CA report: Fake security software, search engines and social networks 2009’s Top Internet Threats

December 10, 2009 · Filed Under Software News · Comment 

CA “State of the Internet 2009″ Report Analyzes Top Internet Threats; Researchers Predict Online Threats for 2010

The latest State of the Internet 2009 report issued today by CA, Inc. states that the most notable 2009 online threats were rogue/fake security software, major search engines, social networks and Web 2.0 threats. The report, based on data compiled by CA’s Global Security Advisor researchers, compiles trends from the first half of 2009. CA security researchers also offer predictions for the top Internet threats for 2010, including an increase in “malvertising” and the potential for another big computer worm outbreak like Conficker.

“Cybercriminals have made a business out of conducting attacks on the most popular online destinations because they promise the highest payoff,” said Don DeBolt, director of threat research for CA’s Internet Security Business Unit. “Cybercriminals keep up with trends, major events, holidays, and the like, and focus on where they’ll get the biggest returns. Search engines, like Google and Yahoo, or social networking sites, like Twitter or Facebook, have the mass appeal to attract these criminals. In addition to Internet security software, the best weapon against today’s threats is education, so that consumers know what to look for when they are conducting activities online.”

CA researchers tracked the following trends in 2009:
– Rogue or Fake Security Software: Software that poses as legitimate Internet security software but is actually malware has experienced a significant surge in popularity. In the first half of 2009, CA added detection for 1,186 new variants of Rogue security software, which is a 40% increase compared to the last half of 2008.
– Search Index Poisoning: Google is a frequent target of online threats. Attackers employ sophisticated search engine optimizations to manipulate search engine rankings and poison users’ search results, which direct them to compromised Web sites that can cause malware infections.
– Social Networks/Web 2.0: Popular online communities, blogs and social media sites, such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, are highly targeted. Financially motivated organized groups are among the aggressive attackers, creating hundreds of bogus profiles to perform various tasks, including distributing malware, spamming and stealing users’ online identities to perpetrate further cybercrime. Win32/Koobface is an example of a worm propagating through social networking sites. It uses the affected user’s login credentials to send messages to the user’s list of connected friends and family. In 2009, CA ISBU discovered more than 100 components and mutated strains belonging to the Win32/Koobface family.
– Identity Theft: Attacks targeting online credentials allowed attackers to distribute further cybercriminal activities, such as email address harvesting for Spam bots, sweeping FTP accounts for web infection and attributing to social network worm propagation, like Win32/Koobface. Stealing Trojans accounted for 23% of the most prevalent malware infections in 2009.
– Cybersquatting and typosquatting: Malicious Web sites that masquerade as legitimate, reputable sites deceive users into undertaking transactions or activities in which they divulge sensitive data.
– Mac OS X Threats: Security threats have come to the Mac. In 2009, CA ISBU has added 15 intelligent signatures detecting Mac OS X threats. The most prevalent being OSX/Jahlav.

“Malware doubled in 2009 and the ability to purchase bots and other malicious programs online is becoming more prevalent,” DeBolt continued. “It is a cat and mouse game. Cybercriminals are evolving along with the malware community and are constantly looking for new vulnerabilities to exploit, from online banking to search index poisoning.”

While spam and phishing scams are still on the rise, the breakdown for how malware was distributed in 2009 was dominated by the Internet at 78 percent, followed by email (via attachments or phishing) at 17 percent, and finally removable media (such as USB drives, digital photo frames, etc.) with 5 percent.

CA forward looking online security predictions for 2010:

1. Search engine optimization exploits and malicious advertising (Malvertising) will increase as a means to distribute Malware.
2. Another big computer worm like Conficker is likely. The increasing popularity of web-based applications and discovery of critical zero-day vulnerabilities, especially for new operating systems such as Windows 7 and Google Chrome, present good opportunities for a new worm outbreak.
3. Threats to Web 2.0 technologies such as social networks will continue to grow.
4. Denial-of-Service attacks will increase in popularity as a means to make a political statement. Popular websites like Twitter and Facebook are likely to fall victim once again.
5. Banking Trojans: These Trojans manifest as banking-related threats orchestrated to steal users’ identities for financial gain.
6. Malware actors will focus on the 64 bit and Apple platform.

