Immunet Blog

It’s no surprise that hackers have piggybacked on the pop culture hoopla surrounding yesterday’s release of the new Twilight installment, “Eclipse.” Fans are eagerly scouring the web for information on the movie, but more than half of the links they’re getting are tainted with malware, according to news reports.

Consider what this means for malware infiltration. If hackers can contaminate more than 50% of links on a particularly hot topic, our vulnerability to viruses is higher than we think. We take for granted that our Internet searches are safe -- after all this is information we’re seeking. It’s not as though we’re clicking on fishy links sent to us via spam. Well, that’s the old way of thinking. In the new world of malware, gaming search engines is a clever way to get savvy web surfers to stumble upon malware. And even if you’re not searching the web for Twilight content, there’s probably someone in your life who is. Are you protected?



Yesterday, Immunet CEO Oliver Friedrichs was invited to be a guest on Cyberhood Watch Radio to talk about the importance of keeping families safe online. Hosts Dave & Bill tapped into Oliver’s expertise to inform audience about keeping teens safe this summer as they spend more time online connecting with their friends. They also asked for Oliver’s take on the urgency of malware lurking on social networks and how Immunet Protect’s unique social network can help you – and your children -- make good decisions online. Take the time to listen and learn about the looming threats online and why traditional antivirus products aren’t working. Click on the show titled “What Consumers Need to Know About Antivirus Software & How to Stay Protected.”

Yesterday, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised new privacy controls in the Washington Post, amid some criticism of the site’s recent changes. Kudos to Zuckerberg for stepping up and reinforcing Facebook’s commitment to users. In the Washington Post, Zuckerberg  points out, "there needs to be a simpler way to control your information.” And "in the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use." Great! But what he didn’t address was the troubling influx of malware on the site in recent weeks.

Let’s recap. There was the free giftcard scam, the Facebook worm, the beach babe virus, the “sexiest video ever,” among others. The malware that users share on Facebook spreads like wildfire because Facebook's viral sharing hooks really work, even if the content being shared is damaging to end users. 

We know that Facebook’s security team is hard at work trying to combat the malware issues that arise when criminal hackers are financially motivated to prey upon Facebook’s 400 million active users. However, while Facebook is doing what it can to keep us safe through their own security controls and through user education (like the Facebook Security page), ultimately the responsibility to protect -  both ourselves and our networks - falls on us. Facebook has no control over what software you do or don't have installed on your PC to protect yourself, but you can see why Facebook would be a safer community if every user on Facebook had real-time, effective antivirus protection that they could easily share for free. 

With antivirus products like Immunet Protect that are specifically tailored protect users of social networks like Facebook, it’s never been easier to be safer online, or easier to protect your community. It takes seconds to download protection that will last you a lifetime. What are you waiting for?

Last week, researchers at Matousec.com revealed a new attack technique that traditional desktop AntiVirus products can’t defend against . But Matousec has confirmed that Immunet Protect is the only AntiVirus product that can protect against the vector. 

According to ComputerWorld’s Gregg Keizer, this is how it works:

…attackers could exploit the kernel driver hooks that most security software use to reroute Windows system calls through their software to check for potential malicious code before it's able to execute.

What this boils down to is, a hacker can trick a computer into accepting a benign code but then swap out this code for a malicious one just before execution. ComputerWorld asked Al Huger, VP of engineering at Immunet, for his thoughts on the gravity of this new method.  Huger responded:

 "This is definitely very serious," said Alfred Huger, vice president of engineering at Immunet, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based antivirus company. "Probably any security product running on Windows XP can be exploited this way." Huger added that Immunet's desktop client is not vulnerable to the argument-switch attacks because the company's software uses a different method to hook into the Windows kernel.

Vulnerabilities like this highlight the necessity for added protection. It’s simply not enough to depend on traditional AntiVirus products to protect against all threats. Taking the recommended layered approach is the only surefire way to protect against the plethora of known threats – as well as the ominous unknown dangers. If you know someone who could benefit from Immunet, pass along this post or send them information on downloading Immunet.



There’s an obsolete perspective on AntiVirus that looks at protection through the “each man is an island” prism.  In this line of thinking, all you need to be safe is to make sure you are protected.

This approach is obviously outmoded and predates the world of Web 2.0, in which sharing, community, networking, and social have become the centerpieces for online engagement.  When you’re sharing pictures, links, personal information, and more, across the web– you’re not an island. And suddenly, it matters whether the people you are sharing with --- like your sister, aunt, best friend, coworker, college fraternity brother -- are protected. Afterall, if their Facebook account is hacked, it’s not that hard for the hacker to get to yours.

Nielsen released data earlier this year showing that the typical American spends an average of 421 minutes per month on Facebook. This means most people are using Facebook – and doing all the sharing that comes along it-- at least once-a-day, if not more.

