“Last October we expanded our AV Marketplace to include new vendors in order to provide even more choice and protection to the over 1 billion people who use our service. Today, we look forward to opening up the Marketplace to even more of our users,” says Facebook.

“We hope this will help you protect your devices both on and off of Facebook.”

Facebook launched their AV Marketplace back in April of last year. The marketplace offers free versions of popular antivirus software for users, originally launching partnerships with Microsoft, McAfee, TrendMicro, Sophos and Symantec.

Free antivirus is beneficial to Facebook users, obviously. The marketplace offers free trials of the software, upon which they can decide if they want to fork over the cash for full version.

It’s not just about giving users the ability to download free trials of anti-virus software. These partnerships allow Facebook to to incorporate their databases into Facebook’s own URL blacklist database, so that Facebook is better able to identify potential threats on the site before they become major problems.

Facebook beefed up the AV marketplace back in October, adding partnerships with avast!, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, Panda, Total Defense, and Webroot.

Along the way, Facebook also launched the Malware Checkpoint, which lets users self-enroll in anti-virus protection. They also created a new phish@fb.com email address, where users can send reports on any phishing attacks they come across on the site.

You can check out all the products offered for PC, Mac, and Mobile here.

According to Reuters, Apple was hit with the same Java exploit that targeted Facebook employees last month (although the company didn’t release that info until last Friday).

“Apple has identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers. The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers,” said Apple in a statement.

Like Facebook, Apple claims that there is no evidence that any data was compromised.

Apple says that the malware has affected other companies, but would not disclose any more on the topic. Reuters says that someone knowledgable of the investigation says that the attacks hit hundreds of companies, “including defense contractors.”

The malware targeted Mac computers at Apple HQ, as well as the other companies hit.

“This is the first really big attack on Macs,” said Reuters’ source. “Apple has more on its hands than the attack on itself.”

According to Apple, the company will release software some time on Tuesday that they say will allow Mac users to purge the malware used in these attacks. We’ll update when/if Apple releases an official statement and/or the aforementioned software.

Computer security company FireEye found yesterday that Adobe Reader was hit by a zero-day exploit. The exploit is currently found in the latest Adobe Reader versions – 9.5.3, 10.1.5 and 11.0.1. Here’s what the exploit does:

Upon successful exploitation, it will drop two DLLs. The first DLL shows a fake error message and opens a decoy PDF document, which is usually common in targeted attacks. The second DLL in turn drops the callback component, which talks to a remote domain.

FireEye has alerted Adobe to the threat, and the company is now investigating the report. It will have an update on what actions it plans to take soon.

Instead of waiting for Adobe to act, you should probably switch to a different PDF reader. There are numerous free, open-source PDF readers that do a marvelous job without relying on a Web browser plugin that can be exploited to insert malware onto your system.

The Firefox 19 Beta is also testing out a new native HTML5 PDF reader plugin that would be far more secure than traditional plugins. It’s only a matter of time before the HTML5-friendly Chrome follows suit with its own.

[h/t: The Next Web]

Mozilla announced today that Click to Play, which was introduced in Firefox 17, will have more plugins added to it. For those who don’t know what Click to Play is, the feature makes it so that the user has to manually enable the plugin being requested on any particular Web site. For example, a user visits YouTube to watch a video in Flash. Firefox will block Flash from playing until the user gives their permission. Of course, YouTube is a trusted site so users can add it to a whitelist where all Flash content on YouTube will automatically play.

Besides the aforementioned example, Mozilla thinks that Click to Play will have a number of benefits for users of Firefox. For starters, users will have more control over which plugins they want running on their machines. I’ve already mentioned that users can whitelist sites for certain plugins, but users can also blacklist sites if they don’t want certain plugins running at all.

Firefox’s performance and stability is also improved thanks to Click to Play. Mozilla says that the number one cause of instability in Firefox is due to “poorly designed third party plugins.” Turning these off when they’re not needed – like Silverlight or Java – will help reduce the memory Firefox consumes.