The CA 2009 State of Internet Security report is intended to inform consumers and businesses of the newest and most dangerous Internet threats, forecast trends and provide practical advice for protection. The analysis provided is based on incident information from the CA Global Security Advisor team, submitted by CA customers and consumers from January to June 2009, as well as publicly available information. For the full CA 2009 State of Internet Security report, please visit www.ca.com/securityadvisor.

The CA Global Security Advisor Team delivers the around-the-clock, dependable security expertise, offering trusted security advice to the world for more than 16 years. Providing a complete threat management resource, CA’s Security Advisor Team is staffed by industry-leading researchers and skilled support professionals. CA Global Security Advisor is available at www.ca.com/securityadvisor. It offers free security alerts, RSS feeds, PC scans and a regular blog updated by the worldwide team of researchers. CA’s entire portfolio of threat-related products for home, small and medium businesses, and enterprises are updated and protected by the CA Global Security Advisor team.

Source: CA

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Microsoft simplifies the PC with Windows 7

October 23, 2009 · Filed Under Software News, Utilities and Operating Systems · Comment 

New PC operating system available worldwide today.

Microsoft Corp. announced the worldwide availability of its new Windows 7 operating system. Windows 7 delivers on a simple premise: make it easier for people to do the things they want on a PC. The new operating system offers a streamlined user interface and significant new features that make everyday tasks easier and allow people to get the most out of computers of all styles and sizes.

“With Windows 7, there’s never been a better time to be a PC,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together with our partners, we’re bringing more choice, flexibility and value to the market than ever before. With Windows 7, you’re sure to find a PC that fits your life.”

Building Windows 7 has been a collaborative process from the beginning, with Microsoft’s engineers and designers working with customers and partners to build an operating system that delivers on the vision of the PC, simplified. In a speech in New York, Ballmer thanked the millions of volunteers who helped improve the product by testing early versions.

“A project with the global customer reach of Windows can only be done as a team,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft, speaking at a launch event in Tokyo. “We are grateful for the valuable contributions from customers, partners and developers around the world that helped make Windows 7 such a collaborative project.”

On Sale Worldwide Today

The global availability of Windows 7 is joined by an unprecedented array of new PCs and software programs. With more PC options available for customers today at a wide range of price points starting under $300, customers can choose the PC that fits their personality, style and needs, from netbooks, ultrathin notebooks and highly interactive multitouch laptops to all-in-one desktops and high-end, water-cooled gaming machines.

A newly launched section of Windows.com called PC Scout will guide users through selecting and purchasing the right PC. Customers can purchase PCs with Windows 7 or software upgrades online or in-store from technology retailers or at the new Microsoft Store, launching today in its first retail location in Scottsdale, Ariz., and expanded online. Retailers and technology partners are also featuring a series of limited-time offers for customers looking for great deals on Windows 7-based PCs, devices and software. Information on these offers can be found at http://www.windows.com/.

To show how Windows 7 simplifies the PC, today Microsoft is launching the next wave of its global “I’m a PC” campaign. The global enthusiasm of Windows users is also contributing to the way many people around the world will experience Windows 7 for the first time. Tens of thousands of customers have volunteered to host launch parties or meet-ups beginning today, showing off Windows 7 to friends and family members.

Simplifying the PC

Over the past 18 months, feedback from more than a billion opt-in customer sessions and 8 million beta testers validated Microsoft’s research on how to simplify everyday tasks. Here are a few of the many ways users will experience a more simplified PC with Windows 7:

Simplifies Everyday Tasks
Taskbar. The go-to spot for launching programs and switching windows, the taskbar has been completely redesigned to help users work smarter, cut clutter, and get more done, with features such as thumbnail previews of Web pages, documents — even running video.
HomeGroup. Users can easily share their files and printers with other PCs running Windows 7 in their home.
Windows 7 Device Stage. This shows the status of all connected devices such as cameras and mobile phones, and makes it easier to synchronize and manage them.
Photos and videos. Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Movie Maker (available via download) offer customers great, free options to edit photos and videos and easily share them with loved ones.
Snap. Users can drag an open window to the screen’s border to automatically re-size it. Snap two different windows to the left and right borders for a perfect comparison.
Shake. Users can click on a window pane and shake the mouse to minimize all other open windows, then shake the pane again to restore the windows to their original sizes.
Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft’s fastest, easiest and safest browser ever offers smart new features such as Instant Search, Accelerators and Web Slices to help users get more out of the Web.

