Kaspersky Lab announced recently the estimations of their security analysts about the activity of cyber criminals for 2010.

In 2008, the company’s analysts predicted an increase in system infections by viruses. Unfortunately, these estimates proved accurate. In 2009 we saw the emergence of sophisticated malware with functionality based on rootkits, the significant use of worm Kido (also known as Conficker), but also we observed numerous Internet attacks, the proliferation of botnets, fraud using mobile SMS and attacks on social networking websites.

Estimates for 2010

According to the experts at Kaspersky Lab, there will be a change in the types of attacks. More specifically, there should be a change from the attacks waged through websites and applications to attacks via file-sharing and peer-to-peer networks.

Already in 2009 there was series of massive attacks based on malware that spread via torrents. This method was used for the deployment of web threats such as viruses like TDSS and Virut, and the invasion of computers running Mac OS X. In 2010, we should expect a significant increase in this type of attacks on P2P networks.

The cyber criminals will continue to compete unleashing viruses. Currently, cyber criminals try more and more to be legalized and there are many ways to profit using the spread of malicious viruses through botnet networks. Today, botnets are used mainly for “black market services”. However, future services are expected to become more “gray” color.

The so called “cooperation programs” will give botnet administrators/owners the ability to profit from activities such as sending spam, DoS attacks or via sending malicious software applications that are not clearly a form of criminal activity.

The decline observed in the use of Trojan viruses that banged users of online gaming in 2009, is likely to occur in the use of fake antivirus programs in 2010. This category of threat first appeared in 2007 and in 2009 it reached its zenith. The worm Kido, for example, went to install rogue antivirus programs on infected computers.

However, the “market” of fake antivirus programs is now saturated and profits for cyber criminals have fallen. Furthermore, these activities are closely monitored by the legitimate security companies. In this context, an increasing degree of difficulty for the development and distribution of rogue antivirus programs is introduced.

With regards to attacks on web services, Google Wave is expected to monopolize the interest in 2010. There is no doubt that attacks in this new Google service will follow the usual model. First comes the sending of spam messages, then phishing attacks, then the exploitation of vulnerabilities of systems and the end comes with the spread of malware. The availability of Chrome OS operating system by Google, which is based on Internet technology, is a notable development, but experts of Kaspersky Lab expect that cyber criminals will not show great interest around this software platform.

However, it is expected that 2010 will be a difficult year for iPhone users and for phones with Android operating system. The first malicious programs for these platforms appeared in 2009, which is a clear indication that there is increased interest from cyber criminals. As for the users of iPhone, only those who have cracked appliances will be at risk, but the same does not apply to users of devices with Android software, as all of them can fall victims to attacks. For example, the growing popularity of mobile phones with Android software in China, combined with the lack of effective controls for the security of applications offered from third parties, is expected to contribute to the rise in the number of attacks by malicious programs.

The identification of new vulnerabilities in the systems will be the main cause of mass infection by viruses. These vulnerabilities will be mainly related to software developed by third parties (such as Adobe, Apple, etc.), but also Windows 7, whose marketing has recently started. If a large number of such software vulnerabilities is not found in 2010, it may well be one of the “quieter” years long.

Everyone has heard of the latest scandal regarding the “whatever.com” site being hacked and vital information for over one million people being stolen. Now what would a hacker want with the information some would wonder? The thought behind a hackers motives in most cases, is to just be able to hack the site that says it is “hack proof”. In other cases involving fraud, it is to obtain your personal information and either uses it for spamming or to sell it to scam artists. In any case, a site that is hacked has legal responsibilities one would think.

The latest big websites attacks is more than likely just the theft of work history and name along with references. Now if the information also included Social Security information or annual salary requirements as well as cell phone numbers and credit card or bank information, people are going to have major problems. This type of activity happens all the time, but we only hear about the big news companies in the spotlight. Now if a pet product site that is just starting out and is not a well-known name, they are not going to divulge that information and if they do, it will not make the news headlines.

Everyone uses the Internet for one reason or another and if you are like most people, you may shop, look for work, play games or just browse. In any cases, you need to be careful how you supply your information. A secure site to display your information needs to contain encryption to protect your information if it is for buying and gaming as well. Anytime you give out personal information about yourself, you want to know your information is protected. With the latest scare with hacked websites, people have to wonder, what will they do with that information?

As hackers become more devious in their endeavor to hack into websites and steal the information, more IT technicians will work harder to make the sites and products to secure the sites even better. All the scares that we encounter with our Internet experiences are just another form of criminal activity, unfortunately, it can cause problems for the entire world. Protecting yourself and your computer from a hack attack is top priority and every day, businesses are upgrading their systems and infrastructures to protect vital information.

The best way to protect yourself some had said is, never give out personal information. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. If you want to shop, look for work, do some gaming or sign up for important newsletters and promotions, you have to supply the pertinent information. Therefore, using a little caution as to what sites you use is great, but as it was proved with Monster, even the best of sites can endure problems. This however, is no reason to stop using the Internet.

You just need to be aware of the threat and use good judgment when you visit a website. Some day we will see a system to track and stop hackers from stealing vital information. Companies who make the software and other software for security measures work hard every day to find new ways to stop a hacker. As the hacker gains more strength, software developers gain more security knowledge to stop them in their tracks.

Total Security 2009 is a rogue program that claims to be a legitimate antivirus tool but it is actually a malware. It has its origins to the Antivirus 360 which was also a rogue security software. Total Security Virus impersonates the Windows Security Center showing fake alerts that your system is supposedly unprotected. The main intention of Total Security virus is to scare the user in order to purchase the rogue software.

Total Security virus is very persistent in staying alive on your system. It hijacks your Internet Explorer thus blocking your ability to visit legitimate security sites for downloading antivirus tools. It also prohibits the user from opening the windows task manager saying that “task manager has been disabled by your administrator”. I have found a solution for cleaning up Total Security 2009 after searching around. Let’s see together how to do it:

1. Go to Start>Search>For files or Folders
2. On the left side of the search window, select the option “All files and folders”
3. Under the field “All or part of the filename” type *.exe
4. Click on the “When was it modified?”, select “Specify Dates” and on the drop down menu select “created date”. Below that, enter your current date in both “from” and “to” fields.
5. Hit the Search button. It will find an executable under the following folder:

c:/documents and settings/all users/application data/10176254

6. Browse to the above path. If you don’t see the folder “application data”, then go to Tools>Folder Options>View and Select “Show Hidden Files and Folders”
7. Maybe the folder numbers at the end will be different in your case, but they should be under the application data path. Go to the folder and rename it. Then Restart your computer.
8. After restarting, the malicious program will not find its executable to run it, so hopefully you will be able to run your antispyware tool.
9. Download Free Trial of Spyware Doctor Here and perform a free scan of your system. It will find all files associated with Total Security on your system. The free version of spyware doctor is for scanning purposes. To clean up the infection you will need to register the program.

Another tip for removing Total Security, is to use the “sysinternals” process explorer at the following link. (http://live.sysinternals.com/procexp.exe). Run the program and find the process tsc.exe. Click the Red X button to kill the process. You may also find a process with a random number. Kill that one as well.

 Good luck.