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Koobface-like worm targets Skype users

starbuck50 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:06:29 +0000

New malware could spell trouble for users of IP telephony service

Security experts have warned Skype users that new malware similar to the infamous Koobface worm that caused havoc on Facebook is now targeting the popular IP telephony service.

Trend Micro said that it detected the Koobface-like variant as TROJ_VILSEL.EA, a piece of malware designed to steal contact lists, phone numbers, locations and other information that forms part of a Skype profile.

“It is also capable of using Skype’s built-in instant messaging capability to send links to people on the affected user’s contact list,” wrote Jonathan Leopando, a member of Trend’s technical communications team, on the Trend Micro blog. “These links all go to affected domains with copies of TROJ_VILSEL.EA.”

However, Leopando explained that the new worm is not actually a member of the Koobface family.

“Both the malicious code and network behaviour differ from previously known Koobface variants. It would not be a great surprise, however, if the actual Koobface cyber criminals produce their own variant with this behaviour,” he said.

“This development only highlights the ingenuity of cyber criminals in going after targets using tried-and-tested ways to spread their malicious creations.”

Source: V3.co.uk

Protecting Your Identity

lavasoftresellerpartners — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:02:31 +0000

Think identity theft or fraud can’t happen to you? Think again. Scamming for information is nothing new, but the Web provides a fresh means of fraud. The result: identity theft is a fast-growing, serious offense and it could affect you.

Identity theft tops the list of all fraud complaints received by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Consumers reported fraud losses totaling over $1.2 billion U.S., according to the FTC’s annual Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data report. And that means protecting private information is a top priority for anyone who relies on the Internet for communicating personal or financial data.

How exactly does it work? When a criminal gathers enough personally identifiable information about you, that person can take over your identity to commit a range of crimes for their own personal gain.

A variety of techniques – including old-fashioned thievery and cyber scams – can be used to get past your defenses. According to ID Theft Protect’s website, a leading resource for consumers on identity fraud, identity theft, and data privacy, the five most popular methods of identity fraud and theft are:

Application fraud: using stolen or counterfeit documents to open an account in your name.
Account ID take-over: using your personal information to take over your bank or credit accounts.
Mail non-receipt card fraud: stealing new or replaced bank and credit cards as they are in the process of being mailed to you by your card company.
Phishing e-mail fraud: posing as a legitimate institution in order to capture personal or financial information by e-mail.
Pharming fraud: redirecting you to a bogus website in order to capture credentials, like your online banking username and password.

While there may not be one foolproof way to protect your private information from these theft attempts, there are precautions you can, and should, be practicing. Below are basic guidelines we have compiled to help you reduce the risk of identity theft, whether you are online or offline.

Monitor your credit closely. Your credit report contains information about your credit accounts and bill paying history so you can be tipped off when someone is impersonating you. Watch for suspicious signs, like accounts you did not open.
Keep records of your financial data and transactions. Review your statements regularly for any activity or charges you did not make.
Install security software (firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware software) and keep it up-to-date as a safety measure against online intrusions.
Use an updated Web browser to make sure you’re taking advantage of its current safety features. Consider using an alternate browser (like Firefox or Opera) which may lower your risk of malware attacks.
Be wary of e-mail attachments and links in both e-mail and instant messages. Use caution even when the message appears to come from a safe sender, as identity information in messages can easily be spoofed.
Store sensitive data securely. Just as you keep sensitive paper documents under lock and key, secure sensitive online information. This can be done through file encryption software.
Shred documents (both paper and electronic) that contain personal or financial information before discarding them. This prevents dumpster diving and, in the online world, the ability for hackers to bypass information that has not been permanently deleted from your computer.
Protect your PII. Be cautious about giving out your personally identifiable information (PII) to anyone. Find out why the information is needed, and if it’s absolutely necessary to give out. Be careful about the details you provide about yourself online, such as on social networking sites.
Stay alert to the latest scams. Awareness and caution are effective methods to counter fraud. Share security tips you learn with friends and family.

There are a number of other online resources with more information on how to protect your identity, as well as actions to take if you think your private information has been compromised. Take a look at the practical tips and resources available at fraud prevention websites, like the U.S. federal government’s OnGuardOnline.gov and the non-profit organization Identity Theft Resource Center.

TrendWatch

Dave Martinez — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:39:37 +0000

Here is a fun little widget from Trend that helps you find out the safety of a given site.

The unsung heros of innovation

Stephanie N. Mehta, Assistant managing editor — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:00:08 +0000

To stay ahead, companies need to find ways to keep engineers motivated and happy.

By Eva Chen, CEO, Trend Micro

Chen uses empathy and the occasional pajama party to inspire engineers. Photo: Trend Micro

In the high-tech industry, “innovation” is part of our everyday vocabulary and one of the main reasons why many of us have chosen this field. And innovation is why, even after two decades, I get up every morning, excited about how our ideas can improve the way we live or do business.

I’m constantly asked how I came up with a certain idea for a product or technology, and how I managed to bring them to reality – that is, actual products that someone can purchase.

My answer might seem a little mundane but it’s the truth: It happens through the support, intelligence and dedication of my engineers. Ideas are great; vision is priceless but at Trend Micro, our engineers are who take the abstract ideas, visions, dreams and create something real, tangible, usable.

It’s for this reason why as CEO (and, I say with pride, former engineer), one of my most important roles is to motivate and inspire the engineering teams to create the best security products available in the industry. My approach is pretty straightforward and I follow three main principles in working with my engineers:

Put yourself in their shoes

Perhaps this is easy for me – you can take me out of the engineering lab, but you’ll never take the engineer out of me! I was one of the first engineers at Trend Micro, 20 years ago. Before that, I worked as a product manager for Acer. And even though I studied philosophy in school, my favorite subject was logic, and that’s exactly what most engineers are: Logical.

