Computer virus

Illustration: Mark Airs/Ikon Images (AP)In an excerpt from their new book, The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World From Cybercrime, writers Renee Dudley and Daniel Gold take readers inside the complex and mysterious world of the hacker underground. The book reveals the ins and outs of the modern ransomware industry, while also charting the tireless work of a team of volunteer technologists who have devoted their lives to thwarting the criminal scourge. In this excerpt, the…

Malware could be hiding in the most innocuous seeming imagesImage: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScIThere are plenty of dangers to watch out for when it comes to keeping your devices and your data safe, including viruses, phishing attempts, compromised wifi networks, and rogue USB sticks. Here, we’re going to talk about one of the lesser-known threats: Compromised images.You might not have realized it, but malware can be injected into digital photos that appear to be perfectly normal. The technique for doing so isknown as…

macOS comes with malware scanning built in.Image: AppleWhile macOS has a strong reputation for keeping your computer and your data safe from harm, it doesn’t have a visible antivirus tool like the Windows Security suite that comes as part of Microsoft’s desktop operating system. In fact, there are antivirus and security tools built into the software on your Mac—they’re just not as noticeable.Take XProtect, for example. It won’t appear in the dock, or in the launcher, or if you search for it through Spotlight, but it’s…

A copy of SMACS 0723 sent via phishing email contains some Base64 code written by hackers. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScIThis is why we can’t have nice things: Security analytics firm Securonix has revealed that hackers have nefariously hidden malware code in a copy of an image from the Webb Space Telescope as part of a broader hacking campaign.The Webb Space Telescope is offering views of our universe like never before, but hackers are attempting to use images from the telescope for more sinister purposes. Securonix…