The webinar will be presented by Nick Bilogorskiy of Cyphort Labs.

“APTs are known to use advanced Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures (TTP), including advanced malware design with protection layers, sandboxing evasion, and lateral movement inside penetrated networks to seek out high value targets,” a statement emailed to MMW reads.

In this webinar, Nick Bilogorskiy of Cyphort Labs will:

• Review various lateral movement techniques and methods used by past advanced threats
• Look at APT samples, like Shamoon, in detail to show the specific steps in the lateral movement by the malware
• Provide an understanding of how lateral movement of APT should help security defenders to better select and implement protection solutions

To learn more or to register, click here.

The post Webinar: Understanding Malware Lateral Spread Used in High Value Attacks appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Now Facebook Inc. faces a class action lawsuit for purportedly scanning the details in private Facebook messages it later used to target advertising.

Facebook wanted the lawsuit thrown out, but that was not to be. The judge in the case said the case will proceed.

“The lawsuit claims that Facebook used mentions of websites in private messages as a tally of “Likes,” which the site then used to display targeted advertising to those users,” noted Silicon Angle in a recent post. “Facebook is not the first service to use the content of messages to cater advertising to users. Google Inc.’s Gmail would scan emails for key words to display unobtrusive text ads in a banner above the message.”

While Google didn’t retain information, Facebook’s systems differ. Facebook allegedly retained information taken from the private messages, saved it, and used it to create a “user profile” to cater ads over time.

“Effectively, this means that Facebook kept the tallies of the websites each person talked about on file and used that information to display ads on a longer time frame,” said Silicon Angle.

The judge in the case isn’t buying the argument that this is sanctioned activity under terms of service agreements users assent to when they use Facebook.

“[Facebook has] not offered a sufficient explanation of how the challenged practice falls within the ordinary course of its business,” said the judge in the case.

Word is that Facebook no longer scans private messages to find advertising opportunities, though the company still tracks them for anti-virus purposes.

The post Maybe Your Private Messages Aren’t So Private: Facebook in Class Action Lawsuit for Scanning Messages appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Pretty straight-forward, universal knowledge, right?

Not really.

Of course, even those who are meticulously careful about the links they click on and the information they download can end up with harmful or suspicious malware on their computer. It is for this reason that the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Anti-Malware Working Group has joined forces with the FBI to combat malware.

Both parties have been working long and hard to combat malware, but believe they will achieve greater success by working together. While not all malware will harm your computer, it can utilize your computer for activities you are unaware of—such as surfing the web in hidden windows as bot traffic.

This is not the FBI’s first attempt to take on malware, but it is the first industry-wide partnership with the department.

“In the advertising space, what we’re particularly worried about is the type of malware that will basically make your computer a zombie, or a bot, and will begin to generate non-human traffic back to criminal websites or just selling traffic on networks or exchanges,” IAB official Mike Zaneis tells AdAge.

The post The Interactive Advertising Bureau and the FBI Join Forces to Combat Malware appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Among the businesses affected, MediaPost reports, were The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post whose online ads were among the sites which had ads infected with the Zemot malware. So did the music site Last.FM.

Advertisements on these sites set off anti-virus warnings raising flags in Malwarebytes’ virus detection systems. The ads lead users to sites containing an exploit kit that tries to identify a vulnerable version of Adobe Flash or unpatched version of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Legitimate websites “entangled in this malvertising chain are not infected,” said Jerome Segura, a senior security researcher with Malwarebytes. “The problem comes from the ad network agency itself.”

Last month, Microsoft had identified the Zemot malware. We’re told the bug primarily wreaks havoc on machines running some versions of Windows.

To read the full report from MediaPost, click here.

The post Malware Rides Again Via Digital Ads appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

A new report is sounding the security alarm — and rightly so — for companies with BYOD policies in place.

The Second Annual BYOD & Mobile Security Study reveals more exploits entering organizations via mobile devices. All told, this reality a now a top BYOD security concern, experts reveal.

The Information Security Community on LinkedIn and Vectra Networks are behind the eye-opening new report.

The study found that nearly half of respondents agreed that users bringing downloaded apps or content with embedded security exploits into their organization, as well as malware infections, are top BYOD security concerns.

Additionally, 60 percent of respondents said that malware protection is a requirement for mobile security.

“Loss of company or client data, followed by unauthorized access to company data and systems are well publicized as security threats around BYOD, and they were respondents’ biggest security concerns in our 2014 study,” said Holger Schulze, founder of the Information Security Community on LinkedIn. “But it is very interesting that the study revealed that respondents’ next biggest security concerns were users bringing downloaded apps or content with embedded security exploits into their organization (47 percent), followed by malware infections (45 percent).”

A copy of the study can be found here.