One of the ways I appeal to my engineers’ logical side is to help them gather the information they want about customer needs.

You see, engineers never tackle a project without rhyme or reason – there has to be a specific purpose, a linear need, a definite goal. For this reason, I created the role of product managers – those closest to the customers — and designed it so that the product managers work directly with the engineering teams, feeding them the types of customer information that drives product innovation. I even started facilitating “Pajama Parties,” fun but productive meetings (sometimes held in my own home) between the product managers and the project managers/engineers. These “parties” are meant to motivate discussion and mutual understanding of each function’s roles.

Allow them to innovate with freedom and creativity

Years back, we asked the engineers to create their own “Top 10 ‘No-Nos’ for Executives.” High on their list was “Do Not Force a Schedule on the Engineers.” I take this to heart; I believe that as a company, we need to give our engineer room to create and the best way to do that is to reduce interference, especially from executives who may have limited understanding of an engineering project.

I encourage creativity through internal programming and solution design contests, which have become popular corporate events. Winners have the opportunity to demonstrate the designs during our annual executives’ global summit.

We also host contests on a wider scale throughout the Asia Pacific region, which gives me an opportunity to meet and recruit some of the brightest young student engineers just on the cusp of launching their careers. These contests are a way for engineers to break out of the daily pattern, allowing them to create with freedom, but still have the structure and boundary in which engineers feel most at home.

Give them public recognition and honor

Engineers are not attention-seekers. They are most comfortable within the world of computer codes and programming. This is why I always make it a point to shine the limelight on them whenever we have a major new product launch or upgrade. They deserve the recognition. I also try to include their participation within the launch itself so they can see first-hand the final product.

It’s also important for me to give them my personal time and attention, often gathering small, temporary, ad hoc teams of them together for special projects. We have about 1000 engineers and it’s impossible to know every name and face. By putting together smaller teams made up of different talent sets, I am able to get to know them better.

Trend Micro over the years has launched many new products in new areas, but our vision has remained consistent: To make the world safe for the exchange of digital information. Thanks to our engineers, we’re making it happen.

Chen is co-founder and CEO of Trend Micro, a Tokyo-based company that specializes in Internet content security.

Festi Botnet Joins the Big 5

Bill Mullins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Symantec’s MessageLabs Intelligence, has just reported that the Cutwail, Bagle, Grum, and Rustock bo

Zombies and Tech Stuff

lizr128 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:47:05 +0000

Two quick updates. So glad my friend Richard Kamins acknowledged Willard’s reception and award. Still looking for coverage in the Middletown Press and Hartford Courant. That’s too much to hope for, I know.

Entries for the next couple of days may be shorter than usual because on top of everything else, I’m preparing to talk to a Read to Succeed class on Wednesday and have piles of material to organize. At the moment I can’t think because all the windows in my house started shaking when the propane delivery truck fired up the pumps.

Zombies: Well, this should be called social networking, but zombies are so “in” now, and it’s great to have them linked to Twitter and Facebook. This Trend Micro report has too much information, but the basic advice holds: Be suspicious of links even if they look like they come from a friend; update your web browser and keep Windows current, which can be a total nuisance. Adobe seems to be the biggest problem right now. Firefox yelled at me last week, saying, “You must download a new version of Adobe now!” Of course I was in the midst of something important but stopped to reload. It’s always good to obey your web browser. And I guess I shouldn’t complain because Firefox always leads in security protection. So I won’t throw a fit the next time it says “updating.”

More Zombies Just to make everyone feel really insecure, here’s a link to an essay on programs that claim to offer security protection (for a fee) and don’t do a thing.

The following scam is great, though the guy could have written a much better opener – what’s a triple payload email?

But the advice is sound. I never open attachments in my email until the stuff appears in the window below. And then if it’s got a long string of folks who have passed it along, I delete without opening. I don’t know why but the computer slowed to a crawl while I was looking at the site. Time to reboot.

‘Glitch’: Maybe this one should be called “gremlins.” Webster Bank delayed posting transactions for an hour this morning. The reason was unknown at noon, and remained that way when I checked the Hartford Courant’s web site at 8:30 p.m.

Computers: Here’s a truly spooky factoid. When using a laptop on electric power, one should remove the battery, per Slate. Hang on. … Five minutes later. Well, that was an adventure! I think that may have been the second time I’ve ever removed the battery in the three? four? years I’ve owned this computer. The first time it was because the little thing had caught a virus, and I couldn’t shut it off any other way. I wound up having to have the entire drive rebuilt and the idiot kid wiped my email. This time removal took a while because I couldn’t find the switch. And then the battery popped out and fell on the floor, hitting the base of the lamp on the way down. It scared the cat more than anything. I won’t check to see if it still works till I need to use it. After all it’s only a 25 plus minute drive to the closest place to buy another one.

It’s probably just a coincidence, but the letter “n” seems to be sticking. I can still type, but it takes far more pressure. A little compressed air should take care of that problem. Cleaning the keyboard is always an experience. The usual results are equal portions of Isis fur, my hair, and dust. Yuck.

Texting: I am so much in support of Britain’s approach to texting while driving that results in a casualty. The judges over there mete out good, stiff prison sentences. The charge is “death by dangerous driving.” The prosecutor complained in the example cited by the Times that the 21 months was too lenient. Part of the reason may have been that the young woman wasn’t actually texting or reading a text at the time of the accident, though she had been doing both over the previous hour. In defense of the lenient sentence, the killer’s cousin said she didn’t think the young woman “realized the danger she was causing.” If that’s the case, the killer should never have been allowed behind the wheel of a car. Ever. I hope similar laws are enacted all over this country. Since we don’t even have consistent helmet laws for motorcyclists, I’m sure I’m expecting too much.

