Nov
5
The past couple of years has been rife with software vulnerabilities that have led to some very serious consequences. Credit card and financial hacks from major businesses are being announced several times a year. Applications in the Google Play store have been found to be Trojan horse fronts to gain access to sensitive information stored on mobile phones. Bugs like Heartbleed have caused panic, and both Apple and Snapchat are under scrutiny for massive nude photo leaks.
With no clear way of telling how these vulnerabilities are being exploited, or by who, user trust is at an all time low. It is no wonder, as they have been shown quite clearly that any expectation of privacy they once had were completely overestimated. They have no privacy or security at all, at least that is how they are currently feeling.
The Problem With Current Software
This puts many of us in a difficult bind. A lot of software uses the same kind of coding, which is most responsible for the vulnerabilities. For example, improper neutralization of special elements used in an SQL command. While many software developers have put protections into place, like two-step verification, or Google’s team up with FIDO Alliance to introduce a physical drive for getting past authorization requests, there is still a risk.
How can you be sure the software you use is free of vulnerabilities? There is no 100% way, because even the smallest crack can be ripped wide and exploited if found. But you can lessen the chances of this happening to you by developing your own software.
Taking Things Into Your Own Hands
Your business needs software, and it needs to be as safe as possible. By being a part of the process and developing something custom, you are putting in every effort to make sure it is safe for your customers. This can save you a lot of grief and money in the long run, because the second a vulnerability leads to a hack or leak, you can be sure the consequences will be dire. Especially if you are a small to medium sized business.
Another benefit is that a custom piece of software will have exactly what your customers (and by extension your business) needs.
Don’t leave things up to fate. The only person you can rely on is yourself and your team, so you should all be a part of the development process to ensure you have the best and safest software possible for your business.
Aug
14
The anti-virus vendor Avast alerts that unpatched Home windows XP machines still pose a significant threat to the web ecosystem by harbouring 75 % of rootkit infections.
The organization comes with an unique understanding of the threat landscape because of over 130 million active Avast! anti-virus installations worldwide that send it adware and spyware telemetry. Based on a current analysis carried out through the firm’s scientists, 74 percent of 630,000 rootkit samples based in the wild came from from Home windows XP machines.
This rootkit infection minute rates are almost two occasions greater compared to decade-old operating system’s global usage share of 38 percent. Avast’s statistics reveal that 49 percent of their clients have XP running on the computer systems.
The amounts show the high Home windows XP infection count can’t just be described by its share of the market. “One problem with Home windows XP may be the large number of unlicensed versions, especially as customers are frequently not able to correctly update them since the software can not be validated through the Microsoft update,” stated Przemyslaw Gmerek, Avast’s leading rootkit expert.
Rootkits are serious risks simply because they function in the cheapest quantity of a operating-system, causing them to be tough to identify. For instance, some rootkits hook the file system motorists to cover malicious files.
Others even operate outdoors the OS, providing them with a lot more treatments for machine. They are known as bootkits simply because they infect a partition’s Master Boot Record (MBR) and, based on Avast, they have the effect of 62 percent of rootkit infections.
The very best MBR rootkit family is called Alureon, TDL or TDSS. The most recent variant, TDL4, is capable of doing self-propagation and may infect 64-bit versions of Home windows Vista and Home windows 7.
Read more …
Aug
14
 Picture credit: Avast Last week’s post about the stylish cycling shirt caused a big stir with lots of questions, comments and also emails from people asking for a sample
For starters, an old friend called me with a proposal that his company could produce those shirts for us in Italy! Well, we need to see about the price but I certainly thank you for the tip.
Someone else suggested that we should send these shirts as a gift to other AV companies – and he suggested AVG where several top managers are cycling enthusiasts. I think this is great idea – wouldn’t that be nice advertising!
read more …
May
3
 Photo Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home or small business PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and is automatically updated to protect your PC with the latest technology.
Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.
Before installing Microsoft Security Essentials, we recommend that you uninstall other antivirus software already running on your PC. Running more than one antivirus program at the same time can potentially cause conflicts that affect PC performance.
