Sophos changes tack with mobile anti-virus launch
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U-turn Sophos, the UK anti-virus developer, launched an anti-virus product for Windows mobiles yesterday. After years of saying the threat of viruses infecting mobile devices is over-hyped, Sophos now maintains the protection against a "growing number of malware attacks" aimed at Windows Mobile is necessary.â¦
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Trend Micro has launched a security application that will provide antivirus and anti-spam protection for smartphones and PDAs. The antivirus software firm is offering a free trial of Mobile Security until next June.
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(InfoWorld) - Security vendor Sophos has upgraded its antivirus software to allow system administrators to block the installation of file-sharing, VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and instant-messaging programs, the company announced Wednesday. Enterprises have asked for ways to control what applications end users install, citing concerns over liability, bandwidth consumption and flagging productivity, said John Shaw, Sophos group product manager. "They see a lot of users wasting company time and wasting company assets," he said. The upgrade, called Application Control, is a free part of Sophos' Anti-Virus (AV) 6.0 software. Administrators have a console to control which applications users can install on their machines. Application Control can block majorÂ peer-to-peer applications such as Kazaa and eMule, plus instant-messaging programs from Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL. Google Talk, Skype and Net2Phone can also be blocked. If a user tries to install an unwanted program, Application Control blocks the installation. To identify programs, Sophos uses analysis techniques similar to those used to identify malicious software, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the company. If a program is updated, Sophos will also issue updates for its software to continue blocking the program, Cluley said. Other products on the market take a different tact, analyzing packets to determine what applications are using them, a more difficult method than simply blocking the installation, Cluley said. Sophos will expand the list of programs that can be blocked, eventually encompassing grid and distributed computing applications and computer games. Â ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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(InfoWorld) - It may have taken enterprise customers years to get proper security tools in place to defend their PCs, but if large businesses drag their feet in aligning the applications necessary to protect their smartphones, they will pay a heavy price, says Symantec. As part of a media tour to call attention to the planned launch of its Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0 package on June 4 -- touted as its most comprehensive product to date for protecting handheld devices against loss or attack -- experts with the company said hackers and electronic scammers are already creating a mobile environment that will soon rival the dangers of today's PC security landscape. All of the attack profiles that have become standard fare for desktops and laptops, from root kit-like programs that attempt to infect device operating systems, to ingenious social engineering attempts that play on the multimedia footprint of smartphones, have already arrived, said Khoi Nguyen, group product manager for mobile security at Symantec. How quickly the attacks multiply and proliferate will be determined only by the pace with which people adopt more powerful handhelds and how aggressive they are in defending the devices, he said. Unlike in previous years where much of the buzz around wireless security could be attributed to forward thinking, Symantec believes that handheld platforms are about to be deluged by a storm of different types of attacks. "Since the first mobile threats started arriving several years ago things have evolved dramatically, these attacks are real and people are being impacted by them today, particularly in other regions of the world where smartphone use is higher than in the U.S.," Nguyen said. "We are still in the early stages here, but things are evolving much more rapidly than they did on the PC side; as more enterprises adopt smartphones and they are being used more frequently to carry out financial transactions, the attackers will be there waiting." While Symantec estimates that there are still about 450 PC-oriented threats for every attack designed to assail mobile devices, the company expects the gap to close rapidly over the next several years. As new devices and applications that are expected to drive adoption of smartphones hit the market, such as those built to run on Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform, more enterprises will buy the memory-heavy handhelds and hackers will follow, the security expert said. In the last month alone, Symantec has uncovered root-kit style threats attacking Symbian smartphones which attempt to modify the devices' operating system files to bypass onboard security features. The company has also observed so-called snoopware programs, which add voice-driven schemes into the malware mix. One snoopware attack, which had the ability to remotely activate a smartphone's microphone to secretly eavesdrop on calls, take control of its camera to surreptitiously take pictures, and forward all of a user's text messages to another account, was aimed at users of Windows Mobile With an estimated 60-70 percent of the world's smartphones running on Symbian software today, most mobile previously-identified device attacks have targeted the company's OS. In moving to target Windows Mobile users in such a way, hackers illustrate how they are already preparing to cash in on the projected growth of Microsoft's platform, according to Nguyen. "Basically the threats have gone from proof-of-concept to full-blown spyware in a span of three years, whereas it took over a decade for the same type of evolution to occur on the desktop side," said Nguyen. "On the enterprise side, companies are finding that the