Video: The hot new thing among the folks in the writers union seems to be YouTube promotions This one disappoints because we don’t see the insides of the places. But if she really slept with all those men, she’s really, really, really lucky to be alive. The sound quality isn’t all that great, either.

Audio: A shout-out to my former colleague Kevin Hunt for making audio technology understandable, even if I don’t have enough space in my house or the money in my checking account to put even a few of the pieces he reviews.

Upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows 7 Release Candidate - PC 1 of 3

techkwandos — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:27:20 +0000

The computer is a Dell XPS 630i. Nothing unusual, no special hardware. This is my gaming box so it has a Nvidia GTX 285. I had Windows 7 Release Candidate (7RC) on it since I bought it.

There wasn’t much to prep as I knew this day will come so I didn’t install much on it. And over the past year or two, I have progressively move the important things (documents, music, family pictures, etc.) to the NAS. There were a few software installed, nothing I couldn’t re-download so I just made a note. I did exported the Internet Explorer favorites and cookies.

Opened the Windows 7 Professional (7Pro) box. My first question was: 32 or 64bit? I never did tried any of the 64bit Windows primarily because apps and software had been behind for years. I never thought they’ve caught up yet. More on that in a bit. But 64 bit it is!

Pop the disc. Error! 64bit installation cannot run off of my 32bit 7RC. Okay. Reboot from disc.

The installation is actually painless. It took a little while but it configured everything, drives, network, even screen resolution. I still can’t get over how long it took Microsoft to get Windows installation routine to self configure screen resolution. Geesh.

Throughout the Windows 7 beta and RC, one of the sore point for me was antivirus. Microsoft recently released Security Essentials. I’ve used it for a few weeks. Honestly I don’t know how well it worked as there is no track record. But it is generally well-behaved, doesn’t bother me much. And it didn’t slow down the machine even when I’m doing mass copy or play games. So I’m ditching Norton, Trend Micro, etc.

Downloaded and installed MS Security Essentials. It updated and was ready. Sweet.

Adobe Reader. No issue.

DVD43. Oops. This puppy does not run in 64 bit. Web search revealed that this is a known issue and no fix in sight (some say not likely to have one). Hmmm… Doesn’t Win7 have XP Mode or something? Went to MS and found it here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Downloaded and installed XP Mode, then Virtual PC, configured one. It took quite a while but was interesting enough. Redownloaded class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”Redownloaded “>DVD43, installed. Pop a DVD in the drive. Hmmm…. not working. DVD43 running inside the Virtual PC cannot detect the DVD… at this point, it was 2 hours into the whole thing… bah, I was right, with the stuff I need to run, 64bit is just going to cause more problem. Back to 32bit!

Pop the disc in, reboot, start from scratch. … some time later … I was back where I was. This time DVD43 worked fine, as are Handbrake, PDF Creator, etc. Ran Windows Update, 7 patches down and it is all set.

Aside from the 64 vs 32bit thing, it was relatively painless.

Trends Threat Tracker - Interesting or Scareware?

davep56 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:05:53 +0000

Yesterday I got a tweet about the new ‘Threat Tracker’ on the Trend Micro website. Thought I would take a look and see what it was showing. Liked the graphic display and the representation of the threats they were detecting but……

View of the new Threat Trends website

Further testing shows it maybe not be a true representation as looking at the web page and disconnecting from any network connection it continues to update! From a user point of view, if they find this, it gives a good indication of the threats and should convince them that they should have protection but there is no indication that it may be a simulation rather than a real-time.

I feel the security industry should try and ensure it does not put out mis-leading information to users and businesses?

I do not think Trend have gone out to miss-lead but at present the website seems to give the wrong message, ‘Current’! or ‘maybe not’ and would be interesting to hear their thoughts what this is trying to show and achieve.

As we know: If it is on the web it must be true! or is it?

Por que os antivirus não são proteções confiáveis para as falhas do Windows?

stellarium — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:20:20 +0000

Um dos grandes problemas do sistema operacional da Microsoft é o fato de necessitar (ao contrário do (GNU/Linux) de programas adicionais de segurança para proteger o usuário dos problemas causados pelas falhas que, se fôssemos enquadrar no código do consumidor brasileiro, deveriam ser consideradas “vícios do produto” e, portanto, passíveis de indenização por parte da empresa. Mas, vamos ao tema do post: uma reportagem publicada na Computerworld, entitulada de “Crackers querem atacar credibilidade das empresas de antivírus”, traz um trecho de uma entrevista com Eva Chen, CEO e fundadora da Trend Micro, uma das mais antigas desenvolvedoras de antivírus. Ela afirma que os crackers não estão apenas interessados em roubar dados pessoais dos usuários de Windows, mas também estão utilizando uma estratégiapara minar a credibilidade dos desenvolvedores de antivírus, forçando atualizações frequentes, tornando os programas mais pesados e comprometendo o desempenho dos computadores, tornando o antivirus um software odiado pelos usuários e com frequência um dos candidatos a serem desativados em nome da velocidade. A matéria pode ser acessada em http://computerworld.uol.com.br/seguranca/2009/10/26/crackers-querem-atacar-credibilidade-das-empresas-de-antivirus-1/.

Se você usa Windows e se preocupa com isso, considere utilizar um sistema que não necessita de antivírus, não tem problemas de desempenho em máquinas mais modestas e é utilizado em 85% dos servidores da internet.

SEJA LIVRE, ESTEJA SEGURO, USE LINUX! ME PERGUNTE COMO!