The biggest advantage to using Click to Play comes in the form of security enhancements. A study from earlier this month found that instances of malware will only increase this year, and Java will remain a highly exploitable software. This is where Click to Play comes in. Firefox will alert users to potential threats and keep a plugin from running until the user can verify if the site is malicious or not.

In future versions of Click to Play, Mozilla add all plugins to the blocklist except for the newest version of Flash. Previously added plugins to the blocklist include older versions of Sliverlight and Java. Older versions of Flash will soon be added alongside current versions of Silverlight, Java and Acrobat Reader.

Google thought it was high time to remind its users once again how to remain safe and secure on the Web. The following video contains a number of common sense tips, but you’d be surprised by how many people don’t actually actively protect their computers from Web-born attacks and malware.

As I said, a lot of these are common sense safeguards that you can put into place. I would like to give special attention, however, to the 2-step verification process. I never used the feature for my Google account because I’m careful about who I give my personal email address to and never ventured outside the “safe boundaries” of the Web without the proper precautions. Even with all my precaution, my account was almost hijacked by a hacker out of China. It was a much needed wake up call.

In short, if you use a personal email client, you really need to take advantage of the security options that your service provider employs. If you’re proactive about security now, you won’t have to deal with the fallout of having your online identity stolen later.

The Microsoft Security Response Center reported on Sunday that a patch for Internet Explorer 8 and below would be hitting Windows Update at 10 a.m. PST today. The company said that only a few users have been affected by the issue, but encourage all Windows users to download the update. Of course, those who are using Internet Explorer 9 and 10 need not worry as those browsers have better built-in security protections that prevented this latest attack.

Microsoft also says that those who downloaded the quick fix released earlier this month will want to download this latest patch. In good news, however, you won’t have to uninstall the fix to apply the latest patch.

The zero-day exploit that hit Internet Explorer was just the beginning to an already eventful 2013 in malware and Web exploits. Java was recently hit yet again with a zero-day exploit that Oracle has just fixed. It followed a report from AVG that said 2013 was going to be another big year for Web-based exploits with Java and Internet Explorer both cited as major security risks.

Those who want to know more about the exploit and how Microsoft fixed it, the company’s security team will be holding a live Webcast later today at 1 p.m. PST. You can register for it here.

Originally spotted in the wild by @kafeine, other security research teams, including AlienVault Labs, have confirmed that a new zero day exploit has been found in Java. This particular exploit looks like it can hijack your PC into executing malicious code. It seems that one group is even using the exploit to install ransomware on affected PCs.

So, what can you do to protect yourself from this particular exploit? The easiest solution is to just disable Java in your browser. Since it seems to affect all browsers and all operating systems, there’s really not much else you can do.

The good news is that Oracle is already working on a fix. According to @kafeine, Oracle has already assigned a security ticket to the exploit. While that’s nice and all, there’s still no word on how long it’s going to take to patch. Oracle could even wait until its next Patch Tuesday to issue the fix leaving millions of PCs in limbo until then.

Despite the severity of the exploit, it’s not that surprising. In a report from AVG earlier this month, the security company said that Java would remain the most exploited software on PCs. It’s unfortunate that the report has already proven itself accurate so soon in the new year, but perhaps this will push Oracle to stay one step ahead of hackers that look for these exploits.

[h/t: Sydney Morning Herald]

Computer security company AVG released its list of the top threats facing computer, and mobile device, users in 2013. Not surprising, the list contains a number of threats that were already at large or growing to be a major threat last year.

First up, AVG predicts that Java will continue to be the most exploited software on computers. That may just be the case as Oracle already had to deal with a major zero-day exploit last year along with other various security loopholes that hackers always seem to find before security researchers. The software’s spread across over 1 billion computers ensures it will remain a desirable target.

Besides Java’s vulnerabilities, the biggest threat facing users is mobile malware. Android is especially susceptible to malware as many people download malicious apps from unofficial app stores that don’t properly screen their services for malware. Google Play or Amazon’s Android Appstore are the safest bets for avoiding mobile malware, but no promises can be made.

