IT Security News
August 26, 2010
Security firm Symantec has warned travelers using public internet-access terminals to be aware of possible Scareware attacks. One of its software engineers noticed that a terminal in an unnamed UK airport was infected with "Defense Center Installer" which issues a false warning that a user is infected with a virus and asks them to buy fake software to remove the ...
Sophos and Symantec issue Scareware warnings
by Janet HarrisSecurity firm Symantec has warned travelers using public internet-access terminals to be aware of possible Scareware attacks. One of its software engineers noticed that a terminal in an unnamed UK airport was infected with "Defense Center Installer" which issues a false warning that a user is infected with a virus and asks them to buy fake software to remove the ...
August 25, 2010
The UK is on its way up in the world, but unfortunately, the particular global league which we're leaping and bounding up is the one that measures a nation's spam output.
These were the findings of anti-virus experts Symantec in the company's just published MessageLabs Intelligence Report for August.
This found that the UK has doubled its spam levels ...
UK moves up to fourth in world spam league
by Darren AllanSymantec reports increase in UK spam
by Janet HarrisThe latest report from Symantec Hosted Services lists the UK as one of the top four countries in terms of the highest volume of spam sent from infected PCs. Spam sent from the UK almost doubled in August according to Symantec’s MessageLabs Intelligence report, to account for 4.5 per cent of the spam sent globally. The amount of spam sent ...
June 30, 2010
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today launched a new tool giving small businesses a holistic view of how they measure up against their peers in terms of information protection efficiency and effectiveness. The Symantec Small Business Check-up is a simple-to-complete online questionnaire that enables small businesses to benchmark themselves against survey results from 700 small businesses across Europe, the Middle East and ...
Symantec Launches Small Business Check-up Tool
by Janet HarrisSymantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today launched a new tool giving small businesses a holistic view of how they measure up against their peers in terms of information protection efficiency and effectiveness. The Symantec Small Business Check-up is a simple-to-complete online questionnaire that enables small businesses to benchmark themselves against survey results from 700 small businesses across Europe, the Middle East and ...
April 29, 2010
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced it has signed definitive agreements to acquire PGP Corporation and GuardianEdge Technologies, Inc., two privately-held leaders in the email and data encryption market, which will extend its ability to help customers secure and manage their most critical information. Under the terms of the agreements, Symantec will acquire PGP Corporation for a purchase price of approximately ...
Symantec boosts email and data encryption capability
by Janet HarrisSymantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced it has signed definitive agreements to acquire PGP Corporation and GuardianEdge Technologies, Inc., two privately-held leaders in the email and data encryption market, which will extend its ability to help customers secure and manage their most critical information. Under the terms of the agreements, Symantec will acquire PGP Corporation for a purchase price of approximately ...
April 26, 2010
A recent blog post from security firm Symantec has revealed that the Qakbot botnet hoovers up some 2GB of confidential data per week.
That's online banking details, site passwords, credit card info, and basically everything typed into the affected user's browser. It also steals the spec and details of the infected system.
Symantec commented: “Although Qakbot is a smaller botnet, ...
Symantec says Qakbot has hit NHS
by Darren Allan
April 20, 2010
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today released its new Internet Security Threat Report volume XV, which highlights key trends in cybercrime from Jan.1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2009. In a year bookended by two very prominent Cyber attacks – Conficker in the opening months of the year and Hydraq at the very end – Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report reveals continued growth ...
Cybercrime grows despite economic slowdown
by Janet HarrisSymantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today released its new Internet Security Threat Report volume XV, which highlights key trends in cybercrime from Jan.1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2009. In a year bookended by two very prominent Cyber attacks – Conficker in the opening months of the year and Hydraq at the very end – Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report reveals continued growth ...
November 23, 2009
If you use Internet Explorer and haven't yet done so, it's a good time to upgrade to version 8 of the browser.
That's because an exploit has been found which targets a hole in Internet Explorer 6 and 7.
If users browse to an infected website with javascript, the malware could be installed – it's currently unreliable, according to experts, ...
Exploit hits old versions of Internet Explorer
by Darren Allan
November 4, 2009
Symantec has flagged up a Space Invaders style game available for the Mac as a security threat.
When you play the game, for every poorly rendered alien you blast, a file is deleted from your hard drive, beginning with the documents folder and moving on elsewhere.
However, the game makes it clear with a big flashing pre-start warning – complete ...
Space Invaders blast Mac files
by Darren Allan
October 27, 2009
Popular technology blog Gizmodo has admitted that it ran adverts containing malware on its site for a period of time last week.
The site issued an apology to its large user base (Gizmodo has some three million visitors per day): “Guys, I'm really sorry but we had some malware running on our site in ad boxes for a little ...
Gizmodo falls victim to malware sting
by Darren Allan
October 19, 2009
Symantec has issued a report on scareware – fake anti-virus software – the makers of which can earn some £850,000 a year from plying their malicious trade.
The scareware scam involves making a user believe his or her computer has been infected by a virus, and then charging them to download bogus anti-virus software to solve the non-existent problem.
Not ...
Symantec reports scareware cons amount to millions
by Darren Allan
September 30, 2009
According to a report published yesterday by Symantec's MessageLabs, botnets are now responsible for sending 87.9% of spam.
One of the most prolific offenders is the botnet Rustock, which has experienced something of a recent upsurge in activity. It is responsible for 10% of spam by itself – so now you have a name to curse when you receive ...
