New network test appliance from BreakingPoint
by Janet HarrisStartup company, BreakingPoint Systems, is launching the BPS-1000 network test appliance, which aims to give customers an accurate picture of how their networking equipment will perform in the real world. The device can detect security vulnerabilities in routers, load balancers and other devices. It also enables users to see how their networking equipment performs under a high volume of networking traffic. BreakingPoint offers customers a service called Strike Pack, which tests ...
March 29, 2007
Bioscrypt’s 3D DeskCam provides face scan biometrics
by Janet HarrisBioscrypt of Toronto has announced a new camera which is both a Webcam and a security system with 3D face scanning technology. 3D DeskCam comprises a 3-inch tall, half-inch wide camera, which authenticates anyone trying to access a computer by using infrared and a lens to scan their face in three dimensions. The camera uses about 40,000 identification points on a person's face, and is able to distinguish between identical twins. The ...
March 28, 2007
McAfee announces ‘McAfee OK’ programme
by Janet HarrisMcAfee Inc. has announced the McAfee OK program - which inspects and certifies content on mobile phones. The program is designed for mobile content aggregators and network operators. It inspect ringer tones, images, video, applications and other mobile content, and certifies that it does not contain any malicious or inappropriate material. McAfee OK is based on McAfee's mobile detection technology, which complements the Symbian Signed program and has been deployed in ...
March 27, 2007
Exploit for IE posted on web
by Janet HarrisCode to exploit a known flaw in Internet Explorer has been posted on the Milw0rm.com web site. The code, which exploits a recently patched flaw in Microsoft's browser, could be used to run unauthorised software on a computer that was not updated with the latest Microsoft patches. Security researcher HD Moore discovered the vulnerability in July 2006. A patch was issued by Microsoft in February but security researchers have ...
March 26, 2007
Symantec announces mobile security software
by Janet HarrisSymantec is planning to unveil its first suite of security software for Microsoft Windows Mobile devices - Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0 - at the CTIA Wireless show in Orlando. With Mobile Security Suite 5.0, Symantec aims to provide mobile devices with the same kind of protection it offers to PCs. Although PC viruses significantly outnumber viruses aimed at mobile devices, unguarded handsets could provide attackers with a route into company ...
March 23, 2007
SonicWALL TZ190 featured at Business Continuity Expo 2007
by Janet HarrisE92 Plus Ltd will demonstrate its latest SonicWALL product, the TZ190, at the Business Continuity Expo, which will take place at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London on the 28th-29th March. SonicWALL TZ190 is a network security appliance which provides secure broadband wireless Internet access. Users can instantly create a secure 3G wireless broadband network in any location, without the need for a fixed Internet connection. The product is ideal for ...
Symantec reports 48% increase in threats to data
by Janet HarrisSymantec Corp's Internet Security Threat Report Volume XI, identifies an increase in data theft, data leakage, and the creation of targeted, malicious code designed to steal confidential information for financial gain. The number of bot-infections increased worldwide by 29% to over 6 million, in the second half of 2006. Trojan attacks increased by 23% compared with the first half of 2006, to represent 45% of the top 50 malicious code samples, ...
March 21, 2007
Kingston announces DataTraveler Secure
by Janet HarrisKingston Technology Company, Inc., has announced the availability of its DataTraveler Secure and DataTraveler Secure - Privacy Edition USB 2.0 Flash drives in 8GB capacities. The drives have titanium-coated, stainless steel casings, which are waterproof and capable of withstanding harsh operating conditions. They incorporate 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware-based encryption to safeguard critical data. This allows data to be encrypted and decrypted without the need for special software. DataTraveler Secure is ...
Trend Micro enhances gateway messaging security
by Janet HarrisTrend Micro Incorporated has announced new versions of its email security products, InterScan Messaging Security Suite and InterScan Messaging Security Appliance. The company is also launching InterScan Messaging Hosted Security, a new hosted service for enterprise customers. The products provide anti-spam and anti-phishing protection alongside antivirus and anti-spyware solutions. The latest innovative techniques are also provided - customer-specific reputation services and image spam detection. Predictive techniques such as zero-day protection, advanced heuristics, and ...
March 19, 2007
Symantec warns on public sector security
by Janet HarrisSymnantec highlights an increased threat to public sector security in the latest edition of its threat report which covers the last six months of 2006. According to the study, a quarter of data breaches involved information held by government or its agencies. The second highest number of data breaches, 20%, affected education, with the health sector third with 14%. Over half of the data breaches occurred due to the theft ...
