CyberSafety.co.za

Global IT vendor Panda Security is releasing its new 2011 consumer product line, featuring faster performance, better protection and less resource impact than previous versions. Panda’s new retail solutions, available at the end of August, include: Panda Internet Security 2011, Panda Global Protection 2011, Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 and Panda Internet Security for Netbooks. New features include complete remote access to home PCs, file shredding of deleted programs and a secure browser, to name a few.

All of the 2011 consumer solutions benefit from Panda’s Collective Intelligence technology, which leverages the network of millions of global users, or the Power of Community, to deliver instantaneous protection against new and unknown threats. Using these solutions, consumers can browse the Internet, make purchases online, and chat and share photos/videos with complete confidence that Collective Intelligence and the Power of Community are providing proactive and real-time protection against the latest malware threats. In addition, PC resource consumption is minimal and the 2011 solutions boast a 50% improvement in performance on Windows 7 environments when compared to last year’s versions.

The products are designed specifically for highly active users with the most demanding protection needs, and include many new features, such as the option to manage home networks, or run the protection in gaming/multimedia mode, to avoid interruptions for gamers.

Similarly, the interfaces have been simplified and made more intuitive across all the products, and the top of the range solution includes a series of utilities to transparently safeguard the digital life of users:

• Remote access - Lets you access your home or work computer from anywhere and share files securely across the Web.
• Virtual browser (sandbox) - 100% secure, based on a network of virtual machines running under Linux and without persistent memory storage.
• Virtual keyboard – To prevent passwords and other sensitive data entered on keyboards from being stolen with keyloggers.
• File encryption -  Keeps files safe from snoopers
• Definitive data removal - Elimination of all traces of deleted files or programs.

The new solutions maintain the features that have positioned them as market-leading security suites: a powerful antivirus engine to protect against all types of known and unknown viruses; firewall with WiFi security to block intruders and hackers; Panda USB Vaccine, to protect USB devices; confidential information filters to keep personal data safe; backup copying, as well as a PC tune-up feature to optimize system performance.

Free trial versions will be available soon from: http://www.pandasecurity.com/Southafrica/homeusers/downloads/

For more information about Panda, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

• Panda Security’s business solutions recognized for their superior ease of use, protection features and value.

Global IT vendor Panda Security announced that two of its solutions for small and medium sized businesses, Panda GateDefender Integra and Panda Security for Business v4.05, have been given 5-star product ratings by SC Magazine.

In its review, SC Magazine lauded Panda GateDefender Integra for its excellent price and protection functionality. The unified threat management (UTM) appliance provides businesses with centralised protection from all types of internet-borne threats, including firewall, intrusion prevention, anti-malware, content filtering, anti-spam and web filtering.

“With Panda GateDefender Integra, businesses can install and protect their corporate perimeters in minutes without the need for any user intervention”, says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. “This makes it the only install and protect UTM solution on the market.”

SC Magazine also recognized Panda Security for Business, the company’s all-in-one security software suite, for its simple installation process, superior protection features and product documentation. SC noted that the product offers “lots of features and extensive support for different operating systems and devices.”

Panda Security for Business is also the only on-premise security solution for gateways, e-mail networks and endpoints that benefits from instantaneous and automated, cloud-driven malware protection while still retaining all in-house security controls.

The recent 5-star ratings follow a string of positive reviews of Panda’s corporate products. This includes a 4-star rating in by SC Magazine of Panda GateDefender Performa 9500, the company’s all-in-one appliance for high-performance web filtering and perimeter protection against Internet-borne malware and spam.

Like all Panda products, the Panda GateDefender line as well as Panda Security for Business, benefit from the company’s unique cloud-based Collective Intelligence database. Collective Intelligence draws from the knowledge and experience of millions of users to deliver the most comprehensive, instantaneous and non-intrusive protection against known and unknown malware.

For more information about Panda Security’s corporate solutions, please visit www.pandasecurity.com/enterprise/

Global IT Vendor Panda Security has launched version 5.04.50 of Panda Cloud Office Protection (PCOP), its cloud-based security solution for corporate endpoints.

“The new version includes a host of new features and improvements which provides companies with an even more effective solution for malware detection and prevention”, says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations.

One of the version’s top new features is its compatibility with Office 2010, as well as its ability to scan the email messages stored in Windows Live Mail. It also incorporates new technologies to prevent infections from unknown malware. These technologies are capable of blocking threats even if the user is offline at the time of detection (identification processes take place in the cloud), or if the malware strain is new. Automatic verdicts are also returned directly, indicating whether the file is malware or goodware.