Crac kers querem atacar credibilidade das empresas de antivírus

Arcon abre vagas para escritórios do Rio e São Paulo

Vanderlei Abreu — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:55:16 +0000

A Arcon, empresa especializada em serviços gerenciados de segurança, anuncia a abertura de seis vaga

Brazilian Paint Manufacturer, Tintas Iquine, Migrates from UNIX to Red Hat Enterprise Linux to Increase Performance and Improve Security

Red Hat Customer Reference Team — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:56:44 +0000

Brazilian Paint Manufacturer, Tintas Iquine, Migrates from UNIX to Red Hat Enterprise Linux to Increase Performance and Improve Security

FAST FACTS

Customer: Tintas Iquine

Industry: Manufacturing: Paint and Tints

Geography: Brazil

Business Challenge: Increase the stability and performance of business critical ERP applications

Software: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Datasul, Progress Database, Trend Micro Security Solution

Hardware: Intel Xeon processor based Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers

Migration Path: UNIX/RISC based servers to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Intel Xeon processor based Dell PowerEdge servers

Benefits: Red Hat virtualization enabled increased stability, performances, and increased security on redundancy and backup, and Red Hat Satellite simplified systems management

Download the case study [PDF]

BACKGROUND
Tintas Iquine, a Brazilian paints, coatings, and special resins company, produces more than 1,500 products including; industrial paints, varnish, sealing, resins, pastes, and is known for its rigorous quality control, and its use of new technologies to improve its processes, products and deliver more value to its customers, paint and building material resellers and retailers.

In operation since 1974, Tintas Iquine’s two factories have the capacity to produce 8 million liters of products per month, guaranteeing to the company 6% to 7% of the Brazilian market, operate 24/7 and are fully computerized in order to achieve enhanced production capabilit, security, and in addition, less impactful to the environment. Tintas Iquine achieved the certificate of approval in NBR ISO 9001:2000, which signifies the company´s compliance with the requirements of the standard of Quality Management System in coatings. Iquine also won the certificate of quality of the Brazilian Association fo Manufacturers of Paints.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Tintas Iquine grew significantly in a short amount of time, with sales volume increases of 20-30 percent, the company increased in size from 200 to 500 employees, and needed a operating platform to improve its critical Enterprise Resource Planning applications and increase the IT team’s ability to scale for the company’s growth.

The existing UNIX based server environment at Tintas Iquine supported the ERP system, database, BI, CRM and security tools, consisted of a disparate, aging infrastructure that resulted in a lower application performance level and required resources devoted to systems management and monitoring, making it increasingly difficult and costly.

The new operating platform needed to increase the ERP application’s performance, security, and provide a simplified systems management tool.

SOLUTION
The Tintas Iquine’ IT team was well versed with open source operating platforms, and especially favored Red Hat Enterprise Linux due to the enterprise support, stability, and performance the platform provides, in addition to Red Hat Satellite systems management, that would solve the company’s systems management issues.

With the expertise in-house and the enterprise-ready reputation, Tintas Iquine confidently decided not to conduct a lengthy technical evaluation of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. Due to the breadth of third-party applications certified to run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Tintas Iquine decided to migrate all of its applications from UNIX, as all of the applications would be running under only one operating system, thus increasing the performance and reducing systems management resources.

The migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux involved the virtualization of 12 machines to supports the company’s Progress database, Business Intelligence (BI) applications, CRM and Trend Micro Security Solutions.

BENEFITS
Tintas Iquine’s implementation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux has allowed the company to scale for growth, increase application performance, reduce costs, and simplify systems management. The satisfaction and gain of performance were immediately realized by the IT staff and throughout the company, as application users began to work more efficiently and more productively.

The virtualization and the migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux from UNIX, provided Tintas Iquine increased server utilization, and the management process on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux based servers have shown greater agility and ease of use, when compared to the Windows based servers, due to less interruptions in the maintenance process.

With Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the performance in the application processing has increased 30 percent, and the costs have fallen about 50 percent, thus confirming the company’s decision to migrate to Red Hat.

Although Tintas Iquine’s Oracle database is running in a Windows platform, due to the results of the UNIX to Red Hat migration, the company plans to gradually migrate all systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Trend Micro Strikes Again, This Time Against Namecheap.

justinrichards — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:19:14 +0000

Well today a very large domain register was hit with a false positive from Trend Micro and is now bl

Phát hiện lỗ hổng nguy hiểm trong Adobe Reader

Nhân Mã — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:38:00 +0000

Cảnh báo của hãng bảo mật Trend Micro ngày 10/10 cho biết, một lỗ hổng “zero-day” có tro

10 công cụ quét virus trực tuyến miễn phí

Nhân Mã — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:32:35 +0000

Ngoài chuyện miễn phí, điều thú vị của các công cụ quét virus trực tuyến là không cần cài đặt cả phầ

University offers course on computer hacking

carasulieman — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:41:28 +0000

By Cara Sulieman

A SCOTS university is offering high school pupils the chance to learn how to hack into computers.

Edinburgh Napier University is holding the two hour course – entitled Computer Hacking for Dummies – as part of its school half-term programme.

The institution claims that the aim of the lesson is to teach kids how to protect their computers against attacks over the internet, but they are promising that students can “practice their hacking skills”.

The news comes on the same day that Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon lost his extradition appeal at the High Court in London for allegedly hacking into the Pentagon’s computer system.

“Practice your hacking skills”

Napier says that the course, which has the backing of City of Edinburgh Council, was merely given a racy title to encourage children into the classroom.

But the course description clearly states: “Although breaking into secure websites is illegal, we’ve set up our own secure site so that you can legally practice your hacking skills.

“We’ll show you how to ensure you aren’t hacked into and other ways to protect your web security.”

It is part of a group of courses run at Pentland Community Centre over the October break to inspire children who might not be interested in higher education in the future.

