Latest Internet and Web security News

RSA supplies real-time online threat intelligence feeds to Check Point's ZoneAlarm
posted on 01/07/2010

RSA has announced a technology agreement with Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. to provide consumers around the globe with enhanced, real-time protection against Trojan, phishing and other online attacks. RSA is supplying real-time online threat intelligence feeds from its RSA FraudAction Anti-Trojan and Anti-Phishing services to Check Point's solutions. This new capacity is integrated into the existing anti-phishing functionality available in all ZoneAlarm premium consumer products including ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite and ZoneAlarm Extreme Security to provide consumers world-wide with enhanced, proactive protection against online attacks. "Leveraging external threat information from RSA enables Check Point to strengthen its detection and analysis capabilities and offer superior protection to our customers," said Bari Abdul, vice president of consumer sales, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. "The implementation of anti-Trojan filtering and identity theft protection he... [more]

Google Message Security protects the inboxes of Chester Zoo from spam
posted on 28/06/2010

Chester Zoo is a registered conservation charity which supports projects around the world and closer to home in Cheshire. Welcoming 1.4million visitors a year, it is the largest Zoo in the UK; home to 7000 animals, 400 difference species, many of which are endangered. Staff at the Chester Zoo have been able to concentrate on their mission of conserving biodiversity worldwide - and looking after the 7000 animals from 400 species housed in the Zoo’s 110 acres - without drowning under a deluge of spam emails, thanks to Google Message Security. Martin King, IT systems supervisor at the Zoo, explains that each email user was typically seeing 50 to 100 spam messages a day and the level was rising. “We were running McAfee Anti-Spam but it was very limited, just offering blacklists and whitelists, and it wasn’t performing as needed to stop spam getting to users’ inboxes,” he explains. “We were also getting a lot of false positives. As a specialist environment, we need to let through messages ... [more]

Zions Bank deploys Trusteer's Rapport and Flashlight services to protect its online customers from financial malware attacks and fraud
posted on 25/06/2010

Zions Bank is deploying Trusteer's Rapport and Flashlight services to help protect its online retail and business banking customers from financial malware attacks, fraud, and identity theft. Rapport silently protects data exchanged during web banking sessions including usernames, passwords, and account information against malware and financial Trojans such as Zeus, URLZone, Clampi, and others. In addition, Zions Bank is using Flashlight, Trusteer’s new remote fraud investigation and mitigation service. Flashlight identifies the attack source on customer machines, remotely gathers samples, and can reverse engineer the mechanism used by the malware to commit fraud. Findings will enable Zions Bank to prevent future losses, block subsequent attacks, and takedown command/control servers. “Trusteer’s unique ability to protect our online banking customers’ personal information and provide the information we need to mitigate suspected fraud incidents is extremely valuable from both end-use... [more]

Malware for mobiles will become increasingly complex and operating system specific
posted on 25/06/2010

The first piece of mobile malware to make use of the Internet was written by a Ukrainian hacker back in 2004. Cybercriminals then lost interest in these types of programs until quite recently, when from June 2009 to June 2010, 35% of all detected smartphone malware operated via the Internet. There’s a perfectly logical explanation for this – smartphones are becoming increasingly popular. In 2009, the share of the worldwide mobile phone market accounted for by the sale of smartphones stood at 14.2%, and according to Gartner, it is expected that this growth will continue up to 18.6%. Significant reductions in the cost of the mobile Internet has made it more accessible to the wider public and lots of mobile devices are now connected to the Worldwide Web. In practice, this means cybercriminals have yet more resources to exploit. New mobile malware boasts a broad range of functionality, such as the capability to download other malicious files, detect Internet connections or establish ... [more]

Protection against browser attacks
posted on 23/06/2010

Operation “Aurora", the sophisticated Chinese cyber attack that hit several dozen companies in December 2009, not only compromised the intellectual property of the companies, but also raised the critical issue of Internet browser security. The primary enabler of this specific exploit was an unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). By taking advantage of this unfixed security hole in the popular Web browser, cyber attackers compromised user’s systems. It happened when a victim was lured into navigating to a malicious web page from a vulnerable Microsoft Windows system, where JavaScript code then exploited the vulnerability. The infected system then contacted remote servers controlled by the attackers, allowing them to view, create, and modify information on the compromised system. Browser vulnerabilities affect all Web browsers and vendors, and are far from being an exclusive issue for Microsoft. However, since it’s the most commonly used browser, with hundred... [more]

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