Latest Computer and PC Security News

Commercial organisations are not immune from data thefts
posted on 15/01/2008

Commercial organisations should not assume that they are immune from the exposures and damage such as those suffered by the HMRC and NHS following recent data thefts. A new survey reveals that commercial organisations face the same potential dangers as in public sector because many of their employees do not follow corporate policies on data and computer security. Nearly half of those polled (48 per cent) said data was threatened by employee negligence. Of those suffering security breaches, 43 per cent estimated costs to the business to be between £10,000 and £100,000, while 14 per cent said it had cost them over half a million pounds. The security of data on laptop computers is most at risk, especially for the 58 per cent of companies that reported laptop thefts in the past 12 months. Surprisingly 80 per cent of businesses still only use traditional asset management tools to protect their machines, which are generally ineffective at protecting data once the asset itself is lost o... [more]

Engate Technology Awarded New Patent for Anti-Spam Threat Protection
posted on 13/01/2008

Engate Technology Corporation has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has approved the issuance of Patent No. 7,310,660 which covers methods for removing unsolicited messages from a client's email in a networked computer system in an off-line and on-demand manner. The patent strengthens Engate’s intellectual property portfolio and provides the company with ownership of key innovations that address critical anti-spam security needs of large enterprises and managed service providers, as well as, value added resellers and technology OEMs. The issued U.S. patent titled, "Method for Removing Unsolicited Email Messages", builds on Engate’s unique network profiling connection management technology that preemptively identifies the spammer at the source and stops spam and malicious payloads at the protocol level before the message has a chance to compromise the network, IT resources and worker productivity. The technology was developed and patented by the following Engate co-f... [more]

Bots will dominate 2008 and gamers and social networking sites will be top targets
posted on 10/01/2008

The latest Internet Security Outlook Report issued by CA, Inc. forewarns that online gamers, social networks and high-profile events like the U.S. presidential election and the Beijing Olympics are among the top potential targets for online attacks in 2008. Online security predictions for 2008: 1. Bots will dominate 2008: The number of computers infected by botnets will increase sharply in 2008. In an effort to become harder to detect, bot-herders are changing their tactics and decentralizing via peer-to-peer architectures. They are increasingly using instant messaging as their main vehicle for spreading botnets. 2. Smarter malware: There are new levels of sophistication in malware. Malware will target virtualized computers, and increasing use of obfuscation techniques to hide in plain sight, including steganography and encryptions, will help criminals conceal their activities. 3. Gamers under fire: Gamers already are a prized target, and stealing their account credentials continue... [more]

40% of US SMBs do not believe their networks are secure
posted on 10/01/2008

Despite having anti-virus and anti-spam software as well as a firewall installed, four in 10 small and medium sized companies in the United States still do not believe their networks are completely secure, a new survey shows. In a poll of 455 IT executives in US SMBs, 42% said their networks were not secure even though 96% and 93% of respondents respectively said they had anti-virus and a firewall installed. 80% said they also used spam filtering. This may indicate that small and medium sized businesses are starting to doubt the effectiveness of traditional perimeter security products in protecting them from other security threats, including data leakage and network breaches. Conducted by eMediaUSA on behalf of GFI Software, an international developer of network security, content security and messaging software, 39% of respondents to the survey said email viruses are the greatest risk to network security, followed by internet downloads (22%) and hacker attempts (10%). Only 7% consider... [more]

Christ's Hospital boarding school controls USB with DeviceLock
posted on 09/01/2008

Christ's Hospital is an independent boarding school for up to 850 boys and girls, aged 11-18. Originally founded in the City of London by Edward VI for poor children, Christ's Hospital moved to its purpose-built premises near Horsham in 1902. Today, the School and its Charitable Foundation are major contributors to the local economy, employing around 450 staff and sharing its 500-seat Theatre and Health and Fitness Club with the local community. In a School of almost 850 full-time boarders who have access to a wide range of programmes for educational purposes day and night, it is essential the systems are protected against security breaches, often caused by a simple desire to explore the network or download programs. A particular problem is the prevalence of personal consumer electronics, such as mobile phones, cameras, and music devices, all of which present themselves as USB devices, and in particular, as USB file stores. Pupils were able to introduce programmes, photographs and music... [more]

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