A top computer security firm is saying that one in ten people have already fallen victim to data theft.

IT security expert Avira, one of the world’s leading IT security solution companies for both the professional and personal markets, discovered from their web-based moral issue survey, that internet users seriously underestimate the ability of cyber-criminals to access their data.

Over 5,000 people were questioned online and whilst most said they were aware of the security problems posed in today’s high-tech world, they did admit that they weren’t completely prepared for the ingenuity of the modern day cyber criminal.

Avira is a German based company which operates in a number of countries. It is perhaps best known for its virus protection programme called Avira AntiVir Personal, although it also helps protect companies, educational organisations and government authorities from cyber crimes.

And although half of those taking part in the survey said they had not noticed any attack on their data, Avira confirmed its likely only those that use extensive security protection would in fact realise their integrity has been comprised.

Avira pointed out that such is the sophistication of the modern virus programmes, that their detection is increasingly difficult and near-impossible without antivirus pc software.

Perhaps very worryingly, nearly a quarter of the survey participants said they wouldn’t be that concerned if they were attacked, as they doubted if they had anything of interest for the hackers! But Avira were keen to point out this is a dangerous stance and delusionary, mainly because an individual computer can be taken over and used as a bot, part of a bot net which can be used to distribute illegal spam. So a user, unknowing his own computer is part of a bot-net, might find themselves at the wrong end of a visit from the authorities in some cases.

Of those that have already fallen prey to some form of data theft, many had discovered that their Facebook and EBay accounts had been hacked, plus their email accounts. Having your personal accounts hacked in this way can get you into trouble so it important security pc software is used.

Avira’s products also include Avira AntiVir Premium which is also useful for filtering-out phishing sites and Avira Premium Security Suite which offers comprehensive protection.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Antivirus PC software

Attracting bugs, viruses, hackers and spam is all part and parcel of using a PC on the internet but there are a few things you can do to stave off all of these unwanted pests. Using the best antivirus systems is the only way to ensure you don’t suffer from any time consuming and expensive problems and you can purchase such brilliance online.

It is nearly impossible to use the internet and not fall foul of some sort of problem whether it be a spyware system that tracks which websites you visit or a phishing scam that takes all of your personal information. With PC protection software the risks of viruses and infections that live solely to obliterate your hard drive will be eliminated and purchasing such software is not tricky.

Everyone can and everyone should! From businesses through to personal users who only use their PC for a few hours every week. The more regularly you use a computer the more likely you will pick up a problem. Don’t make the often expensive mistake of thinking you don’t need antivirus software because you rarely surf the internet, because you do! Viruses by nature worm their way into places where they are not welcome and computer bugs are no different. 

If you, like so many of us, use a PC on the internet but you avoid anything that sounds too technical then don’t panic as protecting your PC from viruses is about as simple as it gets. Complete an online search for a company that offers the best antivirus systems. If you are unsure about what you need then use our antivirus comparison table.

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein

F-Secure, the Finnish computer security company, has released a free online tool to check the health of your computer.

Called F-Secure Health Check, it is a free online tool that helps to pinpoint security problems and gives clear advice on how to fix them. It examines a person’s computer to see if it is secure and up-to-date for internet use.

Mika Ståhlberg, Vice President of F-Secure Labs, said:
“F-Secure Health Check checks the status of security solutions running on the computer. More than one million people have already used the free tool and our data shows that a third of its users either haven’t installed an antivirus, firewall or antispyware, they are outdated or turned off. Out-of-date or nonexistent security software leave users wide open to malicious software and exploits.”

Additionally, the F-Secure Health Check free tool ensures that a person’s computer’s firewall, antivirus and anti-spyware are working properly, and are up-to-date. It also checks whether the Windows operating system, third party software and Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers are the latest available versions.

F-Secure point out that with more people visiting diverse web sites and using their computers to watch films, or listen to music, the most vulnerable places open to attack are the heavily used web browsers, media players and plug-ins that are often the most open to attack.

The free tool also verifies whether all your irreplaceable files like photos, music and other documents are being safely backed up by an automatic backup solution.

F-Secure say that their Health Check is quick and easy to run, and does not require to be installed.

It includes the following features:

• Windows 7 compatible;
• Firefox and Internet Explorer 8 compatible;
• Automatic backup solution detection;
• Simplified user experience with three steps and a solutions page;
• Optimized for mini-laptops;
• New Java based launch point technology (no more ActiveX).

