RIM says they had nothing to do with the update it, and are telling affected people how to get rid of it. So far, no one knows exactly why the carrier sent out the update, described as “required for service enhancements.” It’s actually a spy program developed by SS8 Networks, a company that makes communications interception software.

It’s not only frightening on the same level as Amazon’s ability to remotely delete books from thousands of Kindles at once—but customers had no clue they were downloading spyware. They just noticed it killed the crap out of their batteries.

So maybe think twice, or even three times, about just how secure your smartphone is. Luckily mine are just filled with photos of fancy coffee drinks, and you can see them for free on Twitter anyway. [Yahoo]

Here in America, sockets look like little surprised faces without noses, so this weird combination/Chinese socket would probably arouse more suspicion than a camera hidden in a tie or a pair of glasses or whatever. It captures video at 648×480 resolution as well as audio onto a microSD card, and can be mounted just about anywhere. Anywhere, that is, where they use whatever kind of outlet this is. It’s available now for $US64. [Brando via Crunchgear]

Considering China surpassed the U.S. in overall internet users this June, it’s probably not that surprising that the country would be targeted. Couple that with the influx of inexperienced users with freshly middle-class banking accounts, and you’ve got a major security problem. Microsoft recommended constantly updating to lower vulnerabilities, which probably won’t happen since the newest Windows updates contain that anti-piracy black screen security measure. [Yahoo News] (Flickr credit – Kai Hendry)

The Redmond giant is able to get its lawsuit off the ground because of a recent law update called the Computer Spyware Act, which not only bans illegal spyware, but any other program that misleads people into believing that their computers need to be fixed. The fake error messages sent to Windows users, some of whom have received over 200 a day, fall under that category.

Microsoft’s asking for a fine of up to $US2,000 per incident, plus restitution and attorney’s fees. Considering half of the customer support calls it receives are related to spyware crashes, that’s a lot of money. But whether the suit will deter “scareware” purveyors is still up in the air. In 2006, Microsoft filed a similar case against the same people and won… to little effect it seems. [Dailytech]

Malwarez is a series of
visualization of worms, viruses, trojans and spyware code. For each
piece of disassembled code, API calls, memory addresses and subroutines
are tracked and analyzed. Their frequency, density and grouping are
mapped to the inputs of an algorithm that grows a virtual 3D entity.
Therefore the patterns and rhythms found in the data drive the
configuration of the artificial organism.

Text and Spam image – SUBJECT: HAVE YOU EVER HEARD THAT YOU ARE GETTING FAT?

Phishing – SUBJECT: CONFIRM YOUR ONLINE ACCOUNT DETAILS

Email worm – NETSKY

Who cares? Well we like to throw some love to local kids, and most of you probably didn’t even realise that PC Tools, maker of Spyware Doctor, is actually an Aussie software shop. Earlier this year it had a big win when Spyware Doctor was added to Google Pack, and now, after three years on the market, Spyware Doctor has broken its 100 millionth download.

PC Tools’ background was in registry editing, with its Registry Mechanic still one of the best in show, so it makes sense that it was well placed to deliver a top notch anti-malware package.

So here’s to a grouse Aussie dev done good! -Seamus Byrne

Official Site [PC Tools]