Amazing Alex as Angry Birds follow-up

Rovio announces Amazing Alex as Angry Birds follow-up

Rovio could probably keep launching Angry Birds updates forever and live handsomely off the proceeds.
However, determined not to rely on the golden goose (pig) to keep laying (stealing) the eggs, the company has announced a successor.

The new title is called Amazing Alex, will launch in two-months time and will be based upon the Casey's Contraption game, recently acquired by the Finnish developer.
Casey's Contraption, which you can see in the video below, is another physics-based game for iOS. Think Cut the Rope, but designed by Kevin McCallister from the Home Alone movies.
According to Rovio CEO Mikael Hed, Alex is a 'curious young boy who likes to build things,' but little more is known.
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Hed told the Yle website that Rovio definitely feels the weight of expectation after Angry Birds' unprecedented success. "The quality pressure is high. We want to maintain the high standard Angry Birds fans have come to enjoy," he added. Angry Birds recently racked-up it's one billionth download.

Tips for a Malware-Free Smartphone

Following are five quick tips to help you keep your Android handset free of malware.

1. Always research the publisher of the app. What other apps does it offer? Do any of them look a bit shady? If so, you should probably stay away.
2. Read online reviews. Android Market reviews may not always be truthful. Check around to see what reputable Websites are saying about the app before you hit the download button.
3. Always check app permissions. Whenever you download or update an app, you get a list of permissions for it. An alarm clock app, for instance, probably shouldn't need to look through your contacts. The general rule of thumb: If an app is asking for more than what it needs to do its job, you should skip it.
4. Avoid directly installing Android Package files (APKs). When Angry Birds first came to Android, you could get it only through a third party. This is called "sideloading," or installing apps using an .APK file. Although Angry Birds wasn't malware, in general it is highly advisable not to download and install .APK files that you randomly come across. Most of the time you won't know what the file contains until you install it--and by then it's too late.
5. Put a malware and antivirus scanner on your phone. Although many people still think that antivirus scanners on phones are useless, maybe outbreaks such as this one will change minds. Several different big-name security companies already offer mobile-security options, many of them free. I myself had downloaded "Spider Man," which is on a bad-apps list. My Lookout software identified it as a Trojan horse.

Android "drive-by" malware

Researchers have noticed one of the first examples of Android "drive-by" malware from an ordinary website, a dangerous type of automatic attack more commonly used to infect Windows PCs. 

Discovered by security company Lookout Mobile Security on a number of webistes, the decidedly odd "NotCompatible" Trojan is distributed using a web page containing a hidden iFrame.

Any Android browser visiting an affected page (the attack ignores PC browsers) will automatically start downloading the malware without the user being aware that this has happened. This isn't quite a PC drive-by attack because the user still needs to install the app, at which point it relies on the user having ticked the "Unknown Sources" box (in most cases this box would be unticked) that allows non-market apps to be installed.

The rough equivalent of this layer on a Vista or Windows 7 PC would be the User Access Control (UAC) which is usually circumvented using social engineering or by misrepresenting the nature of the application.

NotCompatible eschews such tricks beyond simply claiming to be a security update. It's not sophisticated but it might fool some users, some of the time.

Malware's Mission Unclear

The purpose of the infection is a bit of a mystery. "This specific sample, while relatively well constructed, does not appear to go to great lengths to hide its intended purpose: it can be used to access private networks," said Lookout's blog. "This feature in itself could be significant for system IT administrators: a device infected with NotCompatible could potentially be used to gain access to normally protected information or systems, such as those maintained by enterprise or government." 

The affected sites appeared to have low volumes of traffic but the company believed the exploit iFrame was being served on other sites it had yet to identify, it said. The warning is stark; mobile malware creators are experimenting with what is possible for this class of malware and have found a way to get mobile malware on to devices without them having to visit third-party app sites as has been the case up to now.