The free health check tool is one of a number of security diagnostic checks available from the computer security companies. And although they are of course a marketing device which introduces a potential customer to the company, they do have their role to play. But it’s unlikely that after such a free health check, a product purchase is not recommended.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

Along with Symantec and McAfee, and a whole host of other computer security companies, BitDefender has announced that its new line-up of products which are compatible with Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7.

BitDefender’s products – including Total Security, Internet Security and Antivirus – have all received certification ensuring that they work with Microsoft Windows 7. And they claim they provide customers with enhanced security, as well as innovative user interface features and reliability improvements.

The 2010 BitDefender line-up includes a number of new features:

• optimised scanning improvements
• active Virus Control
• first-ever usage profiles
• key system enhancements which is aimed at providing industry-leading proactive protection against all internet security threats, without slowing PC performance.

Ross Brown, Vice President of ISV and Solutions Partners for the Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft, said:
“Our ISV community is alive with innovation, and we’re committed to helping our partners drive the next generation of software experiences. Adding compatibility for the latest Microsoft operating systems helps ISVs to stay ahead of the competition and give their customers access to cutting-edge technologies.”

Vince Hwang, BitDefender Global Director, Product Management, said:
“Working together with Microsoft to achieve this certification allows BitDefender to meet the changing needs of our customers and provide the very best in security solutions to our users. These include intuitive user interfaces with usage profiles that cover anyone from gamers to parents, as well as improved security and reliability features including Active Virus Control, an innovative technology that monitors programs running on a user’s computer and detects malware-like actions as they execute.”

BitDefender claims to be the creator of one of the industry’s fastest and most effective lines of internationally certified security software.

The Company’s Antivirus 2010 product BitDefender Antivirus 2010 has also just received AV-Comparatives’ top certification level for its quality of performance. In all, some 16 antivirus products were tested by AV-Comparatives in August. They sought to find out which software had the highest detection rates and lowest false positives.

Viorel Canja, BitDefender’s head of antimalware lab, said:
“We are particularly pleased with this achievement as it is further proof that BitDefender provides the highest level of protection. The test shows that on this occasion we have outperformed our rivals in terms of false positive ratings with the lowest number of occurrences.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Trend Micro, a global leader in Internet content security which focuses on securing the exchange of digital information for businesses and consumers, has endorsed a new ‘Live Testing’ Methodology Programme Created by NSS Labs.

The new third party anti-malware testing methodology is better at reflecting today’s ‘real-world’ conditions says Trend Micro, instead of using so-called antiquated testing techniques that don’t test computers against the latest threats coming from the Internet.

And coming out with top scores in malware protection was Trend Micro which, they say, proves the advantages of its Smart Protection Network in unsponsored real world tests.

Raimund Genes, Chief Technical Officer of Trend Micro, was enthusiastic about NSS Labs:
“With its new approach to testing antivirus products, NSS Labs is providing two key metrics in addition to traditional threat detection rates: First, measurement of detection and blocking of threats based on their URL source; and second, measurement of the time delay between when a security vendor is first aware of a potential new threat and when protection from that threat is available at customer endpoints, the so-called ‘time-to-protect

“Trend Micro is pleased we performed well in these tests but, more importantly, we look forward to the advances in anti-malware product testing that better align third party testing with the actual security provided to the customers of these products. The focus of third party testing should be on protection for the customers, which extends far beyond simple detection.”

The testing was conducted on a group of industry consumer and corporate security products and it assessed their effectiveness against socially engineered hardware. The Trend Micro products tested included Trend Micro Internet Security for consumers and Trend Micro OfficeScan Client/Server Suite for enterprises. The tests were non-commissioned and no vendor sponsorship was involved; and all were independently conducted by NSS Labs.

Trend Micro got the best scores and this proves, say the company, that the cloud-client layered-protection approach powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network infrastructure out-performs competing solutions and provides the best possible malware protection available.

Rick Moy, president of NSS Labs, weighed in with:
“In-the-cloud reputation systems boosted protection significantly on average and Trend Micro achieved the best download and execution protection. It became obvious from this test that Trend Micro has made considerable strides in adding cloud reputation-based protection to their arsenal.

“Trend Micro OfficeScan utilises standard client-server architecture. The management console was streamlined and intuitive. Office Scan was easy to use and had no issues during the course of our test. Protection was consistently excellent throughout testing.”