“Responsible”

Other lessons include Finance in Football, Comic Creation and Move Making.

A spokeswoman for the university said that they would be using a secure website specially designed for the class to hack into.

But she insisted they were not encouraging anything illegal.

She said: “As a responsible organisation, we would never consider teaching people how to hack into computers.

“The course is about the complete opposite and will teach young people how to make websites very secure.”

The course description

Some IT experts welcomed the course, saying that it is an effective way to teach kids how to keep their personal information safe while they are online.

Simon Thomasson, Managing Director of Interact IT said: “I think it’s a great idea.

“They are not going to learn an awful lot in two hours but they can cover the obvious mistakes that can be made when creating and protecting a website and to show them just how easy it is to hack into a website that isn’t correctly configured.

“Especially in this day and age when everyone is online and have a lot of their personal information stored online.

“It can only be a positive for kids who are the next generation of computer users.

“A little knowledge can go a long way to keep you safe online.”

One in three

But he admits it may give kids a taste of what ‘real’ hacking is like.

He said: “As long as none of the kids on the course go away thinking ‘I really enjoyed that’ and want to research more, but I think it’s unlikely after two hours.”

But studies show there remains a risk that the thrill of the illegal activity combined with the potential financial reward of hacking into computers does tempt teenagers to learn more about it.

A survey carried out by Trend Micro earlier this year found that one in three teenagers in the UK would consider hacking or spying on people online for money.

And they admitted that the only definite way to prevent is for parents to closely monitor their child’s internet activity.

“Totally inappropriate”

Rik Ferguson, security expert at the company said: “Parents need to ensure they lead by example at all times, clearly but appropriately lay down some simple family guidelines and make sure they oversee the online activity without being obviously intrusive.”

And local politicians hit out at the course branding it “inappropriate”.

Councillor Jeremy Balfour said: “It sounds totally inappropriate.

“If it’s to do what they say it is, and teach people how to prevent hacking, it should be marketed in that way.

A spokesman for City of Edinburgh Council said: “This is just one of many courses available for young people at the Pentland Community Centre.”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel, Deadline TV.

Cambia anche il mondo dell'antivirus....ed è guerra!

sigla3 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:00:49 +0000

Nome in codice di “Morro”, programma “stand alone” con funzionalità di scansione e protezione in tempo reale “on demand”, ecco a voi Security Essentials, il nuovo software di sicurezza mde in Redmond…insomma made Microsoft.

Microsoft Security Essentials fornisce protezione in tempo reale per il PC di casa contro virus, spyware e altri software dannosi.

Il programma, compatibile con Windows XP, Windows Vista e Windows 7 (è una condizione necessaria possedere una copia originale del s.o.), mira a riconquistare il favore degli utenti dopo lo scarso interesse destato, in passato, da “Live OneCare” (che è stato sonoramente bocciato dagli esperti del settore e anche dagli utenti).
È possibile scaricare Microsoft Security Essentials “gratuitamente” dal sito Microsoft. Questo software è semplice da installare, facile da utilizzare, con prestazioni non invasive ed è sempre aggiornato per garantire la protezione del PC mediante le tecnologie più recenti.
E’ facile capire se il PC è protetto, in quanto è sufficiente verificare che l’icona sia verde.

Semplice, no????

Il software viene eseguito in background, in modo silenzioso ed efficiente, per consentire agli utenti di continuare a usare il PC Windows nel modo desiderato senza interruzioni o lunghi tempi di attesa (per questo si dice che non è invasivo, quando invece spesso per continuare a lavorare dobbiamo disattivare l’antivirus).

Le funzionalità di Microsoft Security Essentials possono essere così riassunte:

la protezione realtime
l’esecuzione di ricerche di malware a tempi definiti
l’esecuzione di ricerche di malware avviate manualmente
l’aggiornamento automatico delle signature

Il prodotto non è però una alternativa ai tradizionali antivirus: per stessa definizione di Microsoft, MSE è un elemento “basic” privo delle molte velleità che arricchiscono i servizi di prodotti McAfee, Symantec o altri ancora. La New Entry è un prodotto disponibile con un download, non necessità di un cd di installazione, ma soprattutto è etichettato Microsoft.

I commetti possono essere riassunti nel fatto che il lancio di MSE è una mossa strategica di Microsoft, per spianare la strada anche a Windows 7.

Symantec sostiene che lo strumento di sicurezza di Remond non sia all’altezza della situazione, di fronte allo scenario delle minacce online che sta nettamente cambiato di volta in volta, offre una protezione ridotta in questa fase di lotta alla cybercriminalità.
AVG non guarda tanto alla qualità del prodotto (“una protezione gratuita è certamente meglio di niente“), ma pone la questione del rischio di azioni anti-competitive, perchè Microsoft ha molto peso sul mercato. Pertanto se la diffusione di MSE può essere rapida, i suoi punti deboli rendono gli utenti vulnerabili.

Siamo quindi davvero preparati al terremoto nell’industria degli ANTIVIRUS?

Top 10 Antivirus 2009 | Powerful Antivirus Softwares | Antivirus Softwares Review

stroryrocks — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:29:59 +0000

Top 10 Antivirus 2009 | Powerful Antivirus Softwares | Antivirus Softwares Review
Nowadays computer viruses are more sophisticated and more aggressive. So i thought to share reviews of Top 10 Antivirus used by most of the people all around the word. As far as my openion is concerned, Kaspersky is the best Anti-Virus i have ever exprienced.