Works the Way Users Want
Faster on, faster off. Every Windows 7 user will benefit from the focus on underlying performance, faster startup, resuming and shut down time, and enhanced power management.
Mobile made easier. All of a user’s mobile computing settings are in one place with the Windows Mobility Center.
Protecting the PC. Safeguarding the data on a PC is easier with advanced backup capabilities and the free Microsoft Security Essentials download to help protect users against viruses, spyware and other malicious software.

Makes New Things Possible
Windows Touch. Users can interact with the PC with a touch-screen monitor, using their fingers and multitouch gestures.
PlayTo. Users can stream their digital music, videos and photos to other PCs or devices such as an Xbox 360 console connected to the TV.
Internet TV. New content providers and an improved interface make it even easier to watch TV on the PC.
Rich gaming and graphics. Windows 7 includes performance enhancements that take power gaming and entertainment to a new level, with 64-bit support and DirectX 11 graphics.
Location-aware printing. Documents are sent to the right printer whether it’s at home or at the office. And with Offline Files users can work offline and automatically synchronize between a PC and documents on their office network.

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IBM announces new software for managing data centers

October 20, 2009 · Filed Under Business Software, Productivity Software, Software News · Comment 

IBM  introduced ground-breaking new software for managing data centers. The new technology has the potential to dramatically cut the cost of operations while speeding the deployment of new applications from weeks to minutes.

The introduction of IBM’s new VMControl product for enterprises, combined with IBM Tivoli software, gives businesses for the first time a single point of control across multiple types of IT systems and virtualization technologies. It spans UNIX/Linux, mainframe, x86 and storage systems and networks.

VMControl helps companies that have turned to virtualization – the creation of multiple virtual servers or storage on a single physical system – to reduce infrastructure costs, but have encountered new struggles as they try to manage enterprises made up of disparate platforms, each with their own virtualization technology.

VMControl allows combinations of physical and virtual IBM servers to be managed as a single entity. This approach – known as system pooling – expands the benefits of virtualization by helping corporate data centers simplify complex management functions and better share and prioritize use of critical resources such as processing power, memory and storage.

Centralizing control of virtualized environments brings new intelligence to data center operations. Companies can manage their vast pools of information and processing resources and parcel them out to applications when and where they’re needed. This breakthrough capability not only increases the overall capacity utilization of the IT infrastructure to lower capital, operational and energy costs, and improves application availability, but gives IT managers the flexibility to adapt to new demands being prompted by the surge of data from internet-connected devices.

VMControl will also accelerate the deployment of new IT delivery models, like cloud computing, which allows information and processing resources to be tapped from afar.

“IBM has provided Winn-Dixie with many innovative solutions to help us increase productivity, maximize our resources and save money for more than 15 years,” said Charlie Weston, Group Vice President, Information Technology for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based grocer. “We are extremely confident that the launch of the VMControl product will be equally as successful for IBM’s customers.”

The new product, together with IBM Tivoli software, helps companies address and improve service and reduce cost and risk. IBM today announced a new version of Tivoli Provisioning Manager that provides enhanced automation of the manual tasks of provisioning and configuring servers, operating systems, middleware, software applications, storage and network devices.

Whether businesses are moving to the cloud or looking to deliver IT within the data center as cloud services, the sheer scale and velocity of data growth as well as the now-permanent reality of having to do more with less make VMControl essential for data centers. The combination of VMControl and Tivoli offers several benefits, such as:

Faster response to business needs: A reduction in the skills, tools and tasks required to deploy new workloads. With VMControl, companies can offer rapid deployments of new workloads (from weeks to minutes) while maintaining control over IT resources. Businesses can adapt to changing business needs and support new and diverse types of workloads in accordance with service-level agreements.

More efficient use of resources: To configure, operate and monitor physical and virtualized resources across multiple IBM hardware platforms would otherwise require as many as dozens of different management techniques. Buying, building and maintaining disparate management tools take up significant portions of IT budgets. VMControl reduces the management tools to one, cutting costs of operations.

Awareness, consistency and predictability of operations: Business can monitor, maintain and adjust the service levels required by each computing workload handled by the pool of IT resources. It also can help predict and react to system problems. By moving workloads away from failing systems, VMControl can ensure workloads maintain application availability and avoid unplanned down time.

Enabling Smarter Systems: VMControl’s ability to dynamically move workloads and make adjustments allow IBM systems to be more effectively utilized, use less power and cooling and provide a much more resilient infrastructure.

