Don’t miss our LIVE presentation of the new avast! Free Antivirus version 8! We’ve just released it today and this is your chance to be one of the first to see what avast! version 8 is all about.

We will be broadcasting our Hangout, live from Prague, Czech Republic, starting at 7 PM EST on February 28th (today). There are several ways you can view it:

• Add Avast to your Google+ circles, and we’ll post the link there. RSVP to our event and you’ll get the link automatically.
• You will also be able to watch it live on the avast YouTube channel.
• Just before we go live we will post a link to our avast Facebook page . When you see it, CLICK IT, and please be sure share with your friends!

Watch our video invitation.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Make sure you friend Avast on Facebook so you won’t miss our original comic strip, MALWARE ATTACKS!!. Here’s a quick catch-up in case you missed the first installment -

We meet unfortunate aliens fleeing their embattled home world in search of help against the evil Malware Empire. The fate of their planet rests on their success.

Illustrated by Daniel Coca López

Alien visitors come to Earth seeking help from Avast against the evil Malware Empire.

The desperate aliens visit Avast headquarters to ask for help to defeat the evil Malware Empire. Just like 177 million Earthlings who use Avast to protect themselves, the aliens find what they are looking for.

Armed with avast! Free Antivirus 8, the aliens race back to their home planet. Victory against the evil Malware Empire is assured.

Thanks to avast! Free Antivirus 8, the galaxy is once again protected against Malware. Our heroes are awarded with the medal for bravery, and avast! 8 takes its place of honor in history.

Protect your world with avast! 8. From avast! Free Antivirus to our newest top-tier suite, Avast Premier 8, it can all be found on http://www.avast.com

People love lists. Lately, I’ve seen lists for 7 Ways to Look Younger, Worst Dressed at the Grammys,  and our favorite, Top 5 Facebook Software Pages.

Late last year, as the number of fans on our popular Facebook page increased, Julia, my fellow Queen of the avast! FREEks, and I noticed that we were quickly gaining on a very famous name in the software category. This software royalty has been around for decades. No matter what you think of it now, it’s a cornerstone of just about everyone’s internet experience, so we watched with astonished glee as our number of supporters and fans edged closer to their number. In December, our awesome avast! Community overtook …you ready for it? Internet Explorer!

We felt like Lady Gaga taking the First Lady of Pop crown from Madonna!

Dear avast! Antivirus users, this small triumph means that our avast! Facebook page is now #4 on the Top 5 Facebook Software Pages list. Our competitive spirit is up, and now we set our sights on the #3 position in the software category. Our next hurdle is a popular browser with 300 million users.  It should be a piece of cake; we’re only 1 million fans behind. All we need to do is rally together and we can…

BEAT OPERA!

So if you already have a Facebook profile, please like our avast! Facebook page.  When you see how much fun we have there (and there is some fun planned for the launch of avast! 8), I hope you will share avast! with your friends too.

Let the race begin!

Today teachers and students celebrate Safer Internet Day in 90 countries worldwide, and across six of the world’s seven continents. This year the theme for the day is Online rights and responsibilities, when we will encourage users to ‘Connect with respect’.

Whether you like to use Facebook, share photos, upload movies, blog, game, play or network, follow a few basic rules to keep yourself safe whenever and wherever you go online. This includes when you connect with your computer, your tablet, your mobile phone, and your games console.

Online Safety Information for Children and Young People

• Be responsible online – do not hide behind your screen
  Use good ‘netiquette’. This means that you should treat others on the web as you would want to be treated yourself. Don’t let yourself bully or harass someone or create a false identity. 
• Do not circulate messages, pictures or other material that can be hurtful
  When you share stories, pictures, movies or blogs posts online that normally means that you lose control over it. The information could be there forever and will be there for anyone to see. Read more…

It’s that time of year again for Americans. You have received your W-2 and are eager to file your tax return, especially if you anticipate a refund. Every year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warns taxpayers to beware of phishing scams used by con artists to steal your identity, cash, and sense of security. This year is no different.

Phishing takes many forms, but usually involves unsolicited email or messages via social media and a fake website that poses as a legitimate site. The danger is that if you follow the link the scammers provide, you could end up with a malware infection, such as a Trojan that logs your keystrokes and allows a hacker to gain access to your bank accounts, or you could provide valuable personal and financial information that exposes you to identity theft. Here are some recent examples:

Classic phish: Last tax season, a bogus email warned recipients they would be penalized up to $10,000 for not filing their taxes by a false deadline of January 31st. They were instructed to follow a link which went to a phony site that appeared to be the official IRS website. They were asked to provide personal or financial information that could be used by scammers and identity thieves.