Microsoft Bing goes social in search war with Google

  Teaming up with Facebook and Twitter, Microsoft moves to intensify Bing-vs.-Google search battle

Microsoft's move to boost Bing's social networking feaures could finally give it an opportunity to truly take on Google's dominant search engine, analysts say. The updated Bing search engine, unveiled on Thursday, can now include the user comments, likes and activities posted in popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, agreed with Microsoft's contention that the redesign is "the most significant since Microsoft launched Bing three years ago." "The Bing redesign really is a search revolution and the biggest change I have seen from them in years," Moorhead said.

"Bing could revolutionize social search by tapping into Facebook's and Twitter's capabilities. Unlike Google, Bing and Microsoft aren't vying to create their own social media destination, so they can access the best-of-breed social media sites like Facebook and Twitter," Moorhead added.

Bing's new interface, which is expected to move from a private to a public beta test period soon, offers users a sidebar that focuses on people in the user's social networks and their opinions and search queries, Microsoft said.

For instance, a user might search for a local bike shop. Along with the usual search results, there will be a "people you know who may know" social sidebar that offers up bike shops that friends have "liked" or commented on. The social sidebar also is designed to let users ask their friends questions about their query topic, and those friends can respond either through Bing or Facebook, Microsoft said.

"Contrary to their history of unnecessarily overcomplicating software, Microsoft has shown a knack with Bing for boiling down functionality to a useful level," said Brad Shimmin, an analyst at CurrentAnalysis. "I think if anything, it will entice consumers to try Microsoft Bing." Since Microsoft first launched Bing in the summer of 2009, the company faced a daunting task in taking on Google's dominant search engine.

And Google has remained dominant. Despite all of Microsoft's efforts, including an upgrade in 2011, Bing simply hasn't been able to take a significant bite out of Google's market share.

Now, Microsoft is hoping that its social search capabilities can become the game-changer the company needs in the battle against Google. Because it has its own growing social network, Google+, Google is at a disadvantage when trying to work with widely used offerings like Facebook and Twitter, analysts noted.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has strong relationships with both companies. "Google needs to play more openly with Facebook as well as other social networking destinations, like Pinterest, Quora, Twitter and FourSquare," said Shimmin. "Google cannot afford to close its borders in defense of in-house solutions."

Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research, said Microsoft advancing the social context of its search engine is a good move for the company right now.

"Bing needed to redesign itself. It was the Dr. Pepper of the search market, and if it was ever going to make a move, it needed to do something different," he added. "I think the social search wars will be a great battlefront over the next few years. Bing has made their play, and now it's back to Google to respond."

Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 on sale Sunday for $400

 Price for Wi-Fi-only version of new Samsung tablet matches pricing of similarly configured iPad 2

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is set to go on sale at retailers nationwide Sunday for $399.99, furthering the variety of tablet sizes from the vendor. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 with a 10.1-in. screen. (Photo: Samsung)

The new tablet runs Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, and features a 1 GHz dual-core processor. It has 16GB of internal storage, with a microSD card slot for storage expansion of 32 GB.

The 10.1-in. display (1280 x 800 pixels) is one of the bigger screens available today.The new iPad, the most popular tablet on the market, is 9.7-in. and starts at $499 for a 16 GB Wi-Fi-only version.The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 price tag of $399.99 for a Wi-Fi version nearly matches the $399 starting price for the Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 with 16GB.

Samsung has offered a range of tablet sizes, including the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 at 7-in., but promotes the larger 10.1 display as making movies and games "more exciting." Retailers for the 10.1 include Best Buy, WalMart and Office Depot, Samsung said. IDC said Samsung had 6.3% of the tablet market in 2011, just behind Amazon Kindle Fire, at 6.9%, and the iPad at 58.9%.

Samsung Omnia M - Windows Phone with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display

Samsung Electronics Friday unveiled the Samsung Omnia M, a Windows Phone with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display that will first become available in Europe. Samsung isn't providing any pricing, but the phone's specification suggests it will compete with Nokia's low-end phone, the Lumia 610.The Omnia M has 384MB of RAM, less than the 512MB found in most Windows Phones. The Lumia 610 has 256MB.

