Moving Forwards To Morro

By Guy Bunker | November 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment 

Guy Bunker

So Microsoft have announced that OneCare is going away and being replaced by a new ‘free’, lightweight offering ‘Morro’. Why has OneCare gone away? Well, it never really made a dent in the market as its protection was substandard and it hogged resources… consumers voted with their feet and sought protection elsewhere.

Will the new cut-down version be any better? In short, no. It wasn’t seen as good before and this is less than it was!

The world of security and threats is moving more rapidly than ever. It is now widely recognised that anti-virus is just one aspect and to increase security you need to take a more holistic approach with personal firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, anti-phishing, rootkit detection and additional security around usernames and passwords, especially for things like internet banking and online shopping. Companies like Symantec have made their name from staying ahead of the cyber-criminals and continuously innovating to create a complete solution, not just for the consumer (our Norton brand – PC World’s got some great deals) but also for the enterprise. A Global Intelligence Network of more than 40,000 nodes, two million dummy email accounts and an extensive honeypot network watches constantly for threats across the world and security experts create updates to protect against the risks – which can be delivered to you every few minutes if you want. You need expertise and investment to do this, OneCare couldn’t do it, Morro won’t either – we have built our reputation around it.

With the credit-crunch biting more people are turning to the Internet to do their shopping and they need to have confidence that their systems and information are safe. There is an old adage that “what you pay for is what you get”, when the security solution is incomplete, you are at risk. Period. You can use multiple products (including free ones) to get a complete solution or you can buy an integrated solution… the decision is yours. Whatever you do, do something and stay safe online.

PS If you want a free anti-virus product, which has the Symantec name behind it, go to the PCTools website!

Going Green And Saving The Economy

By Guy Bunker | November 24, 2008 | 2 Comments 

Guy Bunker

So, today is pre-budget day. For those of you outside the UK… we have a yearly budget in which the government sets things like tax and in recent years there has been the opportunity to make some minor course direction changes in the middle, with the pre-budget. Except, this time, with the global economy such as it is, the changes are more like U-turns. However, there was still a call for the environment with the chancellor saying that the economic recovery must “support our environmental objectives”, with the transition to a “low-carbon world continuing”.

So we still need to save power where we can. In the home this means switching off items which are not being used, and really switching them off, not just leaving them on stand-by, replace lightbulbs with energy saving ones etc. But how about the enterprise? Actually when it comes to IT, switching of desktops and printers at the end of the day can make a huge difference – within Symantec we use one of our own products and have a power policy for desktops which switches them off out of hours (so, if you forget when you go home, it will do it for you)… How much does that one policy change make? Estimated savings are $800,000 per year… and 6 million kilowatts of energy!

The Underground Economy

By Guy Bunker | November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment 

Guy Bunker

Symantec published its report into the Underground Economy today. It makes for some interesting reading. Not least as to how ‘big’ and widespread it is.

EMEA is second to the USA in terms of underground economy servers. While the top advertiser has more than $144,000 worth of goods for sale. If you translate this into potential worth (ie, you empty the bank accounts and max out the credit cards on offer) then it is worth a staggering $6.4 million!

Nearly 70,000 unique advertisers were seen in the 12 months, on the observed underground servers, which is a lot of cyber-criminals no matter how you count it. Total value of goods offered… $276 million with an exploit value of more than $6 billion. Big business… which is why this is not some student sitting at home, but rather organised crime with Trojan creators, web exploiters, exploit experts, traffic sellers, fraudsters and rogue hosting companies.

Get Safe Online Week… Part II

By Guy Bunker | November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment 

Guy Bunker

So, we are halfway through the Get Safe Online Week and the report is out. There are a few interesting numbers in there… for example, more than a third of people have, or know someone who has, been a victim of a computer virus attack. The most concerning statistic is that for phishing attacks. This year it was 23% who fell foul of the phishers… BUT… this is in comparison to only 8% last year. A huge increase.

So, if you get an email from someone you don’t know advertising something that looks too good to be true… that’s a phishing attack. If you get something purporting to be from your bank or credit card company asking to confirm your details… that’s a phishing attack. If you get an Instant Message with a URL in as a random message from ‘a friend’… that could well be a phish. If you see a strange looking URL on a social networking site… be cautious… that could be a phish.

Visit the website, there are some great hints and tips on there – tell your friends, educate your children. Get Safe… Online.