Kaspersky:
Kaspersky Lab, program used to identify and remove potential risks and malicious programs attempting to corrupt files and data on a computer. Real-time email scanning & automatic hourly updates; Rootkit and keylogger protection.
Download Kaspersky

BitDefender:

The best way to defend your computer against computer viruses, spy ware, hackers and spam is BitDefender 2008. BitDefender 2008 is an exceptional product with a user friendly interface that scans all existing files on your computer as well as all incoming and outgoing emails, IM transfers and all other network traffic.
Download BitDefender

NOD32:

The NOD32 anti-virus software by ESET is a novel virus program that provides real-time protection against worms, trojans, spyware, malware, phishing and hackers. Nod32 has two different ways to run the program. You can run a simple Nod32 scan or you can spend more time using the control center. Within the control center you can have access to tons of customization feature and different types of scans-DMON, IMON, EMON and more.
Download NOD32

AVG Antivirus:

AVG Antivirus has been an up and coming virus scanner for many years. Its free version is one of the most downloaded files on the Internet in the Computer Security sector. The new interface is clean and intuitive while still remaining useful. AVG went through a re-write of their virus scanning engine and included two of their stand alone products with AVG Antivirus as well. AVG Antispyware and AVG Antirootkit were both integrated with the virus scanner. Also revamped is the way AVG Antivirus uses the hardware within your computer. It has been changed to make better use of the multiple cores which are common in todays computers. This should speed up scanning as well as reduce slowdowns.
Download AVG Antivirus

Norton Anti-Virus Software 2009:

Norton, one of the leaders in security software, offers viable antivirus protection. The software is easy to use and has wide-ranging security features to protect your PC from malicious programs. Some of this protection includes instant messaging scanning, script blocking and POP3 and SMTP email protection. But, this software does not provide protection from P2P or file sharing transfers.
Download Norton Anti-Virus

The Shield Deluxe:

The Shield Deluxe 2008 combines reactive virus protection and spyware detection methods with the latest proactive technologies to provide your computer with the most effective protection against malicious programs. The product is simple to install and set up, while offering advanced users a range of versatile settings for fine-tuning the program.
Download Shield Deluxe

McAfee:

McAfee is an industry leader in computer protection and VirusScan is their #1 defense against viruses. This software comes with a ScriptStopper, to stop viruses to spread from one computer to another via email, and WormStopper. Some downsides to the program are that it does not offer instant message protection, P2P/file sharing protection or registry startup protection. McAfee offers an 800 number, however it’s going to cost you and good luck finding the number.
Download McAfee

from http://www.indiatodayonline.com/tech/top-10-antivirus-2009-powerful-antivirus-softwares-antivirus-softwares-review/

Infección en un PC puede durar más de dos años

Dr. House — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:42:09 +0000

Virus

Los cibercriminales controlan más de 100 millones de equipos en todo el mundo gracias a las redes zombie, lo que supone más potencia informática que todos los superordenadores juntos. De ahí que más del 90% de los emails del mundo sea spam actualmente.

Diario Ti: En un primer momento, los expertos de la industria estimaron que el tiempo medio que un equipo informático permanecía infectado era de 6 semanas. Sin embargo, un reciente informe de Trend Micro pone de manifiesto que esta estimación está lejos de ser exacta.

Así, durante el análisis de más de 100 millones de direcciones IP comprometidas Trend Micro ha identificado que el pico de IPs infectadas -direcciones que pertenecen a botnets o redes zombie- (o que son infectadas repetidamente) permanecen en este estado durante más de 2 años, aunque la media de infección es de 300 días en los principales países.

El término botnet o red zombie se utiliza para designar a los ordenadores que forman parte de una red robot tras haber sido infectados por algún tipo de malware. Estos equipos pueden ser controlados por terceras personas con fines ilícitos (distribuir spam, robo de identidad, robo de información confidencial) sin que el usuario sea consciente de ello.

Según las estadísticas de Trend Micro, el 80% de todos los equipos comprometidos han estado infectados durante más de un mes.

Lamentablemente, las noticias no consiguen mejorar. Pues mientras que el 75% de las direcciones IP comprometidas analizadas en el estudio han sido identificadas con usuarios particulares, el 25% restante pertenece a dominios de empresas. Debido a que una dirección IP para estos usuarios está generalmente identificada con un único gateway puede que, a su vez, esté conectada a varias máquinas en una red interna, lo que hace que el porcentaje actual de equipos empresariales afectados pueda ser más alto que las direcciones IP sugeridas en los datos –es decir, el porcentaje de PCs infectados en empresas es probablemente mucho más alto que ese 25%.

Una vez que el equipo pasa a estar comprometido, no es raro encontrar que se ha convertido en parte de una botnet más amplia. Las redes zombie con frecuencia causan daño en la forma de los ataques de malware, fraude, robo de información y otros crímenes. En lo que va de 2009, casi todo el malware rastreado por los expertos de Trend Micro está siendo utilizado por los ciberciminales para robar información principalmente.

Fuente: Trend Micro.

Fuente: DiarioTI. Infección en un PC puede durar más de dos años

Microsoft's Free MSE "Good Enough" to Take Consumer Share from Symantec, Others

Brad — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:21:33 +0000

As Microsoft today releases its free anti-malware suite, Microsoft Security Essentials, the for-pay

Microsoft Free Giveaways!

slayx — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:28:03 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed its plan to rollout its free security software suite, called Microsoft Secur

Trend Micro از پس بد افزار ها خوب بر آمد

سی شارپ — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:41:14 +0000

ترجمه و باز نویسی: بابک فخریلو در آزمایش جدید که برای بررسی توان مقابله و مسدود سازی آنتی ویروس ها د

tech news in 1"

xollothnews — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:44:25 +0000

Εντοπίστηκε trojan στο site της Razer

www.capital.gr – Κεφάλαιο στην ενημέρωση

Η εταιρεία Razer, γνωστή κυρίως για τα gaming ποντίκια που κατασκευάζει, βρέθηκε αυτές τις ημέρες σε πολύ δύσκολη θέση, καθώς εντοπίστηκε ένα trojan στην επίσημη ιστοσελίδα της. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, αναλυτές της εταιρείας λογισμικού ασφαλείας Trend Micro εντόπισαν το επικίνδυνο malware στη σελίδα τεχνικής υποστήριξης της Razer και ενημέρωσαν αμέσως την εταιρεία, η οποία ανέστειλε τη λειτουργία της σελίδας μέχρι να λυθεί το πρόβλημα.[next]