The new PCOP also contains a small signature file that only includes data about the most active malware every day. These file updates are truly automatic and do not require administrator intervention to deploy and implement them on every workstation on the network.

Since Panda Security started selling its cloud-based security suites last year, the company has achieved growth ratios well above the market average. In 2009, the company’s worldwide growth in this market segment reached 122% (compared to 2008), accounting for 20% of the company’s corporate revenue. This outstanding growth reflects the many benefits that a cloud-based security solution provides to clients.

Panda Cloud Office Protection can be sold separately or as part of the Panda Cloud Protection suite. This new solution complements Panda Security’s cloud-based, SaaS security products covering the main infection vectors: endpoints and servers (Panda Cloud Office Protection); corporate email (Panda Cloud Email Protection) and Internet traffic (Panda Cloud Internet Protection).

For more information and a free product trial go to http://cloudprotection.pandasecurity.com.

For more information about Panda, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

Panda Security is launching the Panda Challenge. Last year’s edition of the competition saw more than 4,000 entrants putting their considerable computer skills to the test.

This year the Panda Challenge asks participants to find the solution to two practical problems published in the PandaLabs Blog. In the first phase, users will have to download the game and then make a keyfile in order to play it; while the second phase involves finding a valid license for a program.

“We launched this challenge for the first time last year, unaware of the fantastic response we would get” says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. “We were pleasantly surprised to see such a high number of participants with such technical expertise. The challenges were not easy but lots of users managed to find the solution.”

The first challenge will be published on Saturday, July 17 at 09:00 (GMT + 2) and solutions must be received by Monday, July 19 at 17:00 PM (GMT + 2). The second challenge will be published the following weekend, on Saturday, July 24 at the same time, and solutions must be received by Monday, July 26. The winner will be the first contestant to send the correct solution to pandachallenge@pandasecurity.com.

Anyone, from any country, can take part, with no need to register or comply with any requirements. All participants can follow the contest and interact with each other on Twitter, using the hashtag #PC2010.

“This year we have taken into account the suggestions of contestants to better adapt the challenge to everyone’s needs: we’re running it at the weekend, with a timetable that allows people from all over the world to take part, etc. We hope users enjoy it as much as last year”, concludes Matthews.

More information is available in the PandaLabs blog: http://www.pandalabs.com

For more information about Panda, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

With the boom in social networks and the numerous applications now available for sharing information across the Internet, global IT vendor Panda Security advises users to take extra precautions in order to prevent falling victim to computer fraud.

“This year we advise users to take particular care with the information they share across social networks”, says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. “This applies particularly to applications used to plan journeys or to locate people geographically through GPS devices, as this information could easily be exploited and used to aid housebreaking.”

These types of applications have become highly popular over the last year. Facebook apps such as Doorpl or Trip Advisor (which show messages describing where you are or where and when you are planning to go); the Twitter geolocation utility (displaying where tweets have been sent from), or services for locating mobile devices through GPS (now widely employed by iPhone or Android users), are just a few examples.

While many of these programs are interesting and fun, the problem lies in the exploitation of this information by criminals. The emergence (and closure) of services like Pleaserobme, which as its name suggests, connects with these applications to offer information about who is not at home, is just one example of the abuse of these applications. “This underlines how careless we can be as users when offering personal information publicly”, adds Matthews.

There are numerous precautions that users are encouraged to take in order to prevent being exploited during the holiday season.

Users who take their PC’s with them on holiday are advised to back up all their information as they face the risk of having their PC’s stolen or breaking down while away. In addition they are advised to have reliable, up-to-date protection with all the necessary security patches installed.  

Although encrypting the information on their hard disks may seem a tiresome or complex task, is another strong security measure Panda encourages users to take as it prevents anyone from accessing data without the right password.

Furthermore, users should never connect to unprotected WiFi networks, as they could be hooking up to a network set up by hackers to steal any information that they share across the Internet. It is always better to use secure, trusted networks, even if it means paying more. Lastly, users are advised to take care with email as phishing attacks and spam are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

In addition to this holiday advice, there are constant precautions that should always be taken.

No one should use applications for planning journeys offered by social networks, to ensure that you can’t be located. Similarly, users shouldn’t accept the geolocation function in Twitter or use this application from their cell phones.

Users who do spend time in chat rooms while on holiday should also never reveal any personal or confidential details to anyone unknown. If users notice any suspicious behavior on social networks (strangers with too much of an interest in your holiday destination, dates, etc.) they should contact the police. All these safety tips should be shared with children, who are more naïve than their parents and therefore make easier targets.

