Hackers aim ruse at Apple computer users

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users to disable Oracle Corp’s Java software, amplifying security experts’ prior warnings to hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses that use it to surf the Web. Hackers have figured out how to exploit Java to install malicious software enabling them to commit crimes ranging from identity theft to making an infected computer part of an ad-hoc network of computers that can be used to attack websites.

Computer security firm Websense was warning that hackers have infected a huge number of websites with malicious code crafted to dupe Internet users.Hundreds of thousands of legitimate websites have been boobytrapped to redirect visitors to "lizamoon" addresses where they are greeted with bogus warnings that their computers have been compromised, according to Websense.The ruse is designed to frighten people into downloading and installing fake anti-virus software, referred to as "scare-ware," portrayed as a Windows Security Center.

Computer security firm Websense on Friday was warning that hackers have infected a huge number of websites with malicious code crafted to dupe Internet users.Hundreds of thousands of legitimate websites have been boobytrapped to redirect visitors to "lizamoon" addresses where they are greeted with bogus warnings that their computers have been compromised, according to Websense.The ruse is designed to frighten people into downloading and installing fake anti-virus software, referred to as "scare-ware," portrayed as a Windows Security Center.

The computer security industry buzzed Thursday with warnings that more than a half-million Macintosh computers may have been infected with a virus targeting Apple machines.Flashback Trojan malware tailored to slip past "Mac" defenses is a variation on viruses typically aimed at personal computers (PCs) powered by Microsoft's Windows operating systems.The infections, spotted "in the wild" by Finland-based computer security firm F-Secure and then quantified by Russian anti-virus program vendor Dr. Web, come as hackers increasingly take aim at Apple computers.

Apple is releasing a malware removal tool after a number of Mac systems were infected by computer hackers.

Web wanderers are more likely to get a computer virus by visiting a religious website than by peering at porn, according to a study released on Tuesday."Drive-by attacks" in which hackers booby-trap legitimate websites with malicious code continue to be a bane, the US-based anti-virus vendor Symantec said in its Internet Security Threat Report.Websites with religious or ideological themes were found to have triple the average number of "threats" that those featuring adult content, according to Symantec.

Google said Tuesday that fake software security programs rigged to infect computers are a growing online threat with hackers tricking people into installing nefarious code on machines.An analysis of 240 million Web pages by the Internet search giant during the past 13 months revealed that fake anti-virus programs accounted for 15 percent of malicious software it detected."The Fake AV threat is rising in prevalence, both absolutely and relative to other forms of Web-based malware," Google said in its findings.

(adam reker)