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and our data shows that a third of its users either haven’t installed an antivirus, firewall or antispyware, they are outdated or turned off. Out-of-date or nonexistent security software leave users wide open to malicious software and exploits.”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 

McAfee, a world leader in computer security, has announced the release of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator 4.5 software to advance its protection to businesses and governments.

The drive to keep protection to maintain cybersecurity in some of the most vital areas of national and business security, comes as McAfee Avert Labs releases data showing attacks on businesses increases 500% over the last year.

On top of this, McAfee’s research also indicates that some large company or enterprise networks can use as many as 200 different security providers to try to keep their computers secure. This naturally dilutes the power of any of these providers to keep a company network secure, as well as costing the business significant amounts of money.

The McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator 4.5 software is therefore an answer to some of the main problems of business and its cybersecurity today.

McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator satisfied four main elements that McAfee believed all organisations should take into account when securing their network, including an integrated defence and real-time threat intelligence with in-the-cloud protection.

McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator has a number of additional highlights to ensure it can maintain the security of even the largest networks, for example:

• Improved enterprise scalability: new architecture is multi-layered, featuring: load balancing, failover support, with awareness of multiple servers to improve policy management and reporting.
• Enhanced Web-based, customizable interface: streamlined navigation and reporting enhancements provide a visibility of the organization’s security. A more powerful and intuitive interface means end-to-end visibility across the whole security environment
• Improved workflow and automation framework: this helps to minimize vulnerabilities and save administrator time. Automated protection is based on user profiles instead of just the system or device. As well as this a new help desk ticketing integration with HP OpenView and BMC Remedy helps to automate any workflow tasks.

Matt Fairbanks, senior vice president of product and solution marketing at McAfee, said: “IT organizations want to consolidate and standardize on a strategic security partner to deliver the highest protection levels while driving down cost. With McAfee’s unmatched network and systems security portfolio, powerful compliance technologies, real-time Global Threat Intelligence, and a security management platform based on ePolicy Orchestrator, McAfee is transforming the way businesses approach security.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Internet and computer security giant McAfee has outlined details of a Security-as-a-Service strategy to deliver security to businesses large or small as a service in the cloud.

McAfee’s plan to harness the cloud in such a way that means that McAfee can provide an affective and functional portfolio of Security-as-a-Service products to companies and enterprises large or small. These are more cost efficient as they are a single vendor solution to security concerns, which is particularly attractive in this time of economic downturn.

The development of this type of security service has been done in line with growing customer demand. McAfee are reacting to the evidence that shows that IT departments are losing numbers and being stretched to their limits; on top of this Gartner has claimed that even though security risks are on the increase, it looks as though worldwide IT spending will decline at the end of the year 2009.

A benefit of McAfee’s development of security products as a service in the cloud, is that the delivery option of one of the most important aspects of computer usage is flexible. Marc Olesen, SVP and General Manager of McAfee Software-as-a-Service said: “Our customers have told us they want flexibility in their delivery options. It is clear that IT resources need to focus on initiatives that are business critical, while consolidating vendors.”

McAfee’s Security-as-a-Service products works by using combined global threat intelligence from Artemis, TrustedSource and SiteAdvisor, and accumulates millions of data to compile real-time profiles of any suspicious activity. Deviations of the behavior can also be looked out for, ensuring a safeguard against rapidly developing threats. The products deliver web and e-mail protection, including malware, viruses and phishing attacks. All this is done through McAfee’s harnessing of the cloud to provide a unique cloud based management console.

The McAfee Security-as-a-Service technology offers a wide variety in its portfolio, including; McAfee Total Protection Service; McAfee Total Protection Service Extended; McAfee Web Protection Service; and McAfee Vulnerability Assessment.

The plans to harness the cloud in line with developing the Security-as-a-Service provision is there to meet market and customer demands as the ever present need for internet security increases.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Despite recessionary times, McAfee has lodged record results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Revenues increased 18% to $469 million year-over-year and 5% quarter-over-quarter. There was a record $1.31 billion of deferred income which represented a 20% year-over-year increase and a quarter-over-quarter 3% increase.

