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ProSecure STM and UTM Hit 3 Million and 1 Million Malware Signatures Respectively

Posted By Pete at 12:43 AM, September 14, 2009

exponential-growth.gif Nine months into 2009, and we've already seen record setting growth in malware. This exponential growth does not look like it is going to stop any time soon. As the malware industry cranks out more malware, those of us in the security industry are busy keeping up so that networks all over the Internet can remain safe.

As of now, the STM has over 3 million malware signatures on the appliance, up from 1.6 million at the start of 2009.

On the other hand we have the UTM, now with over 1 million malware signatures, up from 600 thousand only half a year ago.

We pride ourselves in bringing the best malware (virus, spyware, adware, trojan, keylogger, rootkit, backdoor...etc) protection for small to medium businesses and will continue to counter each and every threat that emerges onto the Internet.

Posted by: Pete at 12:43 AM
Categories: General , Malware , Spyware , Viruses

 

Network Solutions Hacked, Over a Half a Million Credit Card Numbers Stolen

Posted By Pete at 4:49 PM, July 31, 2009

Every few months an incident like this happens. This time the victim is Network Solutions (a domain name, email, and Web hosting company) and 500k+ of its customers. This is very similar to another credit card heist that happened last year. Again, there was this little piece of malware that found its way onto Network Solutions' credit card system and when no one was looking, transmitted all the hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers to some unknown hacker out