Tag Archives: explorer

Defend Against the CryptoLocker Virus

The “CryptoLocker” virus has been making a great deal of noise lately. Though we at Thom Infotech have not personally encountered it, we know others who have. We’ve written this post to help you to understand and defend against the CryptoLocker virus. What is it? CryptoLocker is an insidious twist on the all-too-familiar virus or […]

Goodbye Windows XP

It’s nearly time to say goodbye Windows XP. This past April marked the one year count-down to the eventual discontinuation of support for the venerable operating system (technically on April 8, 2014). What does this mean to you? In short, it’s high time you moved on and adopted Windows 7 or Windows 8. Windows XP […]

Oracle closes critical Java vulnerability

Oracle announced today the release of updates for Java versions 5, 6, and 7 to patch a critical java vulnerability actively being exploiting in the wild. The patches were reportedly slated for release in April but the timetable was pushed up in response to a recent report demonstrating the active exploit. This further prolongs the […]

Yet Another Java Zero-Day

Researchers at the respected security firm FireEye have discovered yet another Java zero-day attack that leverages previously unknown vulnerabilities with the latest versions of Java (as of this writing Java v1.6 Update 41 and Java v1.7 Update 15) to install malware. This comes on the heels of a discovery of two other holes (as yet […]

Adobe has scheduled an update for last week’s Acrobat zero-day

Adobe announced in a blog post that they will issue updates for version XI, X, and 9 to close the zero-day hole revealed last week. The patch will be released for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh operating systems. All users are advised to install the patch as soon as it becomes available. Thom Infotech encourages Adobe […]

Facebook is apparent victim of a Java zero-day attack

Facebook has confirmed that they were a victim of a targeted attack that leveraged a previously unknown Java vulnerability. The zero-day exploit was used to infect the laptops of several engineers with malware that apparently was used to attempt a full-scale infiltration of the inner sanctum of Facebook. Facebook reported that all of the infected […]

New Adobe Acrobat Zero-Day Reported

Researchers from the respected malware research firm FireEye today reported a zero-day flaw that is actively being exploited in the wild. They reportedly observed successful exploitation of the latest Adobe PDF Reader 9.5.3, 10.1.5, and 11.0.1. It is assumed that earlier versions are also vulnerable though this has not been confirmed. In the words of […]

Adobe issues two Flash zero-day patches

Today, a Security Bulletin (APSB13-04) has been posted to address security issues in Adobe Flash Player 11.5.502.146 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh, Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.261 and earlier versions for Linux, Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.36 and earlier versions for Android 4.x, and Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.31 and earlier versions for Android 3.x and […]

Oracle releases emergency patches for Java

Oracle has released a sizable number of patches for Java to address 50 vulnerabilities affecting both the browser versions as well as the server. The “Critical Patch Update February 2013” (CPU) for Java had been scheduled for February 19th, but due to one of the vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild, the company brought the […]

Seriously… not another Java zero-day attack?

I’m not kidding. Heck, I might even be wrong. But it appears as though the administrator of a hacker forum has sold weaponized and full source code versions of the new zero-day exploit. There are reasons for doubt, however. According to Brian Krebs, the exploit was purportedly limited in its sale to only two buyers […]