The new product — IBM® Systems Director VMControl(TM) Enterprise Edition — supports IBM’s PowerVM and z/VM as well as x86 virtualization technologies such as VMWare, Hyper-V and open x86 virtualization solutions. VMControl Enterprise Edition will be available on IBM Power Systems running AIX in December, 2009. Additional support for other platforms is planned for next year as part of a dynamic infrastructure.

For more information: http://www.ibm.com/dynamicinfrastructure

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Teradata Enterprise Analytics Cloud extends architectural flexibility and business agility

October 19, 2009 · Filed Under Business Software, Internet Software, Productivity Software, Software News · Comment 

First public and private Cloud Computing offer for rapid analytics

Teradata Corporation, the world’s largest company solely focused on data warehousing and enterprise analytics, announced that the Teradata Enterprise Analytics Cloud(TM) provides Teradata customers architectural flexibility, which enables them to meet their expanding analytic needs by leveraging cloud computing technologies. Initial offerings include the Teradata Agile Analytics Cloud, Teradata Express on Amazon EC2, and Teradata Express for VMware Player.

For the business user, public and private clouds provide flexible, self service for the rapid building of short term analytic data marts, allowing users to pay only for the computing power actually used. More importantly, these cloud solutions offer business users and developers another means of improving decision making with agility and speed.

Teradata Agile Analytics Cloud

The Teradata Agile Analytics Cloud, Teradata’s entry into private Cloud Computing, is a unique set of products, capabilities and services designed to enable agile analytics in a Teradata private cloud environment. This allows for rapid development and sandbox-style analytics. Business users can create data marts inside their Teradata system within minutes. This eliminates the need to build separate, costly physical data marts, because the production data can be accessed directly, without data movement or duplication. Built on the proven Teradata Database and platforms, the Teradata Agile Analytics Cloud combines advanced workload management, the new Teradata Elastic Mart Builder tool, and a services methodology to enable business users to rapidly exploit data marts inside their Teradata System. The Teradata Elastic Mart Builder is a Teradata Viewpoint self-service portlet that makes it easy to create data marts for application development. It is flexible and allows external data to be combined with existing data facilitating the discovery of new insights. The Teradata Elastic Mart Builder is being released as a free tool to be deployed through Teradata Developer Exchange. Teradata Active System Management, the company’s flagship workload management product, is a key enabler because it optimizes priorities between experimental analytics and production workloads.

The Teradata Agile Analytics Cloud allows the business user to rapidly analyze data and respond to market opportunities with speed and confidence. This solution helps chief information officers control data mart proliferation, reduce costs for software licenses and servers, and lower training and labor costs.

“Many IT organizations are under-resourced and under tremendous pressure to cut costs, driving some business users to create their own ’shadow IT’ organizations to meet their needs,” said Scott Gnau, chief developer officer, Teradata Corporation. “These shadow IT groups create conflict between the business users and IT groups. The Teradata Agile Analytics Cloud helps to eliminate the conflicts and brings business and IT together, saving money and enriching their analytical insights.”

Teradata Express Cloud Offerings

The two new Teradata Express cloud offerings are built on Teradata Express, which is a free, non-production version of Teradata Database software intended for developers and evaluation scenarios. The cloud versions of Teradata Express support up to one terabyte of data and are powered by Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.

Teradata Express on Amazon EC2

Teradata Express on Amazon EC2 is available on the flexible Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). This prepackaged edition is a free developer version of the Teradata Database for use in the scalable, robust Amazon EC2 environment. Customers can quickly launch Teradata Express on Amazon EC2 and begin their collaborative work from any location in the world. Customers benefit from the easy self-service, flexible configurations, and the cost effective Amazon Web Services infrastructure, resulting in faster time to value and the quicker completion of projects.

Teradata Express for VMware Player

Teradata Express for VMware Player delivers a fully configured Teradata Database bundled for private cloud analytics. Once VMware software is installed, the Teradata Database can be loaded in minutes, taking advantage of the many features of VMware. For the Teradata Database, VMware is an important stepping stone towards delivering internal private clouds for developers and information technology operations managers. The value for customers will be the easy creation of Teradata test and development environments with a significant reduction in capital costs from server consolidation.