H Intel παρουσιάζει το Moblin v2.1

H Intel παρουσιάζει το Moblin v2.1 | Away.gr, ελληνικό online media για την τεχνολογία, τα games και την επιχειρηματικότητα

H Intel αποκάλυψε το λειτουργικό σύστημα Moblin v2.1, που είναι κατάλληλο για κινητά τηλέφωνα, MIDs και netbooks. To user interface έχει minimal σχεδίαση, απαραίτητη για τις συσκευές για τις οποίες προορίζεται το λογισμικό, περιλαμβάνει εφαρμογές για social networking, τύπου widget, τον Firefox-derived Fennec browser, εύκολη μετάβαση από εφαρμογή σε εφαρμογή. Το Moblin v2.1 υποστηρίζει Flash και Silverlight, κάτι που επιτρέπει σε αντίστοιχες εφαρμογές να τρέξουν χωρίς πρόβλημα, ενώ η υποστήριξη Silverlight ειδικά επιτρέπει την ανάπτυξη εφαρμογών, που θα τρέχουν τόσο σε Windows όσο και σε Moblin.[next]

To iPhone δεν προορίζεται για επαγγελματική χρήση

To iPhone δεν προορίζεται για επαγγελματική χρήση | Away.gr, ελληνικό online media για την τεχνολογία, τα games και την επιχειρηματικότητα

Αν είστε από εκείνους που διαβάζουν ότι κριτική κι όποια συζήτηση κυκλοφορεί στο διαδίκτυο για το iPhone θα διαπιστώσατε ότι οι απόψεις συγκλίνουν σε ένα συμπέρασμα: ότι η συσκευή της Apple δεν είναι ότι καλύτερο κυκλοφορεί για επαγγελματική χρήση. Ότι σε σύγκριση με το BlackBerry άλλα και Windows Mobiles, κάποιος που θέλει να το χρησιμοποιήσει πρωτίστως για να κάνει την δουλειά του, θα αντιμετωπίσει δυσκολίες. Κι αυτό είναι κάτι που η Apple όχι μόνο το ξέρει, άλλα το υποστηρίζει κιόλας, λέγοντας πως η συσκευή δεν “κάνει” για επαγγελματίες.[next]

Flash drive για ταχύτατες μεταφορές

Flash drive για ταχύτατες μεταφορές | T3 Magazine

Έχουμε παρουσιάσει κατά καιρούς μερικά πολύ εντυπωσιακά USB flash drives, εστιάζοντας κυρίως στο πρωτοποριακό design. Ωστόσο, αν είστε από τους τύπους που δεν αρκούνται στο φαίνεσθαι και απαιτούν κορυφαία τεχνικά χαρακτηριστικά για τα gadgets που έχουν στην κατοχή τους, το νέο DataTraveler 410 της Kingston δεν πρόκειται να σας αφήσει αδιάφορους. Το ολοκαίνουργιο USB flash drive της Kingston διατίθεται σε χωρητικότητες 4, 8, 16 και 32 gigabytes, ωστόσο το δυνατό του χαρτί είναι άλλο[next]

Οι πρώτες υλοποιήσεις της ΑΤi 5800 series

Οι πρώτες υλοποιήσεις της ΑΤi 5800 series συγκεντρωμένες για τα μάτια σας μόνο!!! – ( HWBOX ) O/C on first boot

Όπως πολλοί από εσάς ξέρετε σήμερα η ATI σηκώνει την κουρτίνα και μας παρουσιάζει την τελευταία της δημιουργία στις κάρτες γραφικών, με δυο νέα μοντέλα της, την HD 5850 και την HD 5870. Στο άμεσο μέλλον θα δούμε και άλλες προσθήκες στην σειρά με την διπύρηνη HD 5870 X2. Η νέα σειρά της ATi είναι κομμένη και ραμμένη στα μέτρα των επερχόμενων Windows 7, και με την παράλληλη υποστήριξη τους για DirectX 11 θα κάνουν έναν τέλειο συνδυασμό.[next]

Η Intel πρωτοπορεί με πλήρως λειτουργικό chip στα 22 nm

Image via CrunchBase

H έναρξη της φετινής έκθεσης ήταν μάλλον εντυπωσιακή για όσους κατάφεραν και βρέθηκαν στο San Francisco να παρακολουθήσουν τα δρώμενα της Intel και των κορυφαίων επιστημόνων αυτού του κόσμου. Ο CEO και πρόεδρος της, Paul Otellini, μάλλον εξέπληξε το πλήθος παρουσιάζοντας για πρώτη φορά ένα wafer με τα παγκοσμίως πρώτα λειτουργικά chips κατασκευασμένα με λιθογραφία 22 nm.[next] hwbox.gr

Η MSI ετοιμάζεται όντως να κάνει το Big Bang με το Lucid Hydra chip !

