WatchGuard launches new family of E-mail security appliances for small to medium sized businesses
WatchGuard, Leader of Unified Threat Management Appliances, Expands Offerings; Unveils New Family of E-mail and Spam Security Appliances
WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, launched a new family of extensible content security solutions specifically designed for small to medium sized businesses. These new appliances fall under the umbrella of the WatchGuard XCS platform and provide advanced protection against spam, viruses, spyware and malware, as well as reliable, always-on e-mail security and full featured centralized management and reporting.
“Small to medium sized businesses stand at the crossroads of being the most at risk to an e-mail based threat, and yet, the most challenged to have state of the art e-mail and spam protection,” said Bryan Nairn, Senior Product Manager at WatchGuard Technologies. “Until now, these businesses had few options for spam and malware protection. With WatchGuard, they can have a no compromise, fully featured messaging protection solution at an affordable price point.”
The WatchGuard family of XCS appliances for SMBs consists of the WatchGuard XCS 170, the XCS 370 and the high-performance XCS 570 series. All of these appliances come complete with the WatchGuard e-mail security suite, which provides advanced protection against spam, phishing, viruses, malware and other forms of e-mail based threats. Additionally, they all sport advanced management and reporting capabilities, which include archiving, on-box reporting, messaging logs, customizable granular policies and reports, TLS encryption and message redundancy.
Furthermore, these WatchGuard XCS appliances can take advantage of WatchGuard’s innovative in-the-cloud security technology, ReputationAuthority. With 99.99 percent accuracy, ReputationAuthority eliminates up to 98.3 percent of spam e-mail before it ever gets to a small business network by use of DNS blacklists, IP traffic volume, behavior analysis and content inspection. Given that spam e-mail is a major carrier of viruses, phishing and blended threats, having ReputationAuthority pre-screen and eliminate this unwanted traffic makes networks, applications and data better protected as part of WatchGuard’s defense-in-depth architecture.
For larger businesses with up to 1,000 users, WatchGuard offers the XCS 570 appliance, which provides advanced messaging security for businesses that truly require enterprise-grade protection. For these customers, the WatchGuard XCS 570 provides bi-directional protection from internal and external threats, as well as data loss prevention to keep confidential information from escaping out of organization e-mail boundaries. To keep mail from ever being lost due to failures or other events, the XCS 570 provides queue replication, a first for a product at this price point. As well, the XCS 570 includes compliance dictionaries, content filtering, outbound attachment control and scanning, outbound content scanning, optional third-party e-mail encryption, e-profiling, instant-on data loss prevention, and clustering – all making the XCS 570 an unbeatable solution for small to mid-sized organizations.
Pricing and Availability
The WatchGuard XCS series of appliances will be available worldwide from WatchGuard channel partners within 30 days. The WatchGuard XCS 170 starts at $2,475, the WatchGuard XCS 370 is $5,500 and the WatchGuard XCS 570 is $8,500; all have no per user license fees.
Source: www.watchguard.com
Panda Cloud Antivirus emerges from Beta, bringing free, proven PC Protection to the masses
Panda Security goes beyond the basics with world’s most lightweight and complete free anti-virus service for home users
Panda Cloud Antivirus, the industry’s first and most comprehensive free cloud anti-virus service that protects consumers PCs against the latest malware, spyware, rootkits and viruses, emerged from beta after six months of user testing. To experience the expanded performance and support capabilities of Cloud Antivirus, as well as benefit from both online and offline security protection, consumers can download the free service from Panda Security at http://www.cloudantivirus.com/.
“Since the beta release of Panda Cloud Antivirus in April, we have been judiciously testing our cloud-based protection model, making upgrades in security and performance, and listening to our user community,” said Juan Santana, CEO of Panda Security. “With Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0, we’ve really changed the game, providing our users the most powerful and lightweight free protection available on the market today.”
Recognized for being “the first anti-virus without an update button”, Panda Cloud Antivirus delivers the fastest protection against the newest and most dangerous viruses. This is made possible thanks to Collective Intelligence, Panda’s advanced system that gathers malware information from its global community of users in the cloud to automatically identify and classify new malware strains in minutes. Collective Intelligence combines local detection technologies with real-time cloud-scanning to maximize protection while minimizing resource consumption. Available in 11 languages, Panda Cloud Antivirus works under Windows XP (32 bits), Windows Vista (32bits and 64bits) and Windows 7 (32bits and 64bits) operating systems and only consumes 20 MB of RAM.
