Hackers using antivirus to sneak into computers
If you are using AVG, F-Secure (F-Prot), Sophos, ClamAV, BitDefender, Avast or any such easy-to-download antivirus software for your PC,
it's time you sat up and took notice. An information security company set up by IIT Kharagpur engineers has found hackers using these antiviruses to break into the system.
"An attacker first crafts an email with malicious payload and sends it to the target user. When the email is scanned by the vulnerable antivirus software it either crashes the antivirus software or executes arbitrary code resulting in complete security bypass and remote system compromise," said iViZ vice-president (head of product management & marketing) Bala Girisaballa.
Home PCs apart, companies and businesses in banking, finance and insurance, IT/ITES and consulting, online retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, telecommunications and R&D are highly susceptible to such risks. If the antivirus crashes, it can even cause remote system compromise. Attackers can steal information or cause denial of service' condition.