That's possible thanks to an update to Windows Phone 7.5, which can run in less memory than the previous version -- although developers may have to optimize their apps to run in just 256MB of RAM.The Omnia M hardware specification also includes a 1GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera and 4GB of storage. The Lumia 610 has 3.7-inch display, an 800MHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera and 8GB of storage.

The Omnia M is 10.5 millimeters thick and weighs 119 grams, compared to 12 millimeters and 131.5 grams for the Nokia device.Since the specifications are so similar, the price of the two phones should be close, and the Lumia 610 is priced at a!189.It is hard not to read anything in to the fact that the Android-based Galaxy S III got a huge launch last week while the Omnia M got just a blog post.

"Strategically, Android is where Samsung puts all its focus, but the company doesn't want to put all its eggs in one basket," said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst with Gartner.The Omnia M will be available starting in Europe and then rolled out to other regions, Samsung said.

Facebook Messenger Gets More Transparent

Facebook Messenger is increasing transparency and at the same time making it harder to ignore someone's text message without the other person knowing.

The social network is rolling out some new features for the service. Now you can see if someone has read your text message and it's easier to tell if someone is typing and where they're located.

The "read receipts" also work for group messaging and display the names of the people who've seen the message directly under a sent message.

The updates will show up first in the standalone Messenger apps for iOS and Android, and then appear in Facebook's main mobile apps and its website, reports TechCrunch.

Messenger is a service that allows users to send messages containing text, pictures, and location data to their Facebook friends and groups between cell phones. It is a form of text messaging, but also akin to instant messaging because messages can be longer than the typical text message that is pushed to your handset by your mobile carrier. Also, unlike more traditional text messaging, Messenger allows you to have more seamless conversations.

If you're not familiar with Messenger you might wonder why you'd need a messaging app in addition to the official Facebook app. Yet you can use Facebook Messenger to quickly and easily send time and location stamped messages to groups of your Facebook friends.

Another great feature is this: When you use it on your phone Messenger logs your chats inside Facebook so if you move over to the Web interface your conversations are right there.

You can send new photos, ones you've saved on your phone, or images you find using Bing search. Even people who don't use smartphones can reply to messages just by confirming their mobile phone number to activate Facebook texts.

One thing is certain -- Facebook is serious about improving its mobile offerings; its $1 billion purchase of Instagram underscores that point. It also just acquired the location-based discovery app Glancee, which before Facebook closed it and hired its founders let people find strangers in the real world who share their Facebook friends and interests.

Facebook Users Share and 'Like' Too Much - Report

Facebook has nearly 1 billion users, but a good chunk of them are clueless when it comes to using the social network safely, a new study conducted by Consumer Reports has found.

Consumer Reports projected its findings after questioning Facebook, security experts, privacy lawyers, app developers, and victims of security and privacy abuse as well as surveying 2002 online households, including 1340 that use Facebook. 

The findings are pretty telling. 

Oversharing is common. A projected 4.8 million Facebook users have publicly indicated where they planned to go on a certain day even though doing so could tip-off thieves, stalkers, or others with nefarious intent. Another 4.7 million "liked" a Facebook page about health conditions or treatments, in spite of the fact that insurers could use that data against them.

Millions don't use privacy controls. Nearly 13 million users have never set or don't know about the social network's privacy tools. And more than a quarter of users have shared their wall posts with an audience broader than their friends. 

Data is a premium to Facebook. "It is very likely that no government or corporation has ever managed to gather such a huge amount of personal and often highly sensitive data," said Max Schrems, an Austrian law student who retrieved 1222 pages worth of his personal information last year from Facebook. Among them he found wall posts, messages, e-mail addresses, and friend names that he had previously deleted from his account. 

Third parties can see your data. Many Facebook apps garner data about users' friends. That means even if you don't use a particular app it could have access to your data just by way of one of your friends who is using it.

U.S. privacy laws are lax. Good luck getting your hands on the full bevy of information social networks have on you, at least if you live in the United States. That's because online privacy laws in the U.S. are generally weaker than those in other places. 