The post More Exploits Expected to Enter Organizations via Mobile Devices appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Based on an analysis of more than 200,000 Android apps last month, Marble Security ranked these as the 10 riskiest mobile app categories:

• Communication
• Social media
• News and magazines
• Media and video
• Travel and local
• Productivity
• Business
• Lifestyle
• Music and audio
• Medical

Surprisingly, the lowest risk category was games, followed by app widgets and wallpapers.

“Our research proved that some mobile app categories put companies and consumers at more risk than others,” said Marble Security CTO David Jevans. “Mobile threats are not just about malware. Even seemingly innocent apps can pose data leak risks as they feed information to advertising engines or hackers’ servers, comb through contacts or emails, or exchange documents. Mobile security is a new and rapidly evolving field, and these findings help identify the categories that deserve the most scrutiny.”

The post Communication Mobile Apps Are Among The 'Riskiest' appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In addition, Google has instituted a new policy, wherein, after opening a marketing email, that user’s IP address and device information are not relayed back to the marketer. This will make it more difficult for marketers to track consumers who use Gmail.

While some were concerned that the update would actually make email users more vulnerable to hackers and malicious emails, in practice, it has proved to combat hacking attempts, and make email safer for more users to open.

Those who have had their feathers ruffled by Google’s other tracking and reporting policies will be pleased that such tactics are not being employed when it comes to their inbox.

The post What Can We Learn About Security from Gmail’s Recent Update? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Lookout used the occasion of this report’s publication, and understandably so, to launch its comprehensive new business security solution designed to make mobile security and device management easy and accessible to businesses and employees.

“Lookout for Business is the simplest way for businesses to secure all their devices from mobile threats, data loss and device loss,” Lookout says. “This launch marks Lookout’s first move in delivering solutions that help secure and protect mobile devices for businesses of all sizes.”

For most companies, mobile devices are the center of productivity, so protecting them against corporate data loss, malware, spyware, and loss or theft is top of mind for IT executives.

According to data cited in the company’s announcement, 69 percent of IT executives report that they are very concerned about the threat of mobile malware, viruses, and spyware. 60 percent have even experienced lost or stolen phones in the past year.

72 percent agree that there is a gap between current mobile security solutions and the security threats that businesses face today.

The post Majority of IT Managers Lose Sleep Over Mobile Security appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Alarmingly, Lookout and Sprint today announced the results of a new national Harris survey revealing some unsettling information about smartphone consumers’ mobile behaviors, habits and concerns about privacy.

Despite being deeply attached to their mobile phones, Americans surveyed exhibit risky behavior when using their mobile phone.

In fact, 26 percent of people are not aware of the risks of clicking on unfamiliar links while browsing on mobile, the survey shows. Additionally, we’ve learned that 18 percent store password information on their phones.

It goes without saying that that if you fall into either or both categories above, it may be worth your while to exercise more caution with your mobile activities.

With smartphones being critical to everyday life, Sprint and Lookout recommended a few helpful tips to stay safe and protect your sensitive information.

• Set a pin or passcode. It’s the first line of defense to keep private information private if a phone is lost or stolen.
• Don’t lose it. Tuck away a smartphone in a zipped pocket or bag when walking in public places.
• Practice safe surfing. Take extra care when browsing websites or clicking on links from a mobile device – the small screen size makes it especially tricky to determine a safe link from a fraudulent one.
• Be cautious when downloading apps. To minimize the risk of picking up a malicious application, only download from official apps stores, read app reviews and check the developer reputation before installation.
• Keep it safe. Download an app like Lookout to help locate a lost phone, or lock & wipe the data if it cannot be recovered.

The post Consumers Are Still Not Playing it Safe on Mobile, Says Lookout appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On Wednesday, the company today announced the release of Kaspersky Internet Security for Android.

Dubbed a powerful protection solution for smartphones and tablets running Android, the maker of the new solution maintains that as more consumers access the same Internet on their mobile devices as they do on a PC, the need for quality protection from cyberthreats drastically increases.

According to Kaspersky Lab research, 35,000 different malicious programs for Android emerged in 2012, which was six times larger than what was detected in 2011. Android malware also represents 99 percent of the total number of mobile threats.

In order to encourage a more secure mobile experience for users, Kaspersky Internet Security for Android was built to safeguard smartphones and tablets from all types of malware.

“Using the latest antivirus technologies,” the company says, “it delivers real-time updates via the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network for fast reaction to new and emerging threats.”

In addition to anti-theft functionality, Kaspersky Internet Security for Android also provides protection for Web browsing by detecting and blocking malicious websites, including phishing sites and fraudulent pages that distribute malicious programs.

To learn more about Kaspersky Internet Security for Android, click here.

The post Can Kaspersky Make Android Safer? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.