Trend Micro threat analysts were alerted to the discovery of a spyware (detected as TSPY_EBOD.A) purporting to be an Adobe Flash Player update. Upon execution, the spyware creates a Firefox add-on called “Adobe Flash Player 0.2,” the installer of which uses JavaScript (detected as JS_EBOD.A) and appears to spread via forum posts.
The said add-on injects ads into the user’s Google search results pages. More disturbing, however, is its capability to monitor the user’s browsing activities, particularly his/her Google search queries using the Firefox browser. It then sends the information it gathers to http://{BLOCKED}jupdate.com.
We have seen a lot of malware target Internet Explorer in the past. This is probably one of the reasons why a huge number of users are opting to use alternative browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera instead. Though this used to be considered a safe computing practice before, it seems it no longer is with the proliferation of malware targetting the most popular alternative Internet browser—Firefox.
Open source means it will be fixed quickly...unlike the fatcats in Redmond!
Alan
Alas, any piece of software will contain flaws....... it is human made. With that in mind, all operating systems and other software are only as good as the way a user administrates it. The true sign of security is also measured in how fast fixes to newly discovered problems are released. In most cases open source software has a better track record of fix releases. In Linux (depending on the distribution), most updates to security issues are released within a few days.
In the end, however, the user can make or break a secure system, regardless of where it came from.
-- Edited by barney on Friday 4th of September 2009 04:14:43 PM