The makers of the Norton range of computer products has just released one of its regular antivirus reviews.

The Symantec Corporation MessageLabs Intelligence Report for September 2010 is one of the biggest antivirus reviews, and its publications are keenly noted by antivirus companies and users alike.

The highlight of this particular report revealed that 35% of workers using the MessageLabs Hosted Web Security Service triggered web site blocks when on the road more often than they did in the office. These web site blocks come about when a webpage is visited that infringe corporate policy, and emphasise the need to create acceptable use policies within the work place so that employees do not visit sites that are illegal, harmful, or offensive.

Whilst adult or sexually explicit websites were revealed to be more likely visited in the workplace, it was those working away from the office that were 5.4 more likely to trigger website blocks. These blocks included personals and dating categories, as well as shopping and search engines.

Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst explains: “In general, more policy blocks overall are triggered by workers when they are out of the office, indicating rather intuitively that users are more compliant with usage policies when in the office. More than one-third of workers that are both remote and desk-based trigger a greater number of policy blocks when they are out of the office perhaps taking the opportunity to visit a greater variety of websites than they would when at their desks.”

Attacks on emails in the work place were also highlighted in the research; the ‘Here You Have’ virus swept email servers by using social engineering. This is a long-standing way of proliferating a virus, which uses genuine email addresses to send the virus to the email users’ addressees. The recipients assume that the email is safe as it comes from a friend or colleague, and are then vulnerable to opening the email and having the virus downloaded onto their computer.

As with every report, MessageLabs Intelligence also underlined other statistics from their findings. With regards to spam, email traffic from new and unknown source was 91.9% in September 2010; this is a drop in 0.3% since August. Another decrease was that of 0.01% in phishing activity since August.

The geographical trends were also investigated. Once again, Hungary lingered at the top of the list of countries that receive the most spam, although this had dropped by 0.3% from August, now standing at a spam rate of 96%. South Africa was revealed to be the country most targeted by malware found in emails; in September, 1 in 99.2 emails were detected and blocked for being malicious.

With its in depth analysis, the Symantec Corporation MessageLabs Intelligence Report is one of the most thorough antivirus reviews in the business, and helps to keep Norton (as well as other companies) antivirus software ahead of the game.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

PC Antivirus Reviews has handed out some gongs for 2010. And in their 2010 Antivirus Firewall Software Report, Panda picks up an impressive 93% score for their Panda Antivirus Pro 2010.

The judges cited the fact that:
“Where it counts, Panda maintains its record of good real-time protection, making it a good choice for those seeking true antivirus firewall software without a need for the other features in the Internet Security Software Suites.”

The review makes the point that Panda’s latest antivirus application is one of the few that includes a firewall by default.

Another strong point said the panel of judges was that the drain on the system’s processing power was very low compared to many other software security suites on the market. They also liked the look of the simple, clean and effective user interface.

Overall, it was a good choice for those computer users who seek true antivirus firewall software, without wanting all the other features usually associated with similar security suites. And it was also ideal for people with no need of telephone, or chat based technical support.

This will no doubt appeal to those users who are tired of security applications on the market which are a heavy drain on their computer’s resources. Many consumers believe that certain top-name applications actually hog too much processing power and slow down computers. The problem is of course, that antivirus threats are real-time, so most security applications have to run in the background in order to offer complete protection. This ‘always on’ status is what drains processor power, although many experts believe that some security applications are indeed far too busy and unnecessarily so, with complicated add-ons and elaborate interfaces. Indeed, some have been accused of almost taking over systems and running as management systems.

But the problem is most apparent with older computers. The older processors sometime struggle with multiple applications and became noticeably slower in their output. Modern day systems can cope with most of the modern, intensive security applications.

For those worried about such issues, they should scan the 2010 Antivirus Firewall Software Report for help.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

For many computer users, keeping safe online is the key consideration and the focus of an industry dedicated to producing antivirus software, but data theft by more traditional methods remains an issue.

Antivirus software firms rightly warn against the perils of surfing unprotected, but forget that many cases of data loss and id theft come from more mundane incidents.

Take the recent story from the Press Association which claimed that a highly confidential memory stick, containing details of top secret anti-terrorist measures, was discovered by a Manchester businessman on the pavement outside a police station.

The USB stick had the printed initials GMP POTU on the outside, which was later discovered to stand for: Greater Manchester Police Public Order Training Unit.

And here’s where the stories differ. The businessman who found the
stick said that it contained over 2,000 files which were grouped under a heading: “Manual On Guidance Of Keeping The Peace by the National Police Improvement Agency.” He claimed it was a virtual encyclopaedia of potential measures to counter serious terrorist attacks.

And he told the PA:
“There are even diagrams of crowd control scenes. If this got into the wrong hands, they would be one step ahead of the police all the time. The information in there is dynamite.”

The businessman preferred not to reveal his identity, but the incident happened in Stalybridge, Manchester.

He said the stick also contained personal information about a number of senior police officers and who would do what in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, including coping with such incidents as explosive damage and acid attacks.