The consumer product from Trend micro racked up an over-time protection rating of 96.4%. This equates to stopping 91% of downloads it recognised as malicious and an additional 5.5% of malware after it was executed.

With Trend Micro at the top, other manufacturers came out as follows:

• Trend Micro (91.0%, 5.5%) 96.4%;
• Kaspersky (78.5%, 9.3% 87.8%;
• Norton (50.5%, 31.3%) 81.8%;
• McAfee (79.8%, 1.9%) 81.6%;
• Norman (66.3%, 14.9%) 81.2%;
• F-Secure (63.7%, 16.4%) 80.0%;
• AVG (65.0%, 8.3%) 73.3%;
• Panda (64.4%, 7.6%) 72.0%;
• ESET (65.4%, 2.5%) 67.9%.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

IT security specialist Avira has looked back over ten years and surveyed the role of computer virus protection in 1999, the year when such attacks began to rise sharply.

And it discovered that, having surveyed 5,543 international web surfers to find out how they dealt with the issue of IT security ten years ago, they discovered that only one third had protection installed.

Indeed, the majority of those surveyed – 32% (1,780 users) – didn’t actually own a PC back then. Some 22% of PC owners (1,228 users) had at least basic no-frills protection against viruses on their machines and a further 19% (1,050 users) took a more serious view of the problem and never allowed their computers to operate without the protection of a good antivirus program.

More data showed that 12% (653 users) had absolutely no protection on their computer at the time. And as Avira point, in 1999 malware was not designed to remain undetected for long periods, but instead laid computers low in a matter of minutes. This meant that attacks didn’t go unnoticed for long and according to the survey, 11% (602 users) learned from such an attack, and get protection after the first incident, maintaining it ever since.

Although, somewhat worrying for not only the computer security companies, but also worldwide computer users, is the fact that 4% (230 users) still take a devil-may-care attitude and fail to see the need to protect their PCs against damage. Indeed, this some would say reckless group has managed without virus scanners until now. However, as Avira highlights, today’s malware works so well ‘under cover’ that infected computers often go undiagnosed without the help of virus protection.

This means that many computer users, determined not to use computer security software, might think that there computer is ‘clean’, whereas in reality it could be infected with all manner of bugs and nasties, with the viruses biding their time to attack.

Avira, based in Germany, is a leading global provider of IT security solutions for professional and private use. It boasts domestic and international customers which include well-known companies listed on global stock exchanges, educational establishments and government authorities. And as well as protecting the virtual environment, Avira promotes the Auerbach Foundation for greater protection and security in the real world.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

The worldwide computer security software market is set to grow some 8% in 2009 to a total value of $14.5 billion, compared to growth in 2008 of 19%.

Figures come from research group Gartner who have forecast 2010 growth of 13%, taking the market’s worth to $16.3 billion.

Europe’s share of the 2009 total market value is €3.2 billion in 2009, which represents a 7% growth from 2008.

Ruggero Contu, an analyst at Gartner, said:
“Although the worldwide security software market is affected by the economic downturn, the growth will continue to be strong in 2009 as security remains a critical area where drastic cuts cannot be afforded. In the medium term, the greatest growth opportunities will come from software as a service (SaaS), appliance based offering and small and medium businesses (SMBs), which are in security catch-up mode compared with large companies and therefore spend a higher percentage of their budgets on security.”

Mr Contu went on to say that:
“The security software market in 2008 was characterised by a high level of consolidation with the examples of McAfee purchasing Secure Computing, Symantec and Sophos acquiring MessageLabs and Ultimaco, respectively. This is a sector where further consolidation is expected in the near future.

“End-users are gradually moving to better-integrated multi-products, particularly in areas such as endpoint security and identity and access management. Vendors offering good integration in an already established and trusted technology partnership will be best-placed for success, as buyers prefer to deal with two or more vendors that already trust each other’s software and practices.”

The figures also revealed that in 2009, consumer security will remain the largest segment (in terms of total software revenue) in the security software market, representing 25 per cent of the total market.

Gartner goes on to estimates that it will account for $3.6 billion, growing nearly 5% in 2009. The enterprise security software market, formed by a number of segments including endpoint protection platform, email security boundary and user provisioning, is predicted to account for $10.9 billion, reaching 9% growth in 2009.