“In addition to the above, it is worth remembering some of the basic security measures at this time of year. Turn off your router when you leave home, beware of typical, holiday-themed phishing, take care with dubious looking websites, as many of them are designed to infect your computer… and, above all, have a great holiday”, concludes Matthews.

More information is available at the PandaLabs blog: http://www.pandalabs.com

For more information about Panda, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

Panda  Security has found that malware designed to infect iPhones can also compromise the popular iPad.

Given the increasing popularity of Apple devices and their growing market share, malware designed specifically to target these platforms is beginning to attract more attention. Last year, Panda raised the alert about a worm, iPhone/Eeki, able to infect jailbroken iPhones (i.e. those that have been tampered with in order to install unofficial applications). The worm was also able to spread to iPod Touch.

Logically, all malware designed for iPhones will have the same ability to infect and spread to iPad devices. This is because the iPad and the iPhone share the same operating system, known as iPhone (v3), or iOS (v4) in the forthcoming version.

‘This doesn’t mean we’re about to face an avalanche of infections’, says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. ‘However, we have always stated that as Apple takes more market share, cyber-crooks will begin to show more interest in targeting those that use this platform.’

Despite the fact that Apple decided to totally close off the hardware (making it impossible to install peripherals) and the software (all applications are installed from the manufacturer’s App Store) cyber-criminals have found a way to infect jailbroken devices with malware.

‘With more and more proof of Apple being targeted, we advise all Mac users to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations to increase security on their operating systems’ concludes Matthews.

Since 1990, Panda’s mission has been to detect and eliminate new threats as rapidly as possible in order to offer maximum security. To do so, PandaLabs has an innovative automated system that analyzes and classifies thousands of new samples a day and returns automatic verdicts (malware or goodware). This system is the basis of collective intelligence, Panda’s new security model which can even detect malware that has evaded other security solutions.

Currently, 99.4% of malware detected by Panda is analyzed through this system of collective intelligence. This is complemented by the work of several teams, each specialised in a specific type of malware (viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam, etc).This translates into simple, secure and resource-friendly solutions for users.

For more information, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

Panda Security has reported the recent appearance of a number of web pages distributing the MySecurityEngine fake antivirus. All of these pages appear in top web search results related to the 2010 South Africa Soccer World Cup.

“The FIFA World Cup is a worldwide event that, logically, hackers are taking advantage of”, says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. Users looking for information regarding the World Cup are advised to only access reliable websites and be careful when clicking on links returned by search engines. “We expect to see attacks like this increase over the next few days.”

These techniques, called Black Hat Seo attacks, started being used by hackers a couple of years ago. Since then, they have become increasingly sophisticated, managing to place rogue websites among the top’s search results in search engine listings. The system is very simple: when users look for information about major sports events such as this, the results returned correspond to rogue Web pages professionally indexed to rank high. If the user clicks the link, they will be asked to download a file, such as a codec. If they do so, they will be inadvertently installing a fake antivirus program on their computer.

Users are advised to take all the necessary precautions when visiting Web pages through search engines. Making sure that sources are reliable and rejecting all downloads is key remaining uninfected. “The best piece of advice is to use common sense when surfing the Web. Reject requests from strangers and do not open any files that come from unfamiliar sources” says Matthews. “It’s advisable to make sure you have the proper virus protection on your computer and that it is up to date. There are free solutions like Panda Cloud Antivirus that protect computers against this type of threat.”

For more information, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

Panda Cloud Antivirus has received yet another accolade! About.com has ranked the free cloud based security solution as their number one choice in their top 10 antivirus for Windows-based PCs.

About.com says:

Panda takes free antivirus to a whole new level with Panda Cloud Antivirus. The only free cloud-based scanner, Panda antivirus software takes all the processing off your PC, giving you a lighter, faster, and more proactive antivirus protection. Or for for a very low price you can upgrade to Panda Cloud Antivirus Pro and gain additional features as well as 24/7 tech support.

Panda Security has upgraded and expanded Panda Cloud Antivirus, the first and only cloud-based anti-malware service to protect home computer users. The upgrade of Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition improves and extends the protection provided by the original free product. A brand new commercial version of the product, Panda Cloud Antivirus Pro, delivers expanded support services and automation capabilities for even greater convenience. Both products, available for download at http://www.cloudantivirus.com, set the standard in malware detection and consume minimal PC resources.

