Good antivirus software and a firewall might have stopped the recent Zeus Trojan pinching personal banking data from over 100,000 people last month alone, but despite the attacks, online banking appears more popular than ever.

Antivirus firewall software is one of the main ways to ward off attack with use comparatively widespread nowadays this will help reduce the attacks. This might have helped the rise in confidence when it comes to online banking.

This growing use of online banking is no doubt pushing up the instances of online fraud, but consumers have confidence in the system to keep their details safe as they increasingly transfer money, pay bills and check their balance online. Despite this popularity, consumers do see drawbacks. For example, a survey conducted by eDigitalResearch claims 57% of people believe the loss of personal relations is a significant negative. In this list of concerns, the issue of security and identify theft come later, at 52% and 34% respectively, showing a decrease in major concern over internet banking security.

“This is a clear indication of the growth in consumer confidence, with many people happy to rely on existing security measures if it means greater convenience, more competitive pricing and a faster service online. There are a host of different payment options available today which don’t rely on credit card details to be provided, which is helping to boost consumer confidence. Many banking websites also help to advise on fraud prevention which also helps the consumer to protect their own computers against online scams,” says Lloyd Viney, Associate Director of eDigitalResearch.

What are the reasons for online banking in the first place?

The survey indicates that convenience is the biggest attraction not only for online banking, but for the managing of a person’s whole range of financial needs. For example, 78% of respondents in the eDigitalResearch survey believed that they could find a better deal for things such as insurance online. However, the tradition of going to your local bank to do things such as take out a mortgage, a loan, or open a new bank account, is still going strong. These kinds of activities are seen as the ones that are essential to still involve a personal relation.

So with the popularity of online banking ever on the rise, it seems increasingly important for the internet security essentials – such as antivirus firewall software – to be doing their job on our computers. If their protection of our personal data continues to add to the positive press around software security packages, the use of internet banking will continue to increase in the future.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

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 

Computer security giant McAfee has upgraded its enterprise firewall products for the business sector.

A new generation of capabilities will help customers increase network security, and lower their compliance and operational costs, in both physical and virtual network environments.

Known as McAfee Firewall Enterprise (formerly Sidewinder), McAfee Firewall Enterprise Control Center and McAfee Firewall Enterprise Profiler, the products can be run alongside McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator software. And it can also be used with McAfee global threat intelligence.

McAfee Firewall Enterprise currently protects more than 15,000 customers worldwide. These include governments, top companies and leading financial institutions.

Dan Ryan, executive vice president and general manager of the Network Security business unit at McAfee, said: “Last generation firewalls are simply too hard and expensive to manage, and in reality, don’t effectively enforce relevant business policies. Mobile users, modern web-based applications and ever more sophisticated cyber criminals have combined with the economic environment to create the perfect storm. With this release, we’re delivering next generation firewall capabilities that improve network security while lowering compliance and operational costs in both physical and virtual network security environments.”

Firewall advancements include management capabilities hybrid delivery options and integrated layers of threat protection. When added with McAfee Firewall Profile, McAfee Firewall Enterprise is application and identity aware.

Particular noteworthy is that McAfee Firewall Enterprise uses global reputation-based technology, the first and only one to do so.

McAfee Firewall Profiler employs very sophisticated technology to analyse how firewall rules changes when viewed against application availability, usage and security.

The McAfee Control Center and Firewall Reporter have been revised, allowing more accurate audit and compliance reports.

Such sophisticated technology doesn’t come cheap and much depends on the exact specification. McAfee Firewall Enterprise appliances start at $4,900. The McAfee Firewall Enterprise Virtual Appliance starts at $4900 per VMWare ESX instance. McAfee Firewall Profiler appliance starts at $19,500 and Firewall Enterprise Control Center starts at $6,900.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

McAfee, one of the world leaders in computer security solutions, has sponsored a survey by IDC multimedia white paper which concludes organisations are receiving poor returns on their investments into firewalls.

McAfee sponsored the survey, entitled ‘The State of Today’s Firewall Management Challenges’ to investigate the state of firewall protection. The IDC surveyed 206 firewall managers and IT executives across the United States and Europe, and came up with some damning insights into the effectiveness of firewalls and the affect of their vulnerability on the businesses.

The survey comes to a number of conclusions, including:

• On average, the enterprises questioned in the survey suffered an estimated 300 network attacks a year
• This grew to 1200 attacks per year for 10% of the organisations
• Losses from data breaches suffered by the enterprises was equivalent to more than 75% of their costs for operating firewalls
• Gaps in the protection were common as the firewall rules grew extensively; the larger the rule set, the harder it is to keep the system safe
• These rules can number in the thousands or tens of thousands
• In managing these firewall rules, recipients of the survey reported that business responsiveness was reduced

Charles Kolodgy, research director at IDC, said: “What’s apparent from the survey is that firewall management is a key challenge facing organizations today. The more rules included in the firewall, the harder it is to manage and less effective it can become. Firewall rules don’t make an organization more secure, but better rule management and improved firewall technology does.”

Greg Brown, Senior Director of Network Security Product Marketing at McAfee, added: “There’s a huge disconnect between the traditional firewall and the level of protection required for most enterprise environments. Firewalls must offer comprehensive security features without increasing complexity. Additionally, rules management must be simplified and should enforce the actual business security policy in order for organizations to receive the maximum benefit.”

McAfee has responded to these issues by creating firewall protection that can keep away the volume of threats that are encountered today. Their next generation firewall will use behaviour analysis and rule management.

Guest Article by Neil Camp