Archive for: Security
GFI LANGuard offers an entire set of tools to audit, evaluate and remediate your network within just a few steps. With this suite you can complete full assessments in your organization about software and operating system vulnerabilities, security baselines and also provides you with the necessary instruments to solve them.
Some of the most important features in GFI LANGuard:
Powerful network scanning options without the need to deploy agents.- Reviews and controls vulnerabilities, updates/service packs status (for operating systems and applications), TCP and UDP ports open, and hardware and software inventory.
- Remediation options for deploying updates and service packs.
- Deploy applications in client machines and the possibility for removing unauthorized software.
- Detect and deploy non-Microsoft software to protect the entire operating system.
- Supports UNIX/Linux machines.
Installing and configuring GFI LANGuard can be executed in simple steps since the product was made to facilitate the complex work usually represents audit and remediate your network from vulnerabilities.
To review detailed step-by-step procedures check this link. Here are some of the basic steps:
1. Download GFI LANGuard.
2. Review GFI LANGuard system requirements.
3. Install GFI LANGuard with the simple wizard.
4. Once the product is installed, we can easily run the “Scan” option that will retrieve all the necessary information from our network and as we said, agentless.
a. We can select several types of scan: Quick, Full, Custom or Scheduled.
5. With the scan is complete, we’ll receive a full report about all vulnerabilities found in all OS in our network.
6. In the “Remediate” pane we have all the necessary options to solve the vulnerabilities found. Here we can execute immediate actions in clients like:
a. Install/Uninstall Microsoft patches.
b. Install/Uninstall non-Microsoft patches.
c. Deploy custom software.
d. Uninstall software.
Here are some valuable links about GFI LANGuard:
GFI VIPRE Antivirus is one of the best solutions available in the market regarding operating systems security. With a lot of versatility, GFI VIPRE offers tons of options and configurations to deploy on client or server machines, plus is very simple to install.
Operating systems security against malware and virus is a key factor in every organization, even though most small or mid-size companies avoid this matter. GFI VIPRE Antivirus provides the simplicity and scalability any company should be looking for in security solutions.
Some of the most important features included in GFI VIPRE Antivirus are:
Simple installation and environment configuration: The platform does not require complex configurations. For a complete detailed step-by-step check this link.- Centralized management: Central console to administer all your clients and the possibility to delegate read-only permissions to operators.
- Easy deployment: Fast and several options to discover machines, plus automatic deployment included. If clients are not available, MSI manual installation can be used.
- Scalability: You can configure different sites and different policies that will be handled by GFI VIPRE Antivirus, making possible to protect all necessary computers with different options among them.
- High compatibility: Windows 2000 SP4 or newer operating systems are supported as client machines (Windows 7 included of course).
- Flexible reporting: Vast options to configure reporting within your environment.
- Very low resources necessary: GFI VIPRE Antivirus represents one of the antiviruses that require a very small portion of your machine resources, making it completely silent and transparent to users.
Here’s a comparison from the most used antivirus and the CPU usage when a scan is running:
As a quick reference, here’s an overview about the process of implementing GFI VIPRE Antivirus (detailed step-by-step here):
- Review requirements for server and client machines.
- Define the type of machines and the behavior you would like to be present in the antivirus software, depending on the machine category.
This will be represented in the policy we can configure for each category we decide (for example: mobile computers will have a more restrictive policy than the workstations).
- Install GFI VIPRE Antivirus.
- Create and configure system policies to apply agent machines.
- Add agents and validate VIPRE installation. The platform provides the possibility for automated installation and of course manual.
- Run a manual scan in agents to validate current health status of your clients. Automatic scans in agents can be configured but we can also trigger manual scans whenever we need.
- Generate reports using Report Viewer.
- Configure any additional sites and permissions for different type of users. We can have simple operators to the platform using the GFI VIPRE console.
You can download the free trials for GFI VIPRE Antivirus in this link.
Apple has just released iTunes 10.1.2. iTunes 10.1.2 has a lot better stability and performance than previous versions.
iTunes 10.1 came with several new features and improvements, including:
- AirPlay to instantly and wirelessly stream videos from iTunes to the all-new Apple TV.
- Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.2. For information on the security content of this update, please visit: support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
Download iTunes 10.1.2 here.
OESIS OK presented an interesting report about antivirus software and their current market share. Within this report some important, and some surprising, facts were revealed. Take a look.
This is the report regarding most used security applications:
OESIS OK presents as a company for “Antivirus interoperability certification software testing”, that means they are continuously evaluating the antivirus market share and the possibilities behind it. Here are some of the quick facts about this report:
- 42% of antivirus and security tools installed are freeware. They say “It would appear that end users have as much faith in the ability of free antivirus applications to keep them secure as they do paid antivirus”.
- Avast Free is the most popular application with 11.45%.
- The list of free antivirus and applications completes with: Avira Antivir Personal (9.19%); AVG Free (8.6%) and fourth Microsoft Security Essentials with (7.48%).
- Regarding paid applications: Avast with 5.54%; Kaspersky with 4.48%; Norton with 4.24% and finally ESET NOD32 with 3.84%
A PDF version of the complete report can be found here.
This is also the graph of the distribution of the market share regarding vendors:
Facebook, being the biggest of social networking sites, has decided to get on board with Safer Internet Day, which was on the 9th of February. The day, which is promoted across the EU, is aimed at keeping Internet users safe online – in particular, children. They opened their official company blog to Will Gardner who is CEO of Safety Advisory Board at Facebook and also to Childnet International.
