Smartphone attacks, rogue antivirus, cloud breaches top 2010 security concerns

The rise of the Conficker worm and Heartland Payment Systems' enormous data breach were two defining security events in 2009. What's in store for 2010?

"It's going to get worse," says Patrik Runald, senior manager of security and research at Websense, who argues there has not yet been a year when things got better in terms of security and the wider Internet. Criminals have been mastering botnets, phishing scams and fake antivirus software sales, and 2010 will bring new waves of attacks that exploit fresh targets. Specifically, smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and those based on Google's Android operating system will be in attackers' line of sight for 2010, Runald says.

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Clientless SSL VPN products break web browser domain-based security models

Clientless SSL VPN products from multiple vendors like Cisco ,Juniper and others operate in a way that breaks fundamental browser security mechanisms. An attacker could use these devices to bypass authentication or conduct other web-based attacks.

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Microsoft: 'TaterF' Worm Top Malware Threat So Far This Month

Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) removed malware from more than 1.5 million machines just three days after it was updated on November's Patch Tuesday, and the software giant has detected two new fake antivirus threats on more than 110,000 machines.

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Microsoft delaying the release Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010

Microsoft are announcing a schedule and strategy update for Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010, a component of the upcoming Forefront Protection Suite (previously codenamed “Stirling.”)

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Monitor the Security Compliance of Your IT Environment for Computers Running Windows

I think every IT Pro should have this great tool

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Latest Reactive and Proactive AV test results

Microsoft ForeFront Client security is doing great on the latest Virusbtn Test

February 2009 saw the introduction of RAP testing to VB's VB100 comparative reviews, measuring products' reactive and proactive detection abilities against the most recent malware that has emerged around the world.

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml

One week of MSE: 1.5 million downloads, 4 million detections

Microsoft Security Essentials data for the first week has been released, and the numbers tell quite a story.

Redmond has released data from the first week (between September 29 to October 6) of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) usage, the company's free, real-time consumer antimalware solution for fighting viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojans. The product was made generally available to consumers in 19 countries in eight languages, and in the first week Microsoft says it has seen well over 1.5 million downloads. "By the end of week two, we had exceeded 2.6 million downloads," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. Number of downloads is never equivalent to the number of installs though: the software giant can't say how many machines have the software installed, but it can weigh in on the number of infected machines

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Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 Release Candidate

The new version Of ISA server is Finally Out TMG 2010

Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 allows employees to safely and productively use the Internet without worrying about malware and other threats. Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 is available for download in both Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition

http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?FamilyID=e05aecbc-d0eb-4e0f-a5db-8f236995bccd&displaylang=en#QuickInfoContainer

Microsoft Security Essentials Is finally Out

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.
Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_essentials/

New scam adds live chat to phishing attack

Online scammers have created a phishing site masquerading as a U.S.-based bank that launches a live chat window where victims are tricked into revealing more information, researchers at the RSA FraudAction Research Team said on Wednesday.

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Pentagon Orders Review of Social Networking

The Pentagon is reviewing its policy toward social networking sites amid security concerns. The order comes a day after the U.S. Marine Corps issued a ban on the use of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
The Pentagon is reviewing its policies toward social networking sites amid network security and other concerns.
According to reports, U.S. officials have ordered a review of the threats and benefits of using Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook and others. The review is slated to be completed by the end of September.
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Microsoft Security Essentials Review (With Screenshots)

Microsoft Security Essentials is the name of Microsoft’s latest Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware software for Windows operating system. It is already being tested internally at Microsoft and is rumored to launch in September of this year. We were lucky to gets hands on the pre-beta build version of Security Essentials. I tested it on Windows Vista and was quite impressed with it. Below is the complete review along with some interesting findings.

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MS Free Morro Antivirus is out Soon

Finally Microsoft will release their new Antivirus Morro ( Beta version )

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Web attack that poisons Google results gets worse

A new attack that peppers Google search results with malicious links is spreading quickly, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned on Monday.
The attack, which has intensified in recent days, can be found on several thousand legitimate Web sites, according to security experts. It targets known flaws in Adobe's software and uses them to install a malicious program on victims' machines, CERT said
The program then steals FTP login credentials from victims and uses that information to spread further. It also hijacks the victim's browser, replacing Google search results with links chosen by the attackers

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Information about Worm:Win32/Conficker.D

full of information about the new virus Conficker.D

http://blogs.technet.com/mmpc/default.aspx

Downanup worm day April 1st attack

Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) is warning about the new variant of Conficker.D that might be set to activate on 1st April

have a clear picture and how to protect your self
http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2009/03/27/update-on-conficker-d.aspx

IE8 is more secure against malware than rival browsers

Microsoft plans to make its Internet Explorer 8 browser available on Thursday, along with a company-commissioned report claiming IE8 is more secure against malware than rival browsers from Mozilla and Google.
Users will be able to download IE8 in 25 languages at 12:00 noon Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday from Microsoft's IE Web site and its online download center.

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Microsoft Offers free protection scan

Use Microsoft free protection scan to check for and remove viruses, spyware, and other potentially unwanted software and to find vulnerabilities in your Internet connection

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-US/center/howsafe.htm?s_cid=mscom_msrt

Conficker, Downadup worm , full Story

Microsoft has released a blog post explaining everything you need to know about Conficker

for more information about this worm . please check this link

Centralized Information About The Conficker Worm

Independent research firm recognizes Microsoft NAP as a leader in Network Access Control

Microsoft’s Network Access Protection (NAP) solution was cited as a leader, the top category, in a recent independent report, “The Forrester Wave: Network Access Control, Q3 2008.” Forrester placed a lot of emphasis on different access control scenarios for the evaluation, and the different vendors were evaluated around 12 different scenarios as well as strengths across technology, strategy, and market presence.
“Microsoft has the strongest NAC product for managed endpoints,” the report stated. The report goes on to state that even though its official product has only been shipping since the inception of Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has already established itself as a critical thought leader and contributor to the standardizations of NAC. “Microsoft has the overall highest score among the 12 scenarios we evaluated.

Malware Inspection at the Perimeter

The new Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway Medium Business Edition (TMG MBE), available as part of Essential Business Server and as a standalone product, provides significant improvements for the Microsoft Firewall service operation. One of the most important features of this new firewall is the capability to inspect HTTP traffic that crosses it for malware. By using this new feature, you will be able to:
Improve your ability to protect your internal network against malware coming from the Internet.
Keep the perimeter updated with the latest malware signatures by using TMG Update Center.
Keep an eye on suspicious traffic via real-time monitoring of log entries and get post-mortem malware statistics using the new set of reports.

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