According to Gnau, “Teradata is all about choice that no other vendor can offer. Teradata’s advocated architecture is an integrated data warehouse, but we offer the flexibility for customers to leverage the power of Teradata in any architecture they chose to meet their business need. Our entry into loud Cloud Computing is one alternative and an extension to our Platform Family, which positions ‘Teradata for all your analytical needs.’”

Teradata is the only vendor to offer a broad family of platforms with price and performance that spans the unique business and analytical data warehouse needs of companies, making Teradata suitable to be everywhere in the enterprise. The family is supported by the high performance and dependable Teradata 13 Database, the most significant and technically advanced database for analytics.

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U.S. ranks 9th in Global PC Infection Report, according to PandaLabs

September 29, 2009 · Filed Under Security Software, Software News · Comment 

Average number of worldwide infections grew 15 percent over last month – Global infection ratio hits all time high this year at nearly 60 percent

PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory, announced that it has detected a 15 percent increase in the total number of malware-infected computers in September in comparison to the previous month of August. According to data gathered from users that scanned and disinfected their computers with the free Panda ActiveScan online antivirus, the average infection ratio rose to 59 percent, the highest rate this year.

In comparison to the infection rates of 29 countries, the U.S. ranks ninth with an infection ratio of 58.25 percent, just below the worldwide average. Taiwan has the most infected PCs, with a 69.10 percent corruption, followed by Russia and China at 67.99 percent and 61.97 percent, respectively. The country with the least infections is Norway at 39.60 percent. To view a table that outlines the percentage of infected computers by country, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/3963144168/.

According to Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs, “There is a false sense of security, as users perceive there to be no real danger at the moment. When their computers get infected, they rarely notice any symptoms.”

Panda’s study revealed that U.S. computers are infected by the most dangerous malware strains: Trojans, followed by adware, worms and viruses. To see the number and types of malware on infected computers in the U.S., please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lithium-/3963437003/sizes/o/.

“This is a clear sign that hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated,” explains Corrons. “Cybercriminals have found news ways to spread their creations, frequently exploiting the latest news stories to launch attacks through social networks, videos, and email. The huge amount of Trojans in circulation is due to the spectacular increase in the number of banker Trojans aimed at stealing user data.”

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PandaLabs uncovers online Facebook password hacking service

September 19, 2009 · Filed Under Security Software, Software News · Comment 

According to its Ukraine-based creators, hacking an account costs $100, payable through Western Union

PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory, today announced the discovery of an online service that promises to hack into any Facebook account for $100. The creators claim, “Any Facebook account can be hacked,” promising to provide clients with the login and password credentials to access any account on the popular social networking site.

According to Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs, “The service’s real purpose may be hacking Facebook accounts as they say, or profiting from those that want to try the service. In any case, the Web page is very well designed. It is easy to contract the service and become either the victim of an online fraud, or a cyber-criminal and accomplice in identity theft. Once an intruder hacks into a Facebook account, all personal data published on the site can be stolen. Similarly, those accounts can also be used to send malware, spam or other threats to the victim’s contacts. In the case of celebrities of other well-known entities, they can be used to defame the account holder, spread information in their name, etc. In any event, this is criminal activity.”

In addition to extorting money and obtaining access to clients’ bank account information, the service also has characteristics in line with hacker affiliate programs. Common among cybercriminals, hacker affiliate programs offer other cybercriminals money to spread malware. This strategy is now being used with everyday Internet users through this Facebook hacking site, by offering extra dollar-credits to spend on the service when users hack more accounts. They can become affiliates to help hackers reach a broader audience, receiving 20 percent of what they sell in credits for hacking more accounts.

It is likely that the cybercriminals behind this operation are members of an Eastern European Internet mafia because payments are conducted online through Western Union wire transfers to a payee in Ukraine. The domain that hosts the service is registered in Moscow, providing further evidence of this theory.

The company claims to have been offering this service for four years with only one percent of accounts hack-proof. In these cases, they offer clients a money-back guarantee. However, the domain is just a few days old.

A series of images illustrating the sales flow can be found on the PandaLabs blog: http://www.pandalabs.com/.

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Microsoft unveils Microsoft Project 2010

September 17, 2009 · Filed Under Business Software, Software News · Comment 

Part of the next wave of Office-related products, Microsoft Project 2010 helps customers reduce costs, improve efficiency, and simplify project and portfolio management.