Currency fluctuations hit the revenue line to the tune of $22 million. Respectively, GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.18 and $0.60, respectively. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share reached a record $0.60, an increase of 15% year-over-year and 5%. quarter-over-quarter

Dave DeWalt, the president and chief executive of McAfee, said about the results:
“For the second quarter of 2009, we are proud to report quarterly records in revenue, deferred revenue, non-GAAP operating income, and non-GAAP net income. Our continued market share gains prove customers and partners choose McAfee for security leadership.”

He continued:
“With our pending acquisition of MX Logic, McAfee expects to strengthen our position as an innovative leader in the security Software-as-a-Service segment with one of the most diverse portfolios in the industry. We expect to bring customers enhanced cloud based email and Web security with archiving in a rapidly growing segment. This combination will give customers greater access to critical messaging SaaS offerings and an expanded network of partners across the world.”

McAfee serves both the business and consumer sectors. In the business sector, revenue grew 21% year-over-year to a record $291 million in the second quarter of 2009. In the consumer sector, revenue grew 13% year-over-year to a record $177 million in the second quarter of 2009. And McAfee signed, or extended 24 agreements and launched 63 new or enhanced online partnerships. This brought the total to over 200 brand name partners worldwide.

When they announced results, McAfee recapped the highlights of the period:

• completed the acquisition of privately owned Solidcore Systems, offering first end-to-end compliance solution that includes dynamic whitelisting and application trust technology, antivirus, antispyware, host intrusion prevention, policy auditing and firewall technologies;
• unveiled McAfee Family Protection, a new software program that can protect a child from online dangers, such as viewing inappropriate content, participating in cyberbullying and engaging in risky interactions on social networking sites;
• released McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator 4.5 software to help secure organizations from a vast and ever-growing threat landscape;
• released Total Protection Service, the industry’s SaaS solution offering always on guard protection without additional investment in on-premise infrastructure;
• upgraded its enterprise firewall products with next generation capabilities that help customers increase network security and lower their compliance and operational costs in both physical and virtual network environments;
• released McAfee Total Protection for Internet Gateways. One purchase gets Web, mail and network DLP protection to be deployed on McAfee appliances, providing advanced threat protection with acquisition cost savings of 50%;
• research firm Gartner has placed McAfee in the leaders quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms. In addition, McAfee was named a leader in two reports from Forrester Research "The Forrester Wave: Web Filtering, Q2 2009" and "The Forrester Wave: Email Filtering, Q2 2009."

At the same time as the results, McAfee announced the acquisition of the privately owned MX Logic for $140 million with an additional $30 million contingent upon achieving certain performance milestones.

MX Logic is the world’s leading independent SaaS provider of on-demand email, Web security and archiving solutions with nearly 40,000 customers and four million end users.

McAfee also announced that its expects third quarter net revenues of $475 million to $495 million.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

A possible theft of a White House computer hard drive from the time of the Bill Clinton Presidency has proved that it’s not only viruses that get the blame for the current lack of digital security.

Light fingered thieves still have a role to play when it comes to computer data theft, although U.S. Government officials are not 100% certain that it’s a theft, saying that it might have been misplaced instead.

Nonetheless, the FBI fear the worse and suspect that the hard drive, which contains a terabyte of data, was stolen from a National Archives record centre.

The hard drive includes thousands, if not millions of individual pieces of data computerised at the time of the Clinton administration. This, say the authorities, includes members of the then Vice President Al Gore’s family, security information and personal information on White House workers and visitors.

Red-faced officials from The National Archives and Records Administration said that they took the loss very seriously indeed, but stressed that they were not certain how much information had been stolen, or how revealing it was. They said that all the effected parties, including the Clintons and the Homeland Security Department, had been notified of the loss.

The officials were perplexed as to how such a thing could have happened at the highly secure archive in Maryland, although they admitted that the hard drive had been signed out of the storage area and that it had been taken to a work space where it was accessible by a number of staff and archivists.

For once, viruses are not to blame.

Guest Article by Neil Camp