According to a recent PC World review of free anti-virus offerings:
“Among all of the free anti-virus software we tested for our latest roundup, Panda Cloud Antivirus was the best app at blocking known malware. The approach is intended to take advantage of the latest signatures without the need for signature-database updates-and if its excellent showing at detecting malware in AV-Test.org’s zoo of half a million samples is any indication, the approach works. Panda’s app produced an impressive 99.4 percent overall detection rate.”
Notable new features and upgrades to Cloud Antivirus from the initial beta include:
– New and improved interface makes Cloud Antivirus even easier to use
– Improved performance with cache optimization and memory management lowers CPU utilization and memory consumption
– New website and Collective Intelligence Monitor give users access to a list of malware from the community that is updated in real-time
– Online support forums now available at http://www.cloudantivirus.com/forum/index.jspa
Source: Panda Security
WatchGuard announces Top Threats to education
Education-related Threats Expected to Rise – According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 25 percent of all cyber-security breaches involve schools, and although a majority of educators believe that their campus networks are more secure now than last year, WatchGuard predicts that significant breaches, vulnerabilities and threats will continue to plague schools and universities. WatchGuard deems the following to be the leading network, application and data threats to education:
– Malware & Spyware - As students and faculty utilize the Web for education as well as entertainment purposes, many unwittingly expose themselves to drive-by downloads, or corrupted websites, which injects malicious forms of software on their computers. Once infected, they risk becoming victims of identity theft or loss of personal information via spyware and keyloggers.
– Viruses – Today, e-mail remains to be one of the primary vectors for delivering viruses. Unfortunately, a recent survey showed that 27 percent of users fail to keep their antivirus signatures up to date. With viruses taking on innovative polymorphic properties, antivirus signatures alone may not be enough to stop the next wave of new viruses to come.
– Botnets – It has been estimated that 15 to 20 percent of all school and university computers connected to the Internet may be part of a botnet. As part of a botnet, school and university systems may be used in a variety of unknown exploits, including spam delivery, denial of service attacks, click-fraud, identity theft and more.
– Phishing – Phishing scams continue to get more sophisticated and selective, with students being specifically targeted. A recent report states that phishing attacks via social networks achieve a success rate of over 70 percent, which indicates that a majority of students are vulnerable to phishing scams.
– Hacking - In a recent survey of education IT professionals, 23 percent ranked student hackers as one of their greatest threats to their network security. Whether the hacks are designed to alter grades or for more sinister purposes, student hackers continue to push the envelope for network and data protection.
– Access Control – Usage of mobile devices and wireless access continues to plague network administrators. Concerns of thwarting unauthorized user access to education IT resources is top of mind with many administrators. As use of mobile devices escalates, schools will face
increasing challenges in managing authorized network access.
– Social Networks – The number one threat to school and university networks is social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace. Unfortunately, social networks act as an ideal platform to launch a myriad of attacks against students and faculty, including spam, viruses, malware, phishing and more. Adding to this, socially engineered attacks are often extremely successful due to the “trusted” environment that social networks create.
– Because of the sensitive nature of student and faculty information, such as social security numbers, credit card information, and other personal identifying data at risk, WatchGuard recommends that schools and universities review their security controls and IT policies regularly to ensure they have the most effective, up-to-date security solutions in place.
Source: WatchGuard Technologies
VASCO Data Security launches DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon
VASCO Data Security Inc. announced the launch of ‘DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon’. DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon offers companies of all size a cost effective way of protecting their Windows PCs which are connected to the corporate network, against unauthorised access.
With the availability of ‘DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon’ VASCO also announces the availability of IDENTIKEY Server Enterprise Edition. IDENTIKEY is VASCO’s comprehensive authentication server for network and application security offering OTP and e-signature capability.
IDENTIKEY Server Enterprise Edition
With IDENTIKEY Server Enterprise Edition, VASCO makes IDENTIKEY based strong authentication available to a vaster range of enterprises from large companies to smaller enterprises, starting at 5 users. VASCO’s IDENTIKEY offering consists of a number of standard packages:
Standard Edition: includes authentication through RADIUS on a single server
Gold Edition: comprises authentication through RADIUS and on IIS-based applications and can be installed on a Primary server with replication on a backup server
Enterprise Edition: includes authentication through RADIUS and on IIS-based applications, as well as internet hosted business applications and offers DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon. This edition includes licenses for 7 servers.