“Safer Internet Day is an important event in the Internet safety calendar and provides a great opportunity to showcase some of the key messages about staying safe online. Held for the past four years on the second Tuesday of the second month, Safer Internet Day has grown beyond its origins in the EU and is now celebrated in countries across the world. The theme this year is “Think Before You Post,” a vital message not only for children and young people but, let’s be honest, adults as well.” said Will in the blog post.
The entire initiative is aimed at educating children about what is and what isn’t sensitive information about themselves and why they shouldn’t give it out. They also instruct kids about who they should and shouldn’t ‘friend’ on social networking sites.
The main points made in the post are as follows
- Using privacy setting provided by the network (a bit ironic given Facebook’s recent privacy ‘updates’)
- Choosing friends carefully and knowing who sees your content
- Thinking about the consequences of uploading photos and videos
- Asking permission of friends to publish photographs of them.
Good to see that the industries leading site is promoting security for kids online.
A bit of an embarrassment for Mozilla Firefox – and it comes at a a bad time too, right when they’re loosing their dominance in the browser world as Chrome catches up.
Mozilla has been known as a very safe browser as compared to its old enemy, Internet Explorer. In fact, many people used it for just that reason. So the last thing Mozilla needed was reports of Malware in two ad-ons which were available for download from their website.
“Two add-ons in the experimental section of addons.mozilla.org were found to be containing malware,” Mozilla said on its security blog. “These were not originally detected with the anti-malware scanning tools that we have been using. We have since increased the number of scanning tools, and will be taking additional steps to minimize the risk of further incidents.
It is thought that well in excess of 4,000 downloads of the ad-ons have taken place since they were first released in September. So are you one of the thousands of people who inadvertently infected their own machines? Well if you downloaded Sothink 4.0 and all versions of Master Filer then there’s a good chance you are. These installed Win32.LdPinch.gen and Win32.Bitfrose.32.Bitfrose Trojan respectively. So if you have downloaded these, I suggest running a scan of your system ASAP.
When you lock your phone you assume that your Emails, browsing history, text messages and personal data are secure. You could leave your phone in a crowded room knowing nobody could access it without you inputting the pattern on the touch-screen which is how Droids’ security work. However, a bug which was only recently discovered and made public on the Internet has compromised all phones with 2.0.1 versions which apparently is the bulk of the Droid market.
When the phone is receiving an incoming call, all you have to do is press the ‘back’ button and you’ll be brought to the home screen. So theoretically, if you wanted to access somebody’s Droid phone all you have to do is call it and then press the back button on the device. Voila! Instant access to all their personal data.
“We are aware of the issue and we’re working to deliver a fix to Motorola Droids shortly.” said a spokesperson.
My memory is cast back to August of 2008 when a very similar bug for the iPhone’s screenlock as discovered. When will companies learn that security is now a paramount concern for all tech users?
It’s 2009 so undoubtedly you have to remember more than just one password. And for security reasons, you don’t want to change them all to the same one. So, you could have your phone’s PIN number, credit card’s pin, e-mail password, twitter, eBay, WordPress, online banking, the list goes on and on. But obviously you don’t want to jot them down on a post it and stick it in your wallet. That would be foolish. Plus I’m pretty sure there’s laws (or at least T&Cs in your credit card agreement) that say you’re not allowed to keep your cards and passwords near one another.
So I offer SafeStore Gold as a solution. Basically it’s Java mobile application that allows you to store all of your information in one easy place. Of course it’s password protected but at least you only have to remember one!
For your peace of mind it has been spyware tested by Cnet and is available for download via their website here.
You get a free 15 day trial but after that you have to pay a small fee. Still, it beats having you bank account cleaned
out.
It’s all about security this week in the tech world. Google are under the spotlight concerning security in their upcoming Google Chrome OS and Norton 2010 is turning heads. Now, Mozilla Firefox is to receive an update (3.0.12) which will close several major security loop holes in their popular browser.
“We strongly recommend that all Firefox 3.0.x users upgrade to this latest release,” Mozilla said on its developer blog. “If you already have Firefox 3, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting ‘Check for Updates…’ from the Help menu.”
It is recommended that users download the update so that they remain secure online. Using credit cards and even just keeping your browsing habits safe is a difficult task these days so the last thing you want is a browser that lets unsavoury programs or people peer into your bank account.
However, this will be one of the last, if not the last update for the browser. As of January 2010, no more updates will be made available to users of the 3.0.’X’ series as Mozilla try to pedal their newest browser, Firefox 3.5 to users.
It was reported over on Techcrunch and Crunchgear that there wa a virus that was running rampant across the YouTube network with the certain embedded videos. It was reported that Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox were targeted, later reports said it was just IE.
The virus was reportedly named Actns/Swif.T and contains a phishing scam that directs uses to a website with an embedded .SWF and then installs a program called “Antivirus 2009.” Users were warned of this potentially damaging malware by avoiding weird pop-ups, requests for personal information, or re-direction to unknown sites.
The story was later recanted as it appeared to be a YouTube specific situation. On the back end the virus protection service being used was returning false positives identifying code within certain embedded videos as malware. The entire incident is harmless, and there is no security breach on the YouTube network. Spokesperons from YouTube are handling the situation and ensure us that YouTube is currently safe and free of any malware problems.
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