Stats like this illustrate why AntiVirus protection isn’t about being island anymore. The new way of thinking is about having a lifeboat. This lifeboat is filled with your closest network of family and friends, the people who you regularly share photos, links, articles, and videos with. These are the people for whom privacy setting don’t apply, you want them inside your world. But because they have unbridled access to your online persona, you want to make sure it is them – and not some hacker – logging into their accounts. You want them in your lifeboat, protected against threats as securely as you are. 

Are you still taking the archaic island approach or have you built your life boat?

Why is it that 50% of all Internet users either don’t have AntiVirus protection or have protection that’s expired or out of date? Between 30-40,000 (thousand!) new viruses are created each DAY, and yet a large percentage of the consumer population remains vulnerable to these threats. So what’s going on here? Perhaps people are too trusting that website security professionals such as Twitter’s Trust and Safety team, or those involved in the Facebook Security Wall will just take care of malware for them.

Consumer Reports has a good phishing test for consumers (and Donna even wrote a post about the dangers to social media, a topic near and dear to all of us at Immunet). eHow has a few good steps to follow. MSNBC offers some good advice from the AP. CNET even tried to help people avoid malware from trusted site the Drudge Report.

We think more people don’t have AntiVirus due to combination of price, effectiveness (or lack thereof), resource and system drain and software conflicts that afflict traditional AntiVirus software. To be fair, without the collective benefit of a cloud-based community that can help to detect, update and defend each other against thousands of new threats daily, it takes copious resources in terms of human and technology costs (which are passed along to the consumer) for a traditional AntiVirus provider to do all the work themselves.

With Immunet Protect’s Collective Immunity, we’ve solved this problem and torn down the barriers standing in the way of increasing consumer AntiVirus penetration from 50% to closer to 100%.  The closer we are as an industry to 100% antivirus penetration, the safer the Internet becomes for everyone online.

We put a focus on educating people on how to avoid getting a virus, from the basics to black SEO to social media aggregators to Facebook-specific worms to how to’s.

It seems attackers have the means to overcome today’s ‘AntiVirus common sense’ we’ve all grown to embrace, namely, only click on links from trusted sources. Now these sources can no longer be trusted.

Case in point is the new spear phishing threat targeted at social networking. Core Security Labs demonstrated this at the RSA Conference last week and lots of people have followed up on the problem. What to do?

While common sense is still very important, getting a real-time AntiVirus that recognizes a threat instantly is just as vital. Viruses take time to spread and the longer one goes undetected, the more dangerous it gets. Immunet Protect’s Collective Immunity solves this problem by detecting a virus from the community and instantly protecting all users against that virus.  



The core theme for viruses is trickery. Fool a person into clicking on a link they think is accessing something they want and the infection spreads (Twitter viruses, Facebook viruses, etc). Viruses spread really fast with this approach – look at the recent Gmail worm the New York Times wrote about. Social media has proved to be a hotbed for this deception and people are getting wise to it. That’s good.

What’s bad? Aggregating all your social media ‘stuff’ in one location, like the recent Microsoft Outlook 2010 Social Connector, Meebo and Snaptu (for phones). As a consumer, surfing Twitter, Facebook and the rest comes with a known risk – watch out for links. Do such ‘street-smarts’ erode if all your activity is accessible from a trusted application, such as Outlook or another? The links are still suspect but our keen eye might dim a bit.

Real-time antivirus protection becomes even more important with the adoption of these social media portals. Yet another reason that Immunet Protect’s “Collective Immunity” against viruses deserves a look as a means to protect you and your community. Once a virus is detected, all users are instantly protected against that virus, rather than having to wait days to update software.

Think about that for a minute. If you have 200 Facebook friends, 1,000 Twitter followers and share files with 50 people and any one of them gets a virus, Immunet Protect kicks in and everyone is instantly protected – you’re all safe! Now, look at this example with traditional, clunky antivirus applications, where there may be 15 different programs running across your 1,250 connections. It might take days to update each program’s database. How many times will you interact, click on and forward links and files among the group in a few days, potentially infecting thousands of your friends and followers!? Scary, right!

Starting today, February 9th, you can enter to win a FREE Google Nexus One phone when you download our free antivirus product, Immunet Protect, register an account and invite just one of your friends to try it out. When your friend registers, you'll be eligible for the prize. Act quick, we’re only offering the phone sweepstakes for 14 days.

Why is Immunet Protect ideal for your community? With the explosion of social applications like Facebook and Twitter, it is no longer enough to protect your own computer alone. You need to protect your social network, protect your community from threats, viruses and other malware.

Immunet Protect is the first security application focused on protecting your community. It’s lightweight (under 5 megs), comprehensive (6.8 million threats blocked … and growing by the minute!) and non-invasive (no software conflicts or issues with existing programs).

Check out what the media is saying about Immunet Protect: Mashable. CNET. Technology Review. About.com, TechiBuzz.  

Hurry up, the Google Nexus One phone offer is only good until February 22nd.