Problems are escalating. Eleven percent of respondents, or a projected 7 million households, said in 2011 they had experienced a problem with Facebook such as being harassed or someone else logging into their accounts without permission. That's up 30 percent from last year. 

  

 The Consumer Reports findings agree with other studies recently conducted. For example, according to the digital branding firm Siegel+Gale, even after reading privacy policies most users of Facebook and Google still don't understand how the websites handle their information and how other Web users can discover it.

Want to make sure you're not counted as one of the clueless when it comes to Facebook and privacy? You might try a new tool called Priveazy which makes use of lessons, quizzes, and tasks to educate users. For example, using Priveazy you can watch a video that explains how Facebook collects your data, take a quiz to see how much you understand its data collection practices, then take steps to lock down your privacy settings.

LinkedIn to buy SlideShare

LinkedIn also reported 101% revenue growth for the first quarter

LinkedIn is acquiring SlideShare, which allows its users to share presentations online, for $118.75 million as it tries to find new ways to make its site more useful, the company said on Thursday.

SlideShare allows users to upload presentations publicly or privately, which can be embedded on blogs, websites, company intranets and shared across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, so the two companies aren't new acquaintances.

Exactly how LinkedIn will integrate SlideShare beyond what is possible today remains to be seen. The company is "excited to figure out the best ways our offerings will work together," according to a LinkedIn blog post. In the meantime, SlideShare will continue to work as it usually does, the post said.
SlideShare users have uploaded more than 9 million presentations. In March, SlideShare had nearly 29 million unique visitors, according to data from market research company ComScore, LinkedIn said.

Besides presentations, SlideShare also hosts documents, PDFs, videos and webinars.
The purchase price is a combination of approximately 45% in cash and 55% in stock, according to LinkedIn. If everything goes according to plan, the acquisition will close during the second quarter.
On Thursday, LinkedIn also released its financial result for the first quarter. Revenue was $188.5 million, an increase of 101% compared to the first quarter last year. Net income grew from $2.1 million to $5 million during the same period.

Nvidia Levels Up With New Gaming Graphics Card

Nvidia's blazing new GTX 690 video card is likely to be enjoyed by just a privileged few hard-core gamers today, but the technology may be available to the masses tomorrow. "It isn't long until this kind of performance trickles down in laptops, tablets and even mobile phones," said Hit Detection's N'Gai Croal. "This is directional, and the GTX 690 card is just a preview of how things are going to shape up."

A new video card from Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) or competitor AMD (NYSE: AMD) isn't usually all that news worthy, but when the latest card arrives with eight Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs), and a total of 4 GB of GDDR5 video memory that runs at 6.008 GHz over two 256-bit memory, that is enough for hard-core enthusiasts to take pause.

For everyone else, the release of a video card that carries a price point just under US$1,000 will certainly draw attention.
The Nvidia GTX 690, which is powered by dual Kepler-based architecture-based GPUs, also features a chromium-plated aluminum casing that is a departure from the typical chips and fans on a board. Nvidia made it clear this one, which looks impressive on the outside while providing equally impressive graphics performance, wasn't aimed at the casual gamer.
"The GTX 690 is truly a work of art -- gorgeous on the outside with amazing performance on the inside," said Brian Kelleher, senior vice president of GPU engineering at Nvidia. "Gamers will love playing on multiple screens at high resolutions with all the eye candy turned on. And they'll relish showing their friends how beautiful the cards look inside their systems."

For the Hardest of the Hard-Core

Rather than aiming at the gaming masses, Nvidia seems to be going the other direction with the GTX 690. But is this a wise strategy, given that console systems are falling in price, and the PC gaming market isn't as strong as it once was?

"For a grand, I can't see this as anything but a boutique product at this point," said Joe Rybicki, freelance video game consultant. "Prices will come down, and eventually the new tech may have a wider impact, but at the moment this strikes me as the opposite of a game-changer. By that I mean it digs high-end PC gaming deeper into its secluded burrow."
Yet Nvidia is now embracing the fact that this is a card for the hardest of the hard-core.
"The PC has, is, and always will be the pre-eminent gaming platform. Bar none," Nvidia spokesperson Bryan Del Rizzo told TechNewsWorld. "The GTX 690 also allows those gamers to crank up all of the eye candy and Nvidia technologies, such as PhysX, for a truly immersive and realistic experience."