Since the debut of Panda Cloud Antivirus last year, nearly 10 million home users have selected the free service as their antivirus of choice. “With today’s launch, we’ve created two options for users, both featuring major enhancements that make safeguarding your PC even easier and more transparent”, says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. “The Free Edition gives users the best basic no-cost protection available on the market thanks to Panda’s cloud-based Collective Intelligence technology, while the new Pro Edition offers more robust automated security capabilities and services at a very affordable price.”

The first-free “in the cloud” security service for home users, Panda Cloud Antivirus provides instantaneous protection against real-world threats with next to no impact on computer performance. This minimal resource usage is a major benefit of Collective Intelligence, Panda’s proprietary technology for automatically collecting and processing millions of malware samples in the cloud instead of locally, on the user’s PC. This results in efficient, accurate malware protection that consumes only 15MB of RAM, compared with 60MB for traditional signature-based anti-virus products. Collective Intelligence also provides superior detection against both known and unknown malware.

In a recent comparative test of leading free antivirus programs conducted by AV-Test.org, Panda outperformed the average zero day detection score of the other products tested by 42.5%. Panda also scored 99.4%, or higher, in four on-demand detection rate tests including the PCSecurityLabs test, for which it scored 99.7%.

PCMag.com, PC World and CNET have hailed Panda Cloud Antivirus as the first free anti-virus product completely built on a cloud infrastructure. Panda’s reverse signature analysis approach, which feeds information about goodware and malware characteristics to the Collective Intelligence database, ensures rapid scanning for the newest and most dangerous malware. According to Neil Rubenking, security analyst at PCMag.com, “Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0 is the best free antivirus software available…and is our Editors’ Choice for free antivirus.”[1]

New features in Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition include advanced configuration and exclusions. This allows users to customise certain features, such as behavioural blocking and analysis, to suit their individual needs and system requirements. Behavioural blockers provide instantaneous protection against new malware and targeted attacks, while self-protection of antivirus files and configurations also ensures protection can’t be disabled by targeted malware attacks.

Additional features in the Cloud Antivirus Pro Edition include automatic, transparent upgrades, providing completely “hands-free” protection by eliminating the need for reinstalling the antivirus each time a new version is released. Automatic vaccination of USB and hard drives ensures that neither drive type can transmit an infection while users are offline. Dynamic behavioural analysis also provides an added layer of protection by analyzing running processes and blocking any found to be malicious.

Panda Cloud Antivirus has received numerous awards, including the Editors’ Choice Award from PCMag.com USA, Best Tech of the Year from LAPTOP Magazine USA, 5 Stars from Downloads Café USA amoungst others.

Pricing and Availability

Panda Cloud Antivirus Pro Edition is priced at $29.95. Both products are available now and can be downloaded at http://www.cloudantivirus.com.

For more information, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

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[1] Reprinted from www.pcmag.com, November 13, 2009, with permission. © 2009 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Panda Security has exposed a network selling bots which specialise in targeting social networks and webmail systems. The publicly available website contains an extensive catalogue of programs aimed at social networks and webmail services, including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Friendster, Gmail and Yahoo amongst others.

Each entry explains the reason for which the bot has been created: creating multiple accounts simultaneously on social networks; identity theft and stealing friends, followers or contacts and the automatic sending of messages. According to the page, “All Bots Work in a conventional manner; they gather friends IDs/names and send friend requests, messages and comments automatically.”

“This is another example of the lucrative business that malware represents for cyber-criminals,” warns Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. “While some of the activities the bots are used for are more innocent – such as the creation of accounts – others are specifically focused on fraud, including the theft of identities and photographs.”

Prices range from $95 (R724) for the cheapest bot to $225 (R1715) for the most expensive. The entire catalogue can be bought for $4,500 (R34284). The network guarantees that they will never be detected by any type of security solution, claiming that they have been developed to change users, agents and headers as many times as is necessary to prevent them from being blocked. They also get round CAPTCHA security mechanisms included on many websites so the buyer just has to set the parameters and leave the bots to operate on their own. The bots also include perpetual updates.

The bots are specially adapted for each website, and the list of targets include not just globally popular social networks or communities, but also local sites. On the same portal there is also an offer to earn money by reselling these ‘products’ as an affiliate.

“It is these kinds of models that help to build cyber-mafias and organizations that operate across several countries. We should still not forget, however, that this business exists not just because there are developers creating the threats, but also because there are criminals who are prepared to pay for them. Until we are able to prevent people from defrauding victims in this way, this business model will continue to thrive,” says Matthews.