Symantec says botnets produce 88% of spam
by Darren Allan
August 26, 2009
According to a report from IBM Corp issued on Wednesday, internet criminals are not using phishing emails as frequently any more in order to commit internet crimes and steal personal details. In fact, according to the report which includes all the scamming activity from the first part of the year, phishing only made up 0.1% of all of the spam which ...
Drop in phishing signals new threats
by Alan HartenAccording to a report from IBM Corp issued on Wednesday, internet criminals are not using phishing emails as frequently any more in order to commit internet crimes and steal personal details. In fact, according to the report which includes all the scamming activity from the first part of the year, phishing only made up 0.1% of all of the spam which ...
July 29, 2009
Symantec MessageLabs Intelligence’s latest report looks bright at first glance as it appears malware writers are laying low on the internet. Spammers, on the other hand, have increased their efforts by venturing into multi-lingual messages that seem to work out disastrously, or well, depending on whose side you are on. Symantec reported that spam levels are higher than they have been in ...
Malware down but SPAM on the up
by Alan HartenSymantec MessageLabs Intelligence’s latest report looks bright at first glance as it appears malware writers are laying low on the internet. Spammers, on the other hand, have increased their efforts by venturing into multi-lingual messages that seem to work out disastrously, or well, depending on whose side you are on. Symantec reported that spam levels are higher than they have been in ...
June 30, 2009
It seems that not even death is sacred on the internet. Security researchers' expectations came true when infections began spreading via email messages sent to users’ inboxes claiming to hold breaking news about Michael Jackson’s death from authoritative websites. Security companies Symantec, Trend Micro, and Sophos said that the emails are infected with viruses and other malware and deceitfully claim to be ...
Jackson’s death fuels malware attacks
by Alan HartenIt seems that not even death is sacred on the internet. Security researchers' expectations came true when infections began spreading via email messages sent to users’ inboxes claiming to hold breaking news about Michael Jackson’s death from authoritative websites. Security companies Symantec, Trend Micro, and Sophos said that the emails are infected with viruses and other malware and deceitfully claim to be ...
June 23, 2009
While the economy may be down, the software industry is still doing well according to market researcher Gartner, which recently reported that global software revenue in 2008 increased by 18.6% closing out with total revenue of $13.5 billion. Principle research analyst at Gartner, Ruggero Contu, stated that the security market in 2008 did not show any impacts of the recession, as ...
Security software sales continue rapid growth
by Alan HartenWhile the economy may be down, the software industry is still doing well according to market researcher Gartner, which recently reported that global software revenue in 2008 increased by 18.6% closing out with total revenue of $13.5 billion. Principle research analyst at Gartner, Ruggero Contu, stated that the security market in 2008 did not show any impacts of the recession, as ...
June 15, 2009
HP has recently contracted Symantec to bundle its security software into all of the new HP notebook and desktop packages. In line with the new deal all pre-installed JP systems will contain Norton Online Backup and customers will have access to a thirty day free trial of the Norton 5GB backup service. HP has been selling desktop backup software for many years ...
New security software for HP notebook
by Alan HartenHP has recently contracted Symantec to bundle its security software into all of the new HP notebook and desktop packages. In line with the new deal all pre-installed JP systems will contain Norton Online Backup and customers will have access to a thirty day free trial of the Norton 5GB backup service. HP has been selling desktop backup software for many years ...
June 1, 2009
Two in five PC users in the UK have lost valuable files from their computers, a new survey revealed this week. A poll by security specialist Symantec found 38% of consumers have lost data from their PCs, yet two thirds (66%) rarely back up their data. Only one in five (22%) of those surveyed regularly backs up all the data on their ...
Two thirds of consumers rarely back up data
by David MastersTwo in five PC users in the UK have lost valuable files from their computers, a new survey revealed this week. A poll by security specialist Symantec found 38% of consumers have lost data from their PCs, yet two thirds (66%) rarely back up their data. Only one in five (22%) of those surveyed regularly backs up all the data on their ...
February 27, 2009
The safest country in the world as far as computer virus infections are concerned is Australia, according to the February Intelligence report from Symantec’s MessageLabs. Only 1 in 573.8 emails contained a virus in the land down under, compared to the UK’s 1 in 213.3, Canada’s 1 in 217.1, 1 in 203.6 in Germany, 1 in 424.5 for the USA, and ...
Cybercriminals Make The Most Of The Recession
by Alan HartenThe safest country in the world as far as computer virus infections are concerned is Australia, according to the February Intelligence report from Symantec’s MessageLabs. Only 1 in 573.8 emails contained a virus in the land down under, compared to the UK’s 1 in 213.3, Canada’s 1 in 217.1, 1 in 203.6 in Germany, 1 in 424.5 for the USA, and ...
January 14, 2008
Luigi Auriemma, the security researcher responsible for identifying the year's first vulnerability for Apple's QuickTime media player, has published the proof-of-concept exploit code. Immediately, a second researcher interjected that it appears only the Windows version of QuickTime is in danger; It seems that the Mac OS X edition doesn't display the same dangerous mannerisms. Luigi, breaking the news of the defect ...
First Quicktime Vulnerability of 2008
by Dave NixonLuigi Auriemma, the security researcher responsible for identifying the year's first vulnerability for Apple's QuickTime media player, has published the proof-of-concept exploit code. Immediately, a second researcher interjected that it appears only the Windows version of QuickTime is in danger; It seems that the Mac OS X edition doesn't display the same dangerous mannerisms. Luigi, breaking the news of the defect ...