Not so say The Greater Manchester Police, who quickly claimed that no sensitive information was on the USB memory stick. They claim that the information was in fact only used for officer safety training and that the majority of it was already in the public domain.

Mike Freeman, a Superintendent of The Greater Manchester Police, told The Independent that:
“I think it is fair to suggest that in most cases, anyone who found an item belonging to GMP outside a police station might do the right thing and hand it in. The person in this instance clearly had other motivations.”

So there! You decide who is right. Did the businessmen have some fun at the police’s expense with a few exaggerations, or are the police cleverly sowing the seeds of a misinformation campaign. Either way, when reading the numerous antivirus software reviews, always remember that it’s not only on the internet that you can lose data.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Sunbelt Software’s VIPRE flagship product has achieved another accolade following an antivirus review from Virus Bulletin.

The Virus Bulletin antivirus review, which places acceptable products on its VB100 list, has included VIPRE in its August 2010 issue. Virus Bulletin subjected VIPRE to a number of stringent tests; the software was loaded onto a system that ran Windows Vista Professional Service Pack 2, upon which it bombarded VIPRE with over 100,000 threats.

The threats ranged from those found on social networking sites, to those that can be picked up by gambling or gaming online; the variety tested to make sure that users of all interests would be secured against the threats on the internet. On top of these, VIPRE was tested with three new strains of W32/Vinut. Many products in the last couple of years have struggled to deal with this pesky threat.

False positives are also tested by Virus Bulletin; this is to ensure that the products don’t flag documents or webpages as being infected when they are in fact clean. In the results of the test, it was found that VIPRE detected 97.83% of worms and bots, with all viruses known to be circulating in the wild were caught without throwing up any false positives.

The viruses categorised as being ‘in the wild’ are those that cause mayhem on a daily basis, and attack normal every day operations on user’s computers. Detecting these is therefore vital for a product that users trust to install, and therefore entrusting them with making banking details secure, keeping personal information personal and ensuring computer safety.

VIPRE was applauded for having one of the highest average proactive detections rates of the products Virus bulletin tested. It was also appreciated as being streamlined on a user’s computer, therefore not taking up too much of the computer’s resources.

John Hawes, who coordinates the testing at Virus Bulletin, says: “Sunbelt’s marketing campaigns regularly boast of VIPRE’s lightness of weight and lack of bloat, and these assertions are certainly supported by the product’s wafer-thin 16MB installer, supplemented by a mere 66MB of updates, available to download as a standalone package from the company’s websites. The set-up process is short and sweet too, taking only a few seconds to complete – with no reboot needed, the process was over in less than half a minute.”

To be able to display the prestigious VB100 logo bestowed by Virus Bulletin, antivirus products like VIPRE must pass all the extensive tests.
Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software, commented: “Inclusion of the VB100 is a true testament of VIPRE’s capabilities as it is pitted against other leading antivirus products. Our focus has always been on our customer satisfaction, ease of use and high level of threat detection. The tests from Virus Bulletin show that VIPRE is a reliable antivirus solution that is easy to set up and use.”

The latest antivirus review by Virus Bulletin has assured VIPRE as one of the leading providers of antivirus products.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Antivirus reviews operation Virus Bulletin has announced that during a recent test of 54 anti-malware products on Windows Vista Business Edition SP2, 19 of the products did not reach the required standard for VB100 certification.

Virus Bulletin publishes some of the industry’s top antivirus reviews and it has found that many products are failing in their bid to protect internet users against potential malware dangers.

These products failed in a number of areas, and in areas that anyone would consider basic if they were to buy the product for the protection of their computers. The products failed to detect a number of viruses that were well known to be circulating, meaning that viruses that are entirely preventable are slipping through the rather patchy net. Other problems included false alarms appearing on files that are in fact clean; these were not from private users but from some of the top software houses, such as Roxio and Adobe.

Design and stability were also an issue. John Hawes, Virus Bulletin’s Anti-Malware Test Director, says “Most notable this month….has been the remarkable level of instability under pressure noted in many of the products – while our tests do not put unusual strain on the products, it is clearly important that security software should continue to function under pressure, and should not crumble in the face of heavy attack.”

The tests are stringent, with each of the products being tested against the WildList; this list is publicly available and shows up-to-date information on the malware that is known to be circulating at this current time, or has circulated in the past. To earn their VB100 certification, the products must detect 100% of these.

Unlike many of the products in this round of testing, a VB100 certified product would not generate false alarms when it scans a set of files the testers know to be clean. This kind of behaviour would not endear the products to the user: “Flaky behaviour will certainly not instil a sense of security in users, and developers need to ensure their quality control is thorough and comprehensive, to keep their users properly protected at all times,” continues John Hawes.

The antivirus reviews and tests give an insight in to what products are at the cutting edge of antivirus security, and take information from their tests and users’ experience to gather detailed analysis on every product. See BUYability’s antivirus reviews here.

Guest Article by Neil Camp