Review: Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1
Symantec 's Endpoint Protection (SEP) 12.1 business anti-malware product, released July 6th, is the first of a new generation of security products that will be hitting the market over the coming months.
The threat landscape has changed radically since 2007, when the previous version of Symantec's endpoint security software was released, SEP 11. Back then it and most competing products relied heavily on frequently updated databases of virus signatures to spot malware when it arrived on a computer. With a total of just about 250,000 viruses to watch out for, this approach was practical and effective.
But in the last few years the rate of malware creation has increased dramatically: About 55,000 new ones appearing every day No security software vendor can generate virus signatures at the rate of 55,000 per day, so protection based on creating virus signatures alone is no longer practical. "Signature-based malware detection has been limping along on life support for years, yet vendors seem unwilling to aggressively invest in more-effective solutions, preferring to "tweak" the existing paradigm ," is how Gartner put it in a recent research note . In fact, Symantec and other leading security software vendors have already moved on from relying exclusively on virus signatures in their consumer security products with the introduction of cloud-based "reputation" technology, and dynamic or behavioral protection which seeks to detect previously unseen malware by recognizing malicious behavior. But business security software is updated far less frequently than consumer security software (a new version is typically released every year) and it is only now that the technologies, proven in consumer products, are making their way into the latest generation of business editions. What's new SEP 12.1 includes cloud-based reputation technology in a feature the company calls Insight . Insight collects data from about 175 million endpoints -- mainly other Symantec customers -- and gives individual files a reputation score based on factors such as age, prevalence, source and behavior. Malware variants may well be flagged as suspicious precisely because they are new and have not been widely reported by other endpoints, for example, and newly discovered sources of malware can be blocked. The Insight system also allows known "good" files to be white listed and skipped during security scans.
Example Of Malware - News
An infected app released into the Android Market can infect several thousand users' phones before anyone discovers the presence of the malware. Examples include the infected DroidDream and Plankton Android apps. Though the extent of Android malware has
For example, malware writers are trying to tune their malware files so that they are not detected by reputation systems, perhaps by infiltrating it onto well known websites so that it is downloaded from pages with good reputations.
As the Android world grows, it becomes an increasingly juicy target for malware. Infected apps have been spotted in various Android app outlets on numerous occasions. The platform is less restricted than Apple's, for example,
Norton Mobile Security Lite features anti-theft measures and anti-malware. The anti-theft measures include the ability to remotely locate, lock, and wipe your device by texting it. Devices can be wiped, for example, by texting "wipe [your password]"
Mobile malware, for example, is clearly on the rise, as attackers experiment with new business models by targeting mobile phones. “Mobile payments create an attractive target for attackers, as they allow direct monetization of attacks.
The Cipher» Blog Archive » Your Smartphone: A New Frontier For Hackers
Last week, security researchers uncovered yet another strain of malicious software aimed at smartphones that run Google’s popular Android operating system. The application not only logs details about incoming and outgoing phone calls, it also records those calls.
That came a month after researchers discovered a security hole in Apple Inc.’s iPhones, which prompted the German government to warn Apple about the urgency of the threat.
Security experts say attacks on smartphones are growing fast – and attackers are becoming smarter about developing new techniques.
“We’re in the experimental stage of mobile malware where the bad guys are starting to develop their business models,” said Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder of Lookout Inc., a San Francisco-based maker of mobile security software.
Wrong-doers have infected PCs with malicious software, or malware, for decades. Now, they are fast moving to smartphones as the devices become a vital part of everyday life.
Some 38 percent of American adults now own an iPhone, BlackBerry or other mobile phone that runs the Android, Windows or WebOS operating systems, according to data from Nielsen. That’s up from just 6 percent who owned a smartphone in 2007 when the iPhone was released and catalyzed the industry. The smartphone’s usefulness, allowing people to organize their digital lives with one device, is also its allure to criminals.
All at once, smartphones have become wallets, email lockboxes, photo albums and Rolodexes. And because owners are directly billed for services bought with smartphones, they open up new angles for financial attacks. The worst programs cause a phone to rack up unwanted service charges, record calls, intercept text messages and even dump emails, photos and other private content directly onto criminals’ servers.
Evidence of this hacker invasion is starting to emerge.
_ Lookout says it now detects thousands of attempted infections each day on mobile phones running its security software. In January, there were just a few hundred detections a day. The number of detections is nearly doubling every few months. As many as 1 million people were hit by mobile malware in the first half of 2011.
_ Google Inc. has removed about 100 malicious applications from its Android Market app store. One particularly harmful app was downloaded more than 260,000 times before it was removed. Android is the world’s most popular smartphone operating software with more than 135 million users worldwide.
I know I'm a bit of a broken record on this, but here's another example of how easy it is to get scareware on... 
Example of malware analysis: An-interesting-forensics-analysis - Aldeid: via @Example Of Malware - Bookshelf
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