smartphone is just another endpoint that is going to need to be protected in the same way that desktops and laptops are protected today." As a result of the need for PC-like protection for their handhelds, Symantec is pitching a range of applications in Mobile Security Suite 5.0 that mimic its products for larger computers. Included in the package will be what the company is touting as the first network access control (NAC) system for smartphones, with NAC applications still existing as a fairly new security development in the PC space. Much like a PC-oriented NAC system, the smartphone tools -- which must be used in concert with Symantec's standalone mobile VPN product line -- promise to perform a series of security health checks on devices before the handhelds are allowed to access corporate networks. Another capability unique to the company's latest enterprise smartphone defense package is a tamper-protection feature that monitors devices' operating systems to detect any attempts to modify the code, such as in root kit attacks. As with its Norton consumer smartphone offerings, the Mobile Security Suite 5.0 package will also include more traditional anti-virus and firewall tools as well. Other industry watchers agree that enterprises must have their smartphone security plans firmly in place as they hand out more of the devices to employees. And according to executives at Nokia, the world's top producer of mobile devices, more customers than ever are asking about security implications upfront as they consider wider smartphone distribution. One of the most significant concerns among customers remains the use of unsanctioned devices in the enterprise, typically occurring when workers who have not yet been offered smartphones by their employers instead begin using their own handhelds to carry out business tasks. "A lot of people are still asking us about dealing with unsanctioned devices, the administrators realize that there are often a lot of people using their smartphones in the enterprise without authorization, and they need to find a way to protect themselves," said Kara Hayes, senior product marketing manager for Nokia's Security & Mobility Connectivity group. "People are also very concerned about device loss and theft, they want the ability to wipe the data on the device and kill service," she said. "They want mobile e-mail protection and they're concerned about preventing against data loss; security really has become a big part of the conversation with customers looking to adopt smartphones across more of their organization." Sam Bhavnani, an analyst with Current Analysis, said that organizations should take the best practices they have developed for laptops and port them directly into their smartphone adoption plans. "This all goes back to the migration from desktops to laptops. There are a lot of common sense implications, and people need to be sensible about creating realistic policies that both protect the data on the device and allow users to tap into the potential of the smart phones," Bhavnani said. "Some people are still scared to go there, they know that adopting these devices will open another can of worms, but creating smart policies ahead of time and building on their laptop experience will be the best ways to foster strong mobile security."ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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Virus authors have found new prey. They are going after Symbian based cell phones with a new trojan horse that kills applications and replaces their icons with a skull image.
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Security systems can now block the  first computer viruses attack on cell phones, but the mobile  industry sees new risks stemming from upcoming open software  platforms such as Google's  Android.
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Will look after data for cash Symantec made another effort to drop its âoh the virus guysâ image today when it unveiled two services programmes pitched at enterprise customers.â¦
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Amid reports of Trojans and worms squirming through mobile devices, Trend Micro Inc. says it will roll out anti-virus and anti-spam protection for users of data-centric smart phones.
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Software update patches bug in wireless drivers that left systems vulnerable.
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Sophos released a warning yesterday about a worm that has the capability to use webcams to spy on computer users in their home or workplace.
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Bluetooth phone users beware, a new mobile virus is ready to pounce on your phone. The antivirus company F-secure has identified two new variants of the Cabir worm.
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Two new versions of a computer virus that affects mobile phones were discovered this week with new features that allow them to spread more quickly between vulnerable devices, according to antivirus company F-Secure.
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Security systems can now block the  first computer viruses attack on cell phones, but the mobile  industry sees new risks stemming from upcoming open software  platforms such as Google's Android.
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Yet another Trojan horse is luring the Internet with a need to infect Symbian based smart phones. SimWorks International, an anti-virus firm, issued an alert earlier this week informing the users of the Trojanâs existence.
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Over the past month, a new type of malicious software has emerged, using a decades-old technique to hide itself from antivirus software.
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Ironport Systems today announced the latest version of the e-mail security company&#39;s C-Series E-Mail Security Appliance. The new version formalizes the release of Ironport&#39;s Virus Outbreak
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They&#39;re coming to mobile phones - those nasty viruses, worms and Trojan horses that have, on more than one occasion, crippled PCs.