Download Microsoft Security Essentials here …
Apr
23
Based on the latest Avast blog post, a new method of producing malicious PDF files has been discovered by the avast team. This method allows malicious PDF files to be unrecognized by almost all antivirus scanners.
Apr
12
Yesterday [2011-04-11] a number of my clients called in the afternoon me in regards to some antivirus related activities on their computers. Something really weird was going on on all computers. Avast was flagging most of the websites as infected. There was nothing going on the PCs and even after a ran the AVAST scan and a couple of other anti-malware scans and did not find anything the website were kept on being blocked.
Luckily, after a definition upgrade on one of the PCs (by the way done by the CEO of the company) the issue was resolved. My clients use the Small business Server and Standard suites so the updates on the workstations was done almost within a few minutes simultaneously on all of the computers after which everything went back to normal.
It really took about a couple of hours between noticing a problem and solving it. I consider this is not as bad as it could have been.
I’m a bit surprised how quick Avast responded to the problem, solved the problem and also posted a blog describing it.
“Virus definition update 110411-1 contained an error that resulted in a good number of innocent sites being flagged as infected. Generally, all sites with a script in a specific format were affected.
Our virus lab staff discovered the problem quickly after releasing the bad update and immediately started working on a fix. The fix was released about 45 minutes after the problematic update and has version number 110411-2. Anyone who still has this problem is kindly asked to manually update the definitions to the latest version, e.g. by right-clicking the avast taskbar icon (the orange (a) ball), and selecting Update -> Engine and Virus Definitions.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. As this typically only affected remote sites (and not local files), simply updating to the latest definitions should completely solve the issue (no local files have been quarantined).” – Avast blog said.
Source: Avast
Mar
26
This is not an ordinary virus and not all anti-virus programs can catch it. When this virus gets into the computer it can not be stopped.
It a new bread of virus called malware. This malware controlled by a “cyber brain,” it gets into your computer, sets up a an environment inside of your PC, and then starts stealing your most important information.
“Even the safest surfers can be subjected to this sick scheme. One minute you’re minding your own business, the next you get a message that your computer is infected, and if you don’t pay $59.99 for what’s supposed to be Microsoft anti-virus, your computer stops working. But as one local couple found out, paying that fee doesn’t fix anything, in fact it makes matters worse.”
Read more…
Mar
19
 Photo credit: Avast! RAGUE, Czech Republic – While industry testing shows that avast! Free version 5.0 handily beats most paid-for antivirus products, AVAST Software is pushing the envelope even further with the new avast! 6.0 – launching today.
“With our new avast! 6.0 Free Antivirus, we’ve added advanced capabilities that aren’t in any mainstream AV product. Once again, we are providing a free antivirus that often exceeds the protection offered by other paid-for products,” said Vince Steckler, CEO of AVAST Software. “In these tight economic times, there is no reason for people to keep paying for the overpriced AV that they have on their computers.”
There are six good reasons why computer users should remove antivirus products such as Norton or McAfee and install the new avast! Free Antivirus 6.0.
Source: Iewy.com
Mar
15
Based on a survey conducted by Barracuda Networks, spam level was down by about 50% in the second half of 2010. However the there was a 55% rapid increase in malicious software.
Barracuda Networks chief research officer Dr Paul Judge said that the shift towards search engines and social networking sites means fraudsters are now focusing on those areas of the internet.
“The research community must continue to build innovative defences and the industry must make efforts to increase the deployment rates of those defences,” Dr Judge added.
Source: http://www.ihotdesk.com/article/800461987/Malware-could-be-replacing-spa Ihotdesk.com
Mar
1
Avast Free Antivirus 6.0 gets 9.0 editor’s ranking at Cnet.com
Avast made great strides in its previous update. Version 5 set the stage for the modern, massively popular and free security suite with a new interface that ditched a quirky, late-’90s jukebox style for a more polished look. Easier to navigate, it also became easier to add new features.
Make no mistake, Avast 6 adds features both big and small. Some that had previously only been available to paid upgrade users are now free for all versions and newer features have been seamlessly added to the interface experience. If you’re familiar with Avast 5, upgrading to Avast 6 won’t be that big of a leap.
Source: Cnet.com
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