 

The Truth, You Can’t Handle The… Privacy

By Guy Bunker | November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment 

Guy Bunker

So, Barack Obama, soon to be the world’s most powerful man is going to give up email and his Blackberry. Why? From a security standpoint and because everything he does, or will do, will be open to public scrutiny and that will include email. Let’s take the security issue first… there is technology out there that locks these devices down, encryption to protect the data and policies which ensure that wrong people can’t get access and if it  is lost it can be remotely wiped and destroyed… so security really isn’t an issue.

How about the public scrutiny, is this because we no longer trust anyone to do the right thing or is it because we want to be be able to criticise everything at everypoint along the way? Whatever the reason it seems wrong to take it to the point where the most effective means of communication in a global society is removed from the person who could probably do with it the most.

The answer… I wish there was one… they say he might still receive email, just not be able to send it (what was the security argument again?) A pretty lame suggestion, a bit like having a pen but not being allowed the ink - after all won’t he just ask an aide to send the reply? I suspect 99% of emails will have been sorted out and filed before he even gets to see them. Obama has young children and while they are not yet texting or emailing or sending Instant Messages they will be by the end of his term of office – how ridiculous to prevent him from being able to communicate with them that way in the future… as that seems to be the best way to stay in touch with not only your children, but also friends and family as well.

The invasion of privacy (both business and personal) is tough for anyone in the limelight. Time to put some trust back into the system. Electronic communication is now commonplace in a social environment as well as a work one, and often the same devices are used for both. A little bit more trust in people is needed to help in this combined work/life electronic world… from the US President-Elect all the way down the tree to the rest of us – with a little more thought on what we do personally in work time and on work devices would also be good.

Build It And They Will Come…

By Guy Bunker | November 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment 

Guy Bunker

… Shut it down and they will go. McColo.com a hosting company has been shut down, and just why is this good news? Well, the amount of spam the world sees has dropped by 65% over the course of 24 hours. How do we know this, well at Symantec we monitor this type of thing! Unfortunately it won’t last, the spammers and botnet herders will move their operations quickly to somewhere else. However, the good news is that it is possible to make a significant dent in cyber-criminal operations by taking out the appropriate pieces.

So, the battle this time has been won, but the war is far from over.

There’s One Born Every Day… Part II

By Guy Bunker | November 17, 2008 | 1 Comment 

Guy Bunker

So scams are rife and cyber-criminals do make money – but just how much would you give up to a Nigerian 419 scam? $400,000? OK, so its amazing to me that anyone falls for this anymore, but… the story outlines how the victim was drawn in, a little at a time, evidently to a point where they didn’t think they could give up sending money.

There is no such thing as a free lunch… if a deal looks too good to be true, then it is.

Get Safe Online Week

By Guy Bunker | November 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment 

Guy Bunker

Next week, 17-21st November 2008, is Get Safe Online Week. The campaign has been running for a number of years and offers great practical advice on how to protect yourself while online.

With e-fraud rising and the cyber-criminals showing no sign of letting up, it is helpful to have information that you can use with all the family. There is also a good section for small businesses as well.

Visit the site… spread the word – there is advice out there if you know where to look.

You’re My Best Friend… Please Send Money

By Guy Bunker | November 11, 2008 | 1 Comment 

Guy Bunker

The old Nigerian 419 scam has been brought into the 21st Century with the aid of social network sites. The scam is basically the same, send me money and I will give it back to you. However, the twist is that the cyber-criminals are hacking into social networking accounts and sending the messages from there…

So… if you have a ‘friend’ and they are asking for money – check that they are who they say they are before you do something you will regret. It is all too easy to get caught up in the moment and do something rash – like give away your credit card or bank details…

Send Money Or I’ll Leak Your Data

By Guy Bunker | November 11, 2008 | 1 Comment 

Guy Bunker

A pharmaceutical company has fallen foul of a data leak. Rather than leak the data, the cyber-criminals tried extorting money from the company by sending a sample of the information they had stolen and threatening to expose the rest of it.

It was only a matter of time before type of data loss extortion came to light and it is good news that the company in question went to the authorities. It’s a little like ransomware where just because you paid doesn’t mean they won’t do it again… and again… and again. After all a cyber-criminal is still a criminal and they won’t play by the rules – especially not yours.

Next Page »