Gartner claims to be the leading information technology research and advisory company.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Computer security giant Symantec has launched the 2010 line-up of Norton products.

And, boast Symantec, Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010 are their best products yet. Rowan Trollope, senior vice president, Consumer Products and Marketing, Symantec, said:
“One in five people will become a victim of cyber crime.. “We know that hackers don’t destroy computers, they destroy lives. The powerful new reputation-based security in Norton 2010 gives people the power to deny digital dangers wherever they are found online.”

According to Symantec, the Norton 2010 products have maintained an eye on performance, in spite of adding significant new protection technology to the release. Independent third party test lab, PassMark Software, was commissioned to benchmark Symantec and top security software competitors’ performance impact on key metrics. Their main conclusions were:

• Fast install. Norton Internet Security 2010 installs in about a minute;
• Least working memory usage. Norton Internet Security 2010 uses just over 10MB;
• Fastest scan. Norton Internet Security 2010 scans in only 61 seconds on a hard disk drive and in only 31 seconds on an solid state drive.

But that’s not all. Symantec claim that the Norton Insight family of technologies in the new 2010 products uses extensive online intelligence systems to proactively protect the PC. This helps keep users informed of the security and performance impact of files and applications that they encounter in their everyday online experience.

Individual ‘intelligence’ components include:

• Norton Download Insight. This uses extensive online intelligence systems leveraging reputation to proactively protect a PC. Analyzes and reports on the safety of new files and applications before users install and operate;
• Norton System Insight. This provides features and easy-to-understand system information to help keep PCs performing at top speed. Automatic and on-demand application optimization rejuvenates application performance. Also provides a view of recent events on the computer, providing the information required to research and analyze PC issues. Performance graphs help pinpoint what’s causing a computer to slow down;
• Norton Threat Insight. This gives details on threats that have been detected on a PC – including useful information on where it came from (the URL) and when it was initially encountered;
• Norton Insight Network. This leverages a cloud-based approach unique to them, say Symantec. Based on the Quorum technology, it takes cloud-based security beyond traditional blacklists and whitelists. It uses a statistical analysis of file attributes based on billions of scans on millions of computers to identify the trust level of a file. This way Norton can identify files to be trustworthy, or untrustworthy, that would otherwise fall into the grey area of the unknown with only traditional security methods.

The Norton 2010 line-up also has a number of additional key technologies:

• SONAR 2. This is sophisticated second-generation behavioural security technology that detects entirely new threats based on their suspicious actions, without the need for traditional fingerprints. Leverages data from the reputation cloud, firewall, network communications, and file attributes such as location on the PC, to decide when to detect a program as a threat;
• New Antispam (Norton Internet Security only). This is a powerful enterprise-grade spam blocking engine helps keep a user clear of unwanted email and safe from email-based scams and infections. It is 20% more effective than the previous engine and requires no training;
• Norton Safe Web (Norton Internet Security only). This is a website rating service that annotates Google, Yahoo! and Live.com search results with site safety ratings to warn users about sites that may pose a danger to them. It also includes ecommerce safety ratings to help users make safer online shopping decisions;
• OnlineFamily.Norton (Norton Internet Security only). This is for Norton Internet Security 2010 and users can opt to try a subscription to OnlineFamily.Norton. This is a new Web-based service that keeps parents in the loop on their kids online lives and fosters communication about what’s appropriate and inappropriate behavior on the Internet.

Norton 2010 offers free technical support and continues to deliver free support to Norton 2010 customers across all available channels, via the web, email, chat or phone. All products support Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

A new virus is in town and this time it’s got a specific target: online banking customers. Known as the Clampi virus, it represents a major threat to those that bank via the internet.

The Clampi virus is whats known as a Trojan, mainly because of its ability to secretly penetrate a computer, wait patiently until needed, then report bank to its creator, or indeed, take instructions from its creator.

And the cyber criminals behind the Clampi virus have on objective in mind: to steal personal details from a computer.

It is spreading rapidly through the US and UK, infecting computers and then waiting until the time is right to strike. When the user of the computer logs into their bank account for example, the Clampi virus makes a note of the username, password and other pertinent details, which are then sent back to the hackers.

These details are then used by the hackers to enter financial sites and either transfer money, change account details, or set-up frauds.

It is believed that people behind the Clampi virus monitor in the region of 5,000 financial websites and amongst these are most of the UK high street banks. But it’s not just banks; sites run by mortgage lenders, online casinos, shopping operations and email providers are also targeted.