Microsoft Corp. announced that the public beta of Microsoft Project 2010 will become available later this year, and revealed the product’s enhanced project and portfolio management features for the first time. Microsoft also disclosed packaging information that streamlines the number of Microsoft Project editions from four to three. Starting today, customers can pre-register for the Microsoft Project 2010 beta at http://www.microsoft.com/project/2010.

“Microsoft Project 2010 is the most significant release of Microsoft Project in over a decade,” said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of the Information Worker Product Management Group at Microsoft. “The fresh, simple and intuitive features of Microsoft Project 2010 will enable teams and organizations of all sizes to select and deliver the right projects on time and on budget.”

Microsoft Project 2010 builds on the Microsoft Office Project 2007 foundation with flexible work management solutions and the right collaboration tools for occasional and professional project managers, and includes a pathway to more advanced project and portfolio management capabilities as business needs evolve.

The release of Microsoft Project 2010 comes at a time when the industry is gaining steam. According to IDC, the project and portfolio management market will see growth as companies will rely on project and portfolio management tools to analyze their current and future project performance.*

Microsoft Project 2010 helps organizations reduce costs by enabling smarter and more informed decisions about budgeting and resource allocation. Through a dramatically enhanced user experience, Microsoft Project 2010 also drives team productivity with integration across familiar Microsoft technologies including Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft Exchange Server. This integration allows a powerful business collaboration platform and proven project and portfolio management to result in a familiar, connected environment for customers to manage the simplest or the most complex projects.

Microsoft will release three editions of Microsoft Project: Microsoft Project Standard 2010, Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and Microsoft Project Server 2010. Key enhancements designed to appeal to both IT administrators and end users include these:

– Unified project and portfolio management with a common user interface and experience across the project life cycle; improved workflow controls that can be customized; better demand management to capture all types of work requests across an organization; and powerful reporting and business intelligence capabilities
– Improved productivity with effective collaboration built on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010; enhanced collaboration and reporting; integration with Microsoft Outlook 2007 and 2010; and simplified time reporting
– Enhanced user experience and adoption with the familiar Microsoft Office Fluent user interface and new intuitive design; user-controlled scheduling for greater flexibility when creating simple or detailed project plans; the addition of a new timeline view for sequential overview of project schedules; and new Web-based project editing
– A scalable and connected platform with integration across related Microsoft technologies for connected and familiar work management on the PC, mobile phone and browser; better interoperability with third-party systems from updates to the Project Server Interface; 64-bit compatibility for performance improvement; and removal of ActiveX dependency for improved security and ease of deployment across an organization

Microsoft Project 2010 is part of the next wave of Microsoft Office-related products, which includes Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Microsoft Visio 2010, and is designed to give people a consistent experience across devices, making it easier to create and edit documents and collaborate from any location.

Availability

All Microsoft Project Conference registered attendees will receive a free licensed copy of Microsoft Project Professional 2010 after launch; more information is available at http://www.keystoneondemand.com/tour/content/microsoft_project_2010_training. Microsoft Project 2010 will be available in the first half of 2010. More information about Microsoft Project 2010 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/project.

* Source: IDC: “Worldwide Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Applications 2009-2013 Forecast: PPM Remains a Profitability Engine in Recession,” Doc # 219381, August 2009

Source: Microsoft Corp.

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Panda Security ranks the most dangerous computer threats of the last 20 years

September 13, 2009 · Filed Under Internet Software, Security Software, Software News · Comment 

Panda Security, the Cloud Security Company, announced that PandaLabs, the company’s laboratory for detecting and analyzing malware, has issued a ranking of the most dangerous threats to home and business users of the last 20 years. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the company, experts from PandaLabs wanted to research the most insidious malware threats that have surfaced in the past two decades.

The following threats have been selected for the notoriety they achieved through widespread epidemic and the damage caused:

– Friday 13 or Jerusalem: Created in Israel in 1988 and first reported in Jerusalem, this supposedly commemorated the 40th anniversary of Israel. Whenever the date was Friday 13, it would delete all programs run on an infected computer.
– Barrotes: The first well-known Spanish virus appeared in 1993. Once on the computer, it would remain hidden until January 5, when it would activate displaying just a series of bars on the monitor.
– Cascade or Falling Letters: Created in Germany in 1997, this virus would make the letters on the screen fall in a cascade whenever it infected a computer.
– CIH or Chernobyl: This virus was produced in Taiwan in 1998, and took just one week to propagate and infect thousands of computers.
– Melissa: First appeared on March 26, 1999 in the USA. This ultra-smart malicious code used social engineering to spread, with a message that read “Here is that document you asked for. . . don’t show anyone else ;-) ”
– ILoveYou or Loveletter: So famous, it hardly needs introduction. This romantic virus emerged from the Philippines in 2000. With the subject ‘ILoveYou’ it infected millions of computers around the world and even hit organizations like the Pentagon.
– Klez: Created in 2001 in Germany, it only infected computers on the 13th of odd months.
– Nimda: The name is basically ‘admin’ spelled backwards, as it was able to create administrator privileges on infected computers. It originated in China on September 18, 2001.
– SQLSlammer: This was another major headache for companies. It first appeared on January 25, 2003, and affected more than half a million servers in just a few days.
– Blaster: This virus, created in the USA on August 11, 2003, contained a message in its code: “I just want to say love you, San!!” (We still don’t know who ‘San’ is), and “Billy gates, why do you make this possible? Stop making money and fix your software”.
– Sobig: This German virus was famous in the summer of 2003. The F variant was the most damaging, it attacked on August 19 of the same year and generated more than 1 million copies of itself.
– Bagle: This emerged on January 18, 2004, and has been one of the most prolific viruses with respect to the number of variants.
– Netsky: This worm also came from Germany in 2004 and exploited vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. Its creator was also responsible for the notorious Sasser virus.
– Conficker: Last on the list and most recent, it appeared in November 2008. Oddly enough, if your keyboard is configured in Ukrainian, it won’t affect you. . .

Source: Panda Security

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67% of French organisations hit by one or more data breach incidents within last twelve months

September 11, 2009 · Filed Under Security Software, Software News · Comment 

Research from Ponemon Institute Reveals that only 9 Percent of Respondents have an Overall Encryption Plan or Strategy Applied Consistently across the Enterprise

PGP Corporation, a global leader in enterprise data protection, has announced the results of its inaugural annual study by The Ponemon Institute, identifying the steps French organisations are taking in order to safeguard their confidential data. The 2009 Annual Study: France Enterprise Encryption Trends study, which polled 414 IT security professionals at enterprises and public sector organisations, found that 67 percent of French organisations have been hit by at least one data breach incident within the last year, with 18 percent having been hit by more than five incidents. A massive 92 percent of the data breaches were never disclosed as there was no legal or regulatory requirement to do so. Despite the large number of data breach incidents, 71 percent responded that data protection was a ‘very important’ or ‘important’ part of their risk management strategy, with protecting sensitive or confidential information in motion (transfer) or at rest (storage) their top priority.

“It is very encouraging to see that 71 percent of respondents view data protection as a critical part of their overall risk management plan,” said Dr Larry Ponemon, Chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute. “However, the low percentage of French organisations having an overall encryption strategy in place or using a platform approach to encryption suggests that there are still considerable improvements to be made. The focus for 2010 needs to be on applying a strategic approach to data security across the enterprise.”

The following provides an overview of the key findings of the 2009 France Encryption Trends report:

– Only 9 percent of organisations have an overall encryption plan or strategy that is applied consistently across the entire enterprise.  Forty-five percent have no encryption plan or strategy whatsoever while the remaining 46 percent adjust their encryption plan to fit different applications and data types, or use encryption for certain types of sensitive/confidential information such as social security numbers or credit card accounts.
– Encryption is primarily used to comply with privacy or data security regulations (65 percent) or to limit the brand and reputation damage linked to data breaches (43 percent). With regard to the regulations and regulatory bodies most influential in organisations’ decision to implement encryption, the French Data Protection Commission and French National Privacy Law come out on top with 66 percent and 62 percent respectively. International regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley have a very minor impact (4 percent).
– Eleven percent of organisations use a platform approach to managing encryption solutions across the enterprise. Eight-two percent of these organisations believe the encryption platform increases the effectiveness and efficiency of their IT security programme. Reduced operational costs, consistent policy enforcement across applications and integration with third-party encryption applications were specifically listed as the primary benefits.
– Fifty-six percent of respondents use encryption technology at some level and the remaining 44 percent are in the process of introducing it. Encryption is most widely used to protect data on databases, VPNs and file servers. Mainframe and USB flash drive encryption are the least deployed applications.
– Seventy-one percent of organisations have a fully executed or just launched implementation of data archive and e-discovery systems programme. The figure is just slightly lower for the implementation of network-based data leak detection and prevention technologies (70 percent). More than half of respondents (58 percent) have just launched or fully executed an endpoint device control technology.
– Sixty-seven percent of respondents revealed that they had been hit by at least one data breach in the past 12 months. Of the companies that experienced 2 to 5 or more than 5 data breach incidents, none of them had implemented a company-wide strategy governing the use of data encryption technologies.
– A majority of respondents (58 percent) believe the ability to install a management infrastructure once, and then add additional encryption applications as needed is ‘very important’ or ‘important’. Other important features include the automation of key encryption management activities (55 percent) and enforcement of encryption policy across all applications.
– Encryption solutions are seen as a security priority for 39 percent of respondents. 29 percent also indicate that key management for encryption solutions is earmarked amongst the security initiatives in the current budget and accounts for just over 21 percent of overall spending on encryption
– Forty-five percent of respondents consider loss or theft of confidential or sensitive data one of the major security threats of the next 12 to 24 months. Despite this, 68 percent do not encrypt sensitive or confidential information on mobile data-bearing devices such as PDAs and smartphones, only 4 percent use encryption on USB flash keys and 47 percent are ‘unsure’ or ‘not confident’ about their ability to protect confidential or sensitive information in motion.