Don’t be misled by sites claiming to be the IRS but ending in .com, .net, .org or other designations instead of .gov. Read more…

A few months ago, Google announced a new feature in Android. Version 4.2 Jelly Bean has an integrated real-time app scan which should be able to check if applications you install are clean or malicious. But is this enough? Sleazy Android app developers continue to sneak their fake apps by the Google Play gatekeepers. These guys rip off popular apps in an attempt to fool unsuspecting users.

“In the start of this week, Google released a few applications from a developer called GILBERT8332 which pretend they are legitimate applications. Between these applications you can find quite common games such as The Sims 3, Asphalt 6, Ninjago Lego and so on. And compared to original developers they are free,” said Filip Chytrý, a researcher from Avast Virus Lab.

The common result of downloading a bogus app is that personal information like your email address and mobile phone number are stolen and you are served an unending stream of spam and unwelcome offers.

Chytrý warns, “When you download them and install in your android device you will be surprised. All of them are malware. They all start quite innocently with a license agreement of AirPush advert. (AirPush is a advert system which allows to show advertisement in notification bar of your Android device.)”

“And then the funny parts come up. The Game will ask you if you want to change your main page in browser and put a search icon on desktop. Even if you decline, it’s too late. Your browser is already changed for another search page and your device is filled with uncomfortable adverts and as a bonus, the device will send  personal information to a third party,” said Chytrý.

Block fake apps

avast! Free Mobile Security blocks fake apps and our new signature targeting protects you against
malware distributed with them. Our popular anti-virus/anti-theft app for Android stops downloads of fake apps and games, so you won’t be duped.

“All of these apps use multiple advert services, steal your personal data and they even are hidden under different creators. But don’t worry. Avast detects all of the mentioned applications as Android:FakeInst-DL, and urls of fake searchers are blocked also,” said Chytrý.

Get avast! Free Mobile Security for your Android device from Google Play. Please add a review and share with your friends if you like it!

It is a credit to the quality of our Facebook and Twitter fans that so many take the time to write us with appreciation and praise. It is extremely meaningful for us to receive your feedback, positive or negative, but we are especially motivated and thrilled to learn when we are satisfying our customers. Here are some examples of messages we have received lately on social media. Thanks to all who have written to us.

We invite all our avast! users to join us on Facebook and Twitter.

Do you use your mobile device to check email, use social networks or log in to your bank account while sipping a double mocha latte at your favorite coffee shop or while waiting for your next flight? That’s risky considering you cannot count on public Wi-Fi hotspots that you find in cafes, coffee shops, airports, schools, and hotels to be secure. Remote cybercrooks, and even the guy sitting a couple of tables from you sipping coffee, can use software to eavesdrop and snoop which could result in stolen credit card information and passwords or full-blown identify theft.

With new avast! SecureLine for iOS you can secure your wireless internet connection when using your iPad, iPhone, or iPod on a Public/Open Wi-Fi network. Here’s how it works:

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.  avast! SecureLine VPN creates a private ‘tunnel’ through the internet for your data to travel through, and everything inbound and outbound through the tunnel is encrypted. Data is decoded at the VPN server, using advanced encryption protocols. Handy features also detect and filter malicious URLs, block ads in the browser and apps, or can compress your transferred data which saves your mobile data plan and enables access to US-only content.

Download avast! SecureLine for iOS from iTunes. Read more…

A serious new vulnerability notice about Java exploits has been issued by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Division. Java 7 Update 10 and earlier contain a vulnerability that can allow a remote attacker to execute malware on vulnerable systems.

A French researcher called Kafeine discovered that a number of websites using the exploit are able to download files directly to the victim’s computer, and execute actions such as installing ransomware. “Hundreds of thousands of hits daily where i found it,” he wrote on his blog. “This could be a mayhem.”

Disable Java in web browsers

Some webpages may include content or apps that use the Java plug-in. There is no fix for this yet, so it is recommended that you protect yourself by disabling Java in your particular browser. Please see our previous blog How do I disable Java in my browser for instructions.

For a higher level of security, it is possible to entirely prevent any Java apps from running in a browser by de-selecting Enable Java content in the browser in the Java Control Panel under the Security tab. Disabling Java through the Java Control Panel will disable Java in all browsers.