In the US the Clampi virus has already been responsible for thefts of thousands of dollars and its been reported that many schools and businesses have been affected.

The Clampi virus is not new, having been around since 2005, but computer security experts think that this is a new, more virulent strain and poses a major threat to online banking. And they believe it attacks in waves, the UK banks being a major target.

They are unsure as to the true extent of the damage caused in the UK, especially given the covert nature of Clampi’s operation, but think that over 1,000 computers have already been affected. And those running Microsoft Windows operating systems seem to be more vulnerable than most.

And the computer security experts are warning again that people should remain vigilant at all times, reiterating the fact the such viruses are usually distributed embedded in emails, website downloads and instant messages, as attachments and links. They urge anyone not to open links, or attachments, from sources they cannot trust.

What’s more, they remind computer users that they should never send emails, or surf the web, without an up-to-date anti-virus software application on their machines.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Who’s the most dangerous celebrity in cyberspace? Whose name is most attached to those websites and downloads that might just contain a virus? According to computer security company McAfee, top of the charts for 2009 is Jessica Biel.

Ms Biel is not only the top celebrity internet search request because of her much admired figure, but also because of her high profile relationship with mega-star Justin Timberlake. But, for example, McAfee reckon that almost half of the sites promising Jessica Biel screen-savers were identified as containing malicious downloads with spyware, adware and potential viruses.

Interestingly, McAfee discovered that web searches for political celebrities like Barak and Michelle Obama were less likely to lead to sites that contain viruses. They ranked 34th and 39th respectively.

It’s a well known ploy for cyber criminals to use celebrity ‘come-ons’ to get people looking up certain sites. This is the third time that McAfee has compiled its annual list using its SiteAdvisor technology for celebrity names that produces the largest number of risky sites and overall risk percentage, when searched on the Web.

“Cybercriminals are star watchers too. They latch onto popular celebrities to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise…” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Avert Labs. “Consumer’s obsession with celebrity news and culture is harmless in theory, but one bad download can cause a lot of damage to a computer.”

Number two in the hit parade is pop music diva Beyonce who has been in the second slot for two years now. Inputting Beyonce ringtones into a search engine yielded a dangerous web-site linking to a distributor of adware and spyware.

The others were, in order after Biel and Beyonce:

3. Jennifer Aniston. It was discovered that over 40% of Google search results for screensavers featuring this favourite Friends star contained some evil viruses, including one called the Fun Love virus;
4. Tom Brady. Many fans of American Football try downloading free files of this New England Patriots star in action, but they should watch out, because many are infested with a Trojan.
5. Jessica Simpson. Be warned, a video download of this star can lead to serious computer health problems;
6. Gisele Bundchen. Perhaps it’s not surprising that the world’s top supermodel is a target for the cybercriminals. And many searches of this celebrity’s name ends up with links to some dubious websites;
7. Miley Cyrus. Links to many harmful sites containing spyware.
8. Megan Fox/Angelina Jolie. Equally risky, as searches for these names often lead to risky websites;
9. Ashley Tisdale. Look for screensavers for this popular High Street Musical star and you might get more than you bargained for, including malware downloads;
10. Brad Pitt. Although this famous film star has fallen from last year’s top spot, a search for his name still resulted in a large number of red and yellow ranked websites;
11. Reese Witherspoon. Search for this name and you can enter a number of risky websites, plus many of the downloadable pictures contain malware.
12. Britney Spears. Such a popular search is bound to attract its fair share of nasties and if you search for this pop diva, then watch out. McAfee found one site promoting Britney Spears wallpaper had more than 50 potentially infected downloads;
13. Rihanna. Fans of Rihanna ringtones had better take care – they are some of the most sought after – but McAfee warns users that they are some dubious sellers out there who seem intent only on collecting personal information and selling it on;
14. Lindsay Lohan. Many of the Lindsay Lohan screen saver sites are infected with Trojans, viruses and spyware.
15. Kim Kardashian. She may be one of the biggest reality stars for many months, but many Kim Kardashian wallpaper and screen savers are home to a fair amount of lurking malware.

So, be warned, when downloading your favourite celebration digital wallpaper, screen savers, images, or ringtones, ensure that you are using bona fida websites, otherwise you might get a bit of a shock.

Guest Article by Neil Camp