up menu, found on the upper right corner of the window.
On the Process Name column, look for the following app names – MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector.
Click on Quit Process on the upper left corner window and click on Quit.
Close the Activity Monitor application.
Open the Applications folder.
Locate the app – MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector.
Click on the app and drag to Trash, then Empty the Trash.

The Mac Defender malware also installs itself as a login item on System Preferences. Removing it is not necessary but if you want to remove it, here’s how to do it:

Open System Preferences, select Accounts, then Login Items.
Select the name of the app – MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector.
Click the minus button (-).

Reports say that there are new Mac Defender malware variants that don’t even need the user’s administrator password and automatically installs itself into the system. To avoid being victimized by these types of malware and scareware, make sure you’re familiar with the interface of the antivirus/internet security program installed on your program. Never install software/programs that you’re not familiar with. When you visit a website and it suddenly displays a webpage or window that looks like its scanning your Mac for viruses, that’s bogus! Immediately leave the page and quit your web browser. If something was already downloaded, just follow the steps provided above.

Hope this simple tutorial will help you avoid or remove the Mac Defender malware from your Mac. If you find this useful or know of someone, a family member, relative, friend or co-worker who might find this useful, please don’t hesitate to bookmark and share this with them.

[via Apple Support Forums]

Weekend Roundup #119

Jaypee Habaradas — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:05:56 +0000

Hello folks! My apologies for the late edition of the Weekend Roundup. Tried to finish it and have it ready by yesterday but due to some personal business and unavoidable circumstances, I wasn’t able to publish it. Nevertheless, this week’s edition of the Weekend Roundup if full of very interesting and useful links so I hope you enjoy reading and sharing it.

Blogging

WordPress

SEO

Social Media

Technology

Gadgets

Pinoy Blogs

JaypeeOnline Weekly Recap

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or would want to share your article or any interesting story that you found in the Internet and have it featured in the next Weekend Roundup, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message via the contact page.

Beware of WordPress Theme Malware

Jaypee Habaradas — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:00:34 +0000

One of the things that make WordPress great and popular is the huge number of available free themes and plugins. Unfortunately, the popularity of free WordPress themes have been used by scammers, spammers and malicious users, as an opportunity to cash in and/or wreak havoc. Many of the free WordPress themes available on the Internet today have already been altered by these users, adding base64 encrypted codes into the theme’s functions.php file which when decrypted, contain spammy links or malware.

Recently, a new type of malware was found on some free WordPress themes that are being distributed by a site called top-themes.com (site no longer available). The malware-ridden theme’s functions.php file contains code that inserts a zip file on a theme’s screenshot file. Once activated, the file unzips itself into a new directory and executes the malware file, adds itself (the malware code) and infects other themes in the user’s wp-content/themes directory. This type of malware is really clever because once it accomplishes it’s goal, the file erases itself so it won’t be traceable.

To learn more about how this type of malware works, check out Otto’s post entitled – Anatomy of a Theme Malware. As an additional resource, please make sure to read Lorelle VanFossen’s article – WordPress Theme Malware Prevention and Protection.

To all WordPress users out there, make sure you only download free WordPress themes from reliable sources/websites like the WordPress.org Theme Repository. If ever you’re gonna download a theme outside the official WordPress theme Repository, make sure you only download from the theme author’s website and to use a plugin like the Theme Authenticity Checker, that checks theme files for any encrypted codes.

There are lot of free WordPress themes out there that are not only spam and malware-free but also beautiful and premium-quality. I try to post as many of these themes here on JaypeeOnline so users can find them easily. You can check out the themes I’ve reviewed from the WordPress themes category. If you can afford it, you can also purchase premium WordPress themes from reliable sources like StudioPress, WooThemes, Elegant Themes, Theme Forest, WP ZOOM and many others.

Where do you guys get or download your WordPress themes from? Have you ever been victimized by a malware-ridden theme? Anyone here ever come across this new type of WordPress theme malware? Please share your thoughts.

HowTo: Manually Update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:54:17 +0000

One software that I always install on my personal computer or recommend to family and friends is Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware – a free malware removal tool. It’s also one of the programs I use to fix/clean up client’s computers. Like I’ve mentioned before, I am the family desktop support person, so when family and friends need help, they go to me. The most common request I get from family, friends and clients is to clean up their computers which have been infected by viruses, spyware and malware.

When I get my hands on the “problem” computer, one of the first things I do is install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Before I perform a full system scan, I make sure that I update the program to it’s latest definition update. This is an easy task if there is an Internet connection. In some cases, the computers can’t connect to the Internet because of the virus, spyware and malware infection so this task becomes impossible. But I’ve found a workaround that allows me to manually update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

Today, I’ll share with you two ways on how to manually update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware so you can update the program even if your computer doesn’t have an Internet connection.

STEP 1

This step requires a separate computer that has access to the Internet and has Malwarebytes Anti-Malware installed on it.

1. Update the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on that computer to make sure that you get the latest definition update.
2. Open the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program folder and look for the file “rules.ref“.

Windows XP and Windows 2000
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware\rules.ref

Windows Vista and Windows 7
C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware\rules.ref

3. Copy the “rules.ref” file.
4. Paste the “rules.ref” file into the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program folder on the computer that doesn’t have Internet connection.

STEP 2

1. Download the defintion update from the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware website.
http://data.mbamupdates.com/tools/mbam-rules.exe
2. Run and Install.

NOTE: The definition update provided in this link may not always be the latest compared to the definition updates received via built-in program update feature.

Those are the two simple steps on how to manually update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Just follow any of the steps and that’s it! Your copy of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is now up-to-date. You can use this next time you need to update a copy of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on a computer without Internet connection.