 

Multi-Monitor Action 

Those using an old 17-inch CRT monitor or just playing "Angry Birds" on Facebook clearly aren't the customer for the new Nvidia card, and the biggest gains will be seen by gamers who are gaming at 1900x1080 resolutions or higher, noted Del Rizzo -- and playing the latest, graphics-intensive action games.
"This would be for folks using 30-inch displays, those using surround setups, where the game is displayed across three screens, or those playing in 3D Vision Surround -- stereoscopic mode across multiple screens," added Del Rizzo. "Games that can be experienced in all of this visual glory include 'Battlefield 3' and 'Dirt 3.'"

Today's High-End Is Tomorrow's Base-Level

Just because the GTX 690 is the graphics card du jour doesn't mean it will always be so. To that end, the technology it utilizes will likely -- and in a remarkably short time as well -- see its way to the mainstream. But it still allowed Nvidia to get there first.
"This plants a flag in the ground for Nvidia and allows them a bold finger waving in the air to say, 'We're No. 1," said N'Gai Croal, chief consultant at Hit Detection. "So this is a 'Guinness Book of World Records' statement, but if they are doing this at the high-end, it is reasonable to think that the next generation of video game consoles -- which won't be announced for another year -- will have technology on par with this."
Nvidia and AMD have developed the graphics for video game consoles, and Del Rizzo emphasized that today's systems from Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) are showing their respective age. "They may be cheaper, [but] they are using outdated technology that is at least four-to-five generations old and cannot offer the same visual and immersive gaming experiences as offered by the PC."

Panasonic's Newest TV Prototype - Too Big

Set your eyes to stun. Panasonic Japan just raised the game in the "mine is bigger than yours" battle by taking the wraps off its huge 145-inch 8k television, thus outdoing Sharp's 85-inch 8k set by a healthy margin.

The mammoth plasma set, made in partnership with Japan's public broadcaster NHK, has a sizable 7680-by-4320-pixel resolution and claims to be the world's first self-luminous display (that is, it doesn't need a backlight). By comparison, current HDTVs typically max out at 1920-by-1080-pixel resolution. Panasonic's also claims that its new TV is flicker-free, something difficult to achieve on a display of this size.

The "Super Hi-Vision" display, a technology also known as ultra high definition television, is currently only a prototype, with 8k technology still several years away from being ready for consumers. The long wait for TV sets of this magnatude is proabably a good thing, as it will give you plenty of time to save for a bigger house--something you're no doubt going to need in order to accomodate larger televisions like this.The huge 145-inch TV will be shown in action next month at NHK's laboratories, and will then visit the US in June. If you're going, you may want to take a pair of shades.

Gaming Laptops Now Available With Intel's Hot Ivy Bridge Processors

If you’ve been waiting to buy a new gaming laptop so you could have the latest Intel Ivy Bridge processor and Nvidia “Kepler” graphics cards, your patience is now rewarded.Several recently updated gaming systems -- from Alienware, Asus, Maingear, and others--are available for order today and can be in your eager hands in as little as eight days from now.

The gaming laptops in this roundup all sport quad-core Intel Core i7 processors--the first Ivy Bridge chips Intel released for laptops. It’s no wonder that the first Ivy Bridge-equipped laptops available so far are overwhelmingly high-end gaming laptops, since laptops designed for gaming typically are outfitted with the most powerful hardware.

Although Ivy Bridge offers significant graphics improvement with its integrated HD 4000 graphics processing unit (GPU), the laptops here also sport discrete graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD (depending on your configuration choice)--cards capable of supporting the most graphics-intensive games.With the Ivy Bridge update, most of these gaming laptops got a refresh to the latest Nvidia GPU, code-named “Kepler,” which is said to be twice as fast as its predecessor and also use up less battery life.