“The Ponemon data demonstrates that compliance and fear of reputational or brand damage are driving French organizations to prioritize data protection,” commented Phillip Dunkelberger, president and CEO of PGP Corporation. “Encryption solutions, when coherently and consistently applied across the enterprise to confidential and sensitive information, can protect data at rest, in motion and in use.”

For more information or to receive a complete copy of this study, visit: www.encryptionreports.com

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Apple premieres iTunes 9

September 10, 2009 · Filed Under Downloads, Internet Software, Software News, iTunes and iPod Software · Comment 

Featuring iTunes LP, Home Sharing, Genius Mixes & Improved Syncing

Apple introduced iTunes 9, the latest version of the world’s most popular software application to purchase, manage and play media, packed with innovative features such as iTunes LP, Home Sharing and Genius Mixes, as well as a redesigned store and improved syncing. iTunes 9 makes it easier than ever to discover, purchase and enjoy your music, movies, TV shows, and apps for iPhone(TM) and iPod touch from Apple’s revolutionary App Store. Plus, Home Sharing now lets you easily transfer songs, movies and TV shows to other computers in your home.

“iTunes 9 is a great iTunes release, with innovative features that make using iTunes better than ever and iTunes content richer than ever,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iTunes LP, for example, lets artists share more of their creativity with fans and gives music lovers the feeling of being immersed in an entire album with art, lyrics, liner notes, photos and videos.”

iTunes LP is the next evolution of the music album delivering a rich, immersive experience for select albums on the iTunes Store by combining beautiful design with expanded visual features like live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more. iTunes LP debuts today with albums including Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me,” The Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” and Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King: iTunes Pass.” The new iTunes Extras provides a similar experience for movies on iTunes with features including documentaries, deleted scenes, interviews and interactive galleries. iTunes Extras is now available for select movies including “Twilight,” “Batman Begins,” “WALL-E,” “Iron Man” and “The Da Vinci Code.” Customers can enjoy iTunes LP and iTunes Extras on a Mac or PC.

iTunes 9 also introduces Home Sharing, which lets you easily transfer music, movies and TV shows among up to five authorized computers in your home. Family members can now view up to five iTunes libraries on their home network, see only the portion of these libraries they don’t already have, import their favorite content directly to their own libraries, and automatically add new purchases from other computers into their library.

The incredibly popular Genius feature gets even better with Genius Mixes which are created using the results of over 27 million music libraries with over 54 billion songs that have been submitted and analyzed by Genius. The new Genius Mixes feature is like having a “Genius” DJ that automatically generates up to 12 endless mixes of songs from your iTunes library that go great together.

With improved syncing in iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3.1, you can now organize your iPhone apps right in iTunes and they will automatically appear on your iPhone with the same layout. Plus, syncing music, photos, movies and TV shows is easier than ever with the added ability to sync music by artist and genre and sync photos by Events and Faces. The iTunes Store on iPhone now features precut ringtone downloads with over 20,000 ringtones priced at just $1.29.

iTunes 9 is available immediately as a free download at www.itunes.com.

The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 7,500 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video. With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

Source: Apple

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