Other threats include an increase in ransomware, cloud service breaches and other scary things that lawmakers and government agencies refer to when trying to push new cybersecurity laws that curb your privacy rights.

AVG’s report may sound like a lot of fear mongering, but it’s seemingly appropriate in an age where people are falling for obvious malware attacks all the time. People need to be more vigilant when browsing the Internet or checking email and avoid any links that look even remotely suspicious. Another handy rule of thumb is to disable Java or any other vulnerable Web plugin before visiting a site that doesn’t look legitimate. You should also stop using dumb passwords, like “password.”

On a final note, you should probably stop using Internet Explorer.

Facebook has donated $250,000 to The Center for Information Assurance and Joint Forensics Research, location at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. That’s CIA|JFR at UAB, for short.

CIA|JFR is a “multidisciplinary research center with a broad focus on Information Assurance, and how our modern connected society impacts that information.” They first focus on research and development, and then use those tools in outreach to law enforcement, governmental agencies, and companies (like Facebook). They say that they are working to “ensure a safer, more productive world for citizens of the 21st century.”

According to Facebook, the donation was partly inspired by the program’s work in helping to track the criminals behind social media botnet Koobface, among other spammers and cyber criminals. Apparently, the money is “recovered” money, coming from various spammers around the globe.

Facebook Security13 minutes ago

The Center for Information Assurance and Joint Forensics Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a $250,000 donation from Facebook in recognition of the center’s role in tracking international criminals behind social-media botnet Koobface as well as other spammers. The donation, which comes from money Facebook has recovered from spammers located around the world, will be used to expand the new CIA|JFR headquarters. Learn more:

Facebook donates recovered money to UAB cybercrime group
The Center for Information Assurance and Joint Forensics Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a $250,000 donation from Facebook.

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“As a result of numerous collaborations over the years, Facebook recognizes the center as both a partner in fighting Internet abuse, and as a critical player in developing future experts who will become dedicated cybersecurity professionals,” said Joe Sullivan, chief security officer at Facebook. “The center has earned this gift for their successes in fighting cybercrime and because of the need for formal cybersecurity education to better secure everyone’s data across the world.”

According to UAB, the money will be used to expand the CIA|JFR headquarters on the school’s campus. They expect the “Facebook suite” to be ready to go by February of 2013, where it will be unveiled to the world at their second-annual Cyber Summit.

Last week, Facebook also announced a partnership with seven new partners in order to help beef up their Anti-Virus Marketplace.

Today, Facebook is announcing an expansion of the Anti-Virus Marketplace that will see the company partner with seven new companies in their attempt to keep Facebook users free and clear of malware. Now, Facebook users can grab software from avast!, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, Panda, Total Defense, and Webroot.

Of course, it’s not just about giving users the ability to download free trials of anti-virus software. By partnering with these companies, Facebook is able to incorporate their databases into Facebook’s own URL blacklist database. Of course, this makes Facebook better able to root out potential threats on the site before they become major problems.

Here’s what Facebook had to say about that and possibility of future partnerships and new tools:

“Our new anti-virus partners bring with them both the latest software and comprehensive intelligence. As with our existing partners, these seven companies will help protect Facebook’s community of over a billion users by improving our URL blacklist system. This system scans trillions of clicks per per day, and before each click, the system consults the databases of all our AV Marketplace partners to make sure the website you are about to visit is safe. This means that whenever you click a link on our site you are protected both by Facebook and 12 of the industry leaders in computer security. We will be cooperating with these partners more in the future, and look forward to announcing new tools soon.”

Back in July, Facebook made their anti-virus initiative a little more proactive by launching the Malware Checkpoint. With the checkpoint, Facebook users can self-enroll in the anti-virus protection. Before, Facebook would have to identify an actionable threat in order for users to utilize the software.

Facebook also recently created a new email address, phish@fb.com, and asked users to file reports when they comes across anything shady on the network that attempts to snatch personal information.