Λίγο καιρό πριν όλοι μας είχαμε εκπλαγεί με το θέμα στο XtremeSystems όπου έκανε την πρώτη της εμφάνιση η MSI Big Bang με το επαναστατικό chip Lucid Hydra, το οποίο υπόσχεται να φέρει τεράστιες αλλαγές στον τρόπο που παίζουμε παιχνίδια ή benchάρουμε. O λόγος είναι πολύ απλός και οι περισσότεροι ήδη τον γνωρίζουν: Το συγκεκριμένο chip δίνει τη δυνατότητα στο παιχνίδι να επεξεργαστεί την εικόνα και τα γραφικά χρησιμοποιώντας ακόμα και κάρτες γραφικών διαφορετικών εταιρειών και γενιών, κάτι που ούτε το SLi ούτε το CrossFire μπορούσαν φυσικά να προσφέρουν![next] hwbox.gr

H Ek-Waterblocks φέρνει νέα προϊόντα

Πρόσφατα γίναμε μάρτυρες της μεγαλύτερης αλλαγής στο διαδικτυακό τόπο της Ek-Waterblocks με σκοπό την επέκταση των δυνατοτήτων του, αλλά φυσικά και των παρεχόμενων προϊόντων του. Ως ένας από τους μεγαλύτερους κατασκευαστές εξαρτημάτων για τη δημιουργία λύσεων ψύξεως με υγρό στους υπολογιστές μας, δε θα μπορούσε να μην κατείχε και ειδικές αντλίες στο portfolio του. Σήμερα, βρισκόμαστε στην ευχάριστη θέση να σας παρουσιάσουμε τις λύσεις του.[next] hwbox.gr

Η Phoenix ετοιμάζει BIOS που θα ξεκινά τους υπολογιστές σε 1 δευτερόλεπτο

Η Phoenix Technologies ανακοίνωσε ότι στο επερχόμενο IDF (Intel Developer Forum) θα κάνει επίδειξη μιας νέας τεχνολογίας που θα επιτρέπει στους υπολογιστές να ολοκληρώσουν την εκκίνησή τους σε 1 δευτερόλεπτο, ενώ θα επιτρέπουν την πλήρη φόρτωση των Windows σε 9 δευτερόλεπτα.[next] thelab.gr

Η ΑΤΙ διαθέτει πλέον τις νέες κάρτες γραφικών 58xx με υποστήριξη DX 11.

Image via Wikipedia

3 μήνες μετά την αναγγελία των νέων μοντέλων και μόλις μία εβδομάδα μετά την ανακοίνωση των τεχνικών τους χαρακτηριστικών, οι νέες κάρτες γραφικών της ATI/AMD είναι πλέον διαθέσιμες. Τα 2 νέα μοντέλα Radeon HD 5870 και Radeon HD 5850 βασίζονται στο chip Cypress, το οποίο πέρα από τον διπλάσιο αριθμό τρανζίστορς σε σχέση με το RV790, περιέχει το επιπλέον hardware που απαιτείται προκειμένου να υποστηρίζει DirectX 11 καθώς και νέες λειτουργίες όπως Eyefinity, angle independent anisotropic filtering, χαμηλότερη κατανάλωση σε idle λειτουργία και κατασκευή με βάση την τεχνολογία TSMC 40nm.[next] thelab.gr

Tangent Bay: ένα πρωτότυπο laptop με 3 OLED οθόνες

Την εβδομάδα που διανύουμε διεξάγεται το Intel Developer’s Forum (ή IDF αν προτιμάτε), όπου αρκετές πρωτότυπες συσκευές παρουσιάζονται για πρώτη φορά. Ο σκοπός είναι να “σφυγμομετρηθούν” οι κατασκευαστές-προσκεκλημένοι και γιατί όχι, να πειστούν να βάλουν μαζικές παραγγελίες και να προωθήσουν τα νέα αυτά προϊόντα εφόσον κρίνουν ότι υπάρχει αγορά ή περιθώρια για την δημιουργία νέας. Ένα από αυτά τα προϊόντα είναι το concept “Tangent Bay” της Intel, ένας φορητός υπολογιστής ο οποίος πέρα από την κλασσική οθόνη περιλαμβάνει όχι μία, αλλά 3 επιπλέον μικρότερες OLED οθόνες αφής, ακριβώς πάνω από το πληκτρολόγιο ![next] thelab.gr

Driver của Razer “dính” virus

Nhân Mã — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:31:44 +0000

Computer Word cho hay, các driver cho chuột và bàn phím game chuyên dụng Razer trên trang web chính

Driver-ele oferite de Razer infectate cu troieni

anchetatorul — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:39:11 +0000

Se pare ca cei de la Razer se tin de nazbatii. Se pare ca driverele se instalau corect dupa care puneau o copie de WORM.ASPXOR.AB in directorul System. Potrivit celor de la Trend Micro troianul avea o rata scazuta de detectabilitate, doar 7 dintre 41 de producatori de programe antivirus reusind sa il identifice. Trend Micro a informat Razer despre acest lucru, iar in momentul de fata paginile de support sunt indisponibile online pentru remedierea problemei.

Solution: Uninstall/Removing TrendMicro OfficeScan Password

byon — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:54:03 +0000

I have been searching everywhere on removing Trend Micro OfficeScan pre-installed on laptops bought in SMU matriculation. I’ve successfully uninstalled it, here’s the solution if anybody is interested.

Necessary steps:
#1. Change Registry Keys
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TrendMicro\PC-cillinNTCorp\CurrentVersion\Misc
- AllowUninstall value to 1
- NoPwdProtect value to 1

#2. Disconnect from the Internet / Disable Wireless/LAN Adapter

#3. Modify certain values in C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\OfficeScan Client\OfcScan.ini

- Search for [INI_CLIENT_SECTION]
- Change the Keys to these Values
Uninstall_Pwd=70
Client_Allow_Uninstall=1
Client_Allow_Unload=1

Save Ofcscan.ini, Uninstall. It didn’t prompt me for a password, but if it did, enter “1″.
* if it doesnt work, restart the laptop/computer, disable internet connection, then uninstall.

I’ve installed ESET NOD32 over this.
Cheers.