Alienware M14x, M17x, and M18x

A week before Intel launched its new Ivy Bridge processors, Dell refreshed the Alienware gaming laptop series with Nvidia GeForce GTX 600 series graphics cards and other hardware upgrades--all except the processor.

Now that Ivy Bridge is here, all three Alienware models--the Alienware M14x, M17x, and M18x--offer the third-generation processors, while keeping the distinctive AlienFX lighting and styling.
(You can still get an Alienware M14x with a second-generation Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor, but for the larger M17x and M18x, the standard processor is the Ivy Bridge Core i7-3610QM.) The Alienware 14x starts at $1099, the M17x at $1499, and the M18x at $1999. See the Dell Alienware laptops page for more information.

Asus G75VW gaming laptopAsus G75VW and Asus G55VW

Asus’s Republic of Gamers G75VW and G55VW gaming laptops were among the first laptops to offer Nvidia Kepler graphics, with the GeForce GT 660M card. Both elegantly-designed gaming powerhouses come with a standard Intel Core i7-3610QM processor. The 17-inch 3D-capable Asus G75 is available for $1499.99 on Amazon and is configured with 16GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive (7200 rpm). Shipping should take just over a week. A similarly spec’ed 15.6-inch G55 can be purchased from J&R for $1449.

Maingear Ex-L Series and Alt-15

Custom PC builder Maingear has also updated its Maingear Ex-L Series and Alt-15 laptops with Ivy Bridge processors and new Nvidia graphics chips.
Maingear Ex-L 15The Ex-L 15, Alt-15, and Ex-L 17/17 3D models can be outfitted with either second-generation Intel Sandy Bridge processors or third-generation Ivy Bridge processors. Configuration options include Nvidia GeForce GTX 670M and 675M cards (these are based on older Fermi, rather than Kepler, designs but are optimized for peak performance out of the Fermi architecture).
Prices start at a pretty affordable $979 for the lower-end 15-inch Alt-15 to $1599 and above for the larger 17-inch Ex-L 17.

MSI GT60MSI GT60 and GT70

The 15-inch GT60 and the 17.3-inch GT70 gaming laptops from MSI offer Intel Core i7-3610QM processors and Nvidia GeForce GTX670M graphics cards.
A standout feature of the MSI gaming laptops is the colorful, Steelseries-designed keyboard with different backlighting modes and gamer-suited configurations. You can outfit these gaming laptops to your heart’s content with up to 32GB of RAM and solid-state-drive RAID configurations--starting at $1499 for the GT60 and $1549.99 for the GT70 at MSI.

Samsung Series 7 Gamer

Also known (awkwardly) as the Samsung Series NP700G7C, this slim 17.3-inch Ivy Bridge gaming laptop from Samsung is already available for preorder--that was true in February, nearly three months before Intel officially launched Ivy Bridge.
Besides the Intel Core i7-3610QM processor, the Samsung Series 7 Gamer offers an Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M graphics card, 16GB of memory, and a very generous 1.5TB (7200 rpm) hard drive. It’ll cost you, but you can have the laptop shipped to you right away for $1899.99 from Amazon and other retailers.

Sony launches first Vaio ultrabooks

Sony is joining Intel's ultrabook push with the new Vaio T family, which includes models with 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch screens, the company said on Wednesday.The Vaio T ultrabooks will start shipping in May, Sony said, without elaborating on what they will cost or where they will ship.

As with many other ultrabooks, Sony has taken some inspiration from Apple's MacBook Air when it comes to choice of materials. The Vaio ultrabooks are made of magnesium and aluminium, the company said.The 13-inch model measures approximately 226 millimeters by 17.8mm by 323mm and weighs about 1.6 kilograms with a standard battery, heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Air's 1.35 kilograms.A configuration of the 13-inch model detailed by Sony is powered by a Intel Core i3-2367M processor.The company didn't announce any configurations powered by Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors. The first ultrabooks with Ivy Bridge processors are expected to arrive in June.