The solution is made extremely convenient and simple, which makes it suitable for VASCO’s channel partners to implement and straightforward for the SME to use. Furthermore the solution is highly scalable: applications and users can easily be added as the company grows.
Traditionally companies start to secure their remote access with DIGIPASS strong user authentication. The use of static password, the weakest link when it comes down to security, is replaced with a dynamic One-Time Password (OTP) generated by DIGIPASS®.
As their understanding of strong authentication grows, they look to secure other applications with the same DIGIPASS, like portals, e-commerce, online applications.
Large enterprises increasingly look at authentication to secure their business critical applications including CRM, ERP, payroll systems, SaaS-applications,… These enterprises often have offices all over the world and largely depend on network infrastructure to communicate between offices. IDENTIKEY Enterprise Edition is ideally suited for distributed environments: it can be installed on up to 7 servers offering a high availability solution for authentication and supporting the distributed working environments of large enterprises.
IDENTIKEY is based on VASCO’s core VACMAN® technology and customers can choose from a wide range of DIGIPASS authenticators, both hardware and software based, which best fit the need of the end-user.
DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon
DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon offers companies of all size a cost effective way of protecting their Windows PCs which are connected to the corporate network, against unauthorised access. Even when laptops are not connected to the LAN, they remain protected, increasing the security of data stored on them in case they go missing or get stolen.
‘DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon’, a feature of IDENTIKEY Enterprise Edition, is installed as a small software module on the end user’s Windows environment. It can be installed on desktop PCs and laptops that are connected to the corporate network. As soon as ‘DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon’ is setup, it replaces the original login window by a version that will send the login credentials to IDENTIKEY Server for verification.
When laptops are used outside the corporate network, for instance on the road or at home, the log-on module will work in unconnected mode, allowing the same strong authentication functionality as in connected mode. If the computer works in unconnected mode, the login credentials are validated against a local database of one-time passwords. These OTPs are generated when the PC is working in connected mode, and they are securely encrypted and stored. With thousands of OTPs generated upfront, the user can work for several weeks in unconnected mode.
“The need for authentication is only growing. With IDENTIKEY and a single DIGIPASS, enterprises can secure the access to corporate networks, applications and business critical data. With the extension of the IDENTIKEY product-line with standard packaged solutions and adding DIGIPASS Authentication for Windows Logon, we are able to reach out to more enterprises, ranging from the 5-employee enterprise to the multi-national with several offices worldwide,” says Jan Valcke, President and COO at VASCO Data Security.
8 safety tips for teens when Hanging Out online
ID Experts Supports National Protect Your Identity Week
Online socializing–Facebook, instant messaging and texting–is the new “hanging out” among teens. When teens interact with friends online, they often share personal information that makes them vulnerable for identity theft. Scam artists are relying on teens to be impulsive and naive to steal personal information for their own gain.
To kick off National Protect Your Identity Week, October 17-24, ID Experts offers eight safety tips for teenagers when online, to protect their identity and their financial future when it’s time to apply for that first credit card or buy that first car:
1. Don’t give out your numbers. This includes your social security number, driver’s license number, debit card, phone card, insurance card, library card, medical ID card, or credit card.
2. Don’t post your personal information online. Nearly 50% of Facebook users put enough personal information–including full name, full date of birth, address, phone number, or school–to enable thieves to fill out credit card applications.(i)
3. Don’t participate in email or social networking quizzes. These seemingly fun personality quizzes can access your personal profile information–your religion, political affiliation, wall posts–that could be used against you.(ii)
4. Don’t be specific about where you are or where you are going. Naming your school, sports team, clubs, or where you work could leave a trail for an identity thief.
5. Set your profile to “private.” Be in control of who can view your content. Only add people you know to your Friends list. A friend of a friend might not be someone you know.
6. Use a different, isolated email just for social networking. Never use the “trusted” email you use to communicate directly with your friends, coworkers and classmates.
7. Secure your connections. Password-protect your phone. Find out from your carrier if additional security features (encryption) or software (a malware protector) are available. Don’t access your social networking sites or email from public Internet connections or public computers.
8. Be selective about what pictures you text or post on your page. Is it a photo you would want your parents to see? Treat your Internet activity like a digital tattoo. Once you post something, it cannot be taken back. Even if you erase the posting, there are cached versions and backups on servers across the country.
(i) http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2007/08/16/12548/
(ii) Identity Theft Resource Center, 2009
Source: idexpertscorp.com