March 16, 2007
Intel boosts security with vPro chipsets
by Janet HarrisIntel Corp's 2007 line of vPro business desktop chipsets, codenamed 'Weybridge', place the emphasis on security and energy efficiency. The new chipsets feature network firewall capabilities, and introduce the memory protection capabilities of the Trusted Execution Technology (TET) codenamed "LaGrande". The upgrade includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and adds support for industry management standards. TET is a virtualisation technology built on top of a Trusted Platform Module, which protects ...
Yoggie launches Gatekeeper Personal and Gatekeeper SOHO
by Janet HarrisYoggie Security Systems announced the release of the Yoggie Gatekeeper Personal and Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO, at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. The appliances, which are about the size of a credit card, provide enterprise-level security in a user-friendly form. Yoggie Gatekeeper Personal is designed to protect consumers’ laptops and PCs, while Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO protects up to five networked computers in private homes or small offices. The USB miniature computers can be connected ...
March 14, 2007
Vasco adds authentication to aXs security appliance
by Janet HarrisVasco Data Security International, a software security company, specialising in authentication products, is launching aXs Guard at the CeBIT 2007 trade fair, which will take place from March 15-21 in Hanover Germany. Vasco acquired the aXs Guard security appliance when it took over Able NV, a Belgian security company, in December 2006 and has enhanced the product with the incorporation of its authentication technology. The aXs Guard appliance sits in between ...
March 13, 2007
Mozilla may add Vista security feature to Firefox 3.0
by Janet HarrisMozilla is considering adding ‘Protected Mode’ to Firefox 3.0 to protect against malware. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 uses the feature on its new Windows Vista operating system. Protected Mode, also known as ‘low rights’, only permits disk access to a temporary-files folder, meaning that if the PC is attacked through a browser vulnerability, the malware can't install code on the PC's drive. Firefox developers have been discussing the feature with Microsoft’s ...
March 12, 2007
ASI to sell laptops with Seagate’s encrypted hard drive
by Janet HarrisASI Computer Technologies of the US is to start selling laptops with Seagate Technology's new Momentus 5400 FDE.2 hard drive, which features built-in encryption technology. The computers, called ASI C8015, will be sold through a number of ASI's partners, including Newegg.com, PowerNotebooks.com and ZipZoomfly.com and will be equipped with Seagate's Momentus 5400 FDE.2 drive. They will also feature a fingerprint reader, 15.4-inch display, Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile 2.0GHz processor, Nvidia ...
March 9, 2007
Biometrics authentication for Wi-Fi from Shimon Systems
by Janet HarrisShimon Systems of California, US, has developed Bio-NetGuard - a biometrics package designed to make it easy for smaller businesses to secure their Wi-Fi networks, without the need to call in specialists. According to Simon Systems, many Wi-Fi networks are misconfigured and smaller businesses rarely apply 802.1x authentication. Bio-NetGuard, a small standalone device, includes a Radius server and EAP (encapsulated authentication protocol), which works with standard fingerprint readers, either external or ...
Sabadille releases SmartLock USB software dongle
by Janet HarrisSabadille Systems of France has released SmartLock, a driverless USB hardware dongle for software protection, to the USA and EMEA market. SmartLock provides software publishers with strong copy protection and therefore secure licensing. The SmartLock system is based on fully programmable CPU smart circuit technology consisting of an 8-bit CPU coupled with an 1024-byte EEPROM. It provides an extensive collection of sample code and it is designed to be easy to ...
March 8, 2007
FingerPIN system could replace logins
by Janet HarrisFingerPIN, a London and Birmingham-based provider of advanced fingerprint biometrics technology, has launched a patented system, called MatchLogon with FingerPIN, which it claims can replace the use of login passwords. The system overcomes the limitations of conventional biometric systems which are susceptible to spoofing attacks. MatchLogon with FingerPIN uses a sequence of fingerprints in a random order to provide access to a computer. In order to overcome the system an ...
March 7, 2007
Businesses spend 15% more on data storage and security
by Janet HarrisAccording to a new report from US-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners Inc, small and medium-sized UK businesses (with up to 999 employees) will spend up to $2.2bn on data storage and IT security in 2007, 15% higher than expenditure in 2006. The research found that while small UK businesses (with up to 99 employees) spend most of their IT security budget on anti-virus products and services, medium-sized companies (100 ...
March 5, 2007
Concerns over hardware-based rootkit detection
by Janet HarrisAt the 2007 Black Hat DC conference, Joanna Rutkowska, a security researcher at COSEINC Malware Labs, demonstrated how hardware rootkit protection can fail to find a sophisticated rootkit on a compromised machine. A rootkit is a program that is used to hack into a system and gain administrative-level access for malicious purposes. Rutkowska demonstrated three different attacks against a computer showing how the image of volatile memory (RAM), which is assessed ...