The detailed 13-inch model also has 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard disk.There will also be configurations that use SSD flash drives and hybrid configurations that combine hard disks and SSD memory using Intel's Smart Response Technology, according to Sony.Sony also promises battery power that will last a full working day -- up to 9 hours when using SSD storage -- and a deep sleep mode can be used for up 90 days without running out of power.

Mac Flashback Attackers Made $10,000 a Day - A report by Symantec Researchers

The cyber-criminals behind the botnet stole ad revenue from Google by redirecting clicks from infected Apple Mac systems, according to Symantec researchers.

The cyber-criminals running the notorious Mac Flashback malware were bringing in as much as $10,000 a day during the height of the botnet's activity, according to security software vendor Symantec.

The attackers behind the Flashback malware—which at one point had infected as many as 700,000 Apple Macs worldwide—essentially were stealing advertising revenue from Google by redirecting clicks from users of infected systems, members of Symantec’s Security Response group said in an April 30 post on the company’s blog. The ad revenue for those clicks went to the cyber-criminals, not Google, Symantec said.

“The Flashback ad-clicking component is loaded into Chrome, Firefox and Safari where it can intercept all GET and POST requests from the browser,” the company said in the blog post. “Flashback specifically targets search queries made on Google and, depending on the search query, may redirect users to another page of the attacker's choosing, where they receive revenue from the click. (Google never receives the intended ad click.)”

“The ad click component parses out requests resulting from an ad click on Google Search and determines if it is on a whitelist. If not, it forwards the request to the malicious server.”

The Flashback malware started off last fall as a Trojan horse masquerading as an update to Adobe Flash. It morphed into a drive-by exploit that infected unprotected systems that visited a compromised or malicious Website.

The exploit leveraged a flaw in Java that Oracle in February had patched in Windows PCs and other systems, but that Apple didn’t address until issuing a patch in early April. By that time, more than 600,000 Macs—more than 1 percent in use globally—had become infected, and a botnet of that size could have netted the Flashback operators as much as $10,000 a day, according to Symantec.

Symantec researchers reverse-engineered the OSX.Flashback.K variant to see how the malware operated, according to the company. If a user of an unpatched Mac visited a compromised Website, the browser would be redirected to an exploit site hosting various Java exploits, and the initial Flashback component would be installed onto the system. That component would then download a loader and an ad-clicking component, Symantec said.

“Not much detail has been said about the ad-clicking component, so we will reveal the true motivation behind the malware: the end goal of this Trojan is revenue generation,” the Symantec Security Response team wrote.

The researchers ran a search for “toys” on an infected system. After doing so, they said that they could “clearly see a value of 0.8 cents for the click and the redirection URL highlighted in red. This redirected URL is subsequently written into the browser so that the user is now directed to the new site, in effect hijacking the ad click Google should have received. … This ultimately results in lost revenue for Google and untold sums of money for the Flashback gang.”

Apple officials have been criticized for their slow response to the Flashback malware—particularly rolling out a patch for the Java vulnerability two months after Oracle had issued one—and the Symantec researchers again noted that in their blog post.

“Unfortunately for Mac users, there was a large window of exposure since Apple’s patch for this vulnerability was not available for six weeks,” they wrote. “This window of opportunity helped the Flashback Trojan to infect Macs on a large scale. The Flashback authors took advantage of the gap between Oracle and Apple's patches by exploiting vulnerable Websites using Wordpress and Joomla to add malicious code snippets.

Since the extent of the Mac infections was reported in early April, a host of security software vendors and Apple itself have launched tools designed to detect and remove the Flashback malware from Macs. However, there has been some disagreement over how strong the exploit still is. Symantec officials reported in mid-April that the number of infected Macs had dropped to 140,000, while Kaspersky Lab researchers estimated the number was about 30,000.

However, Russian antivirus firm Dr. Web, which first reported the extent of the Flashback infections, said April 20 that the number of infected Macs was still at more than 650,000, and after hearing how the company came up with its figures, Symantec officials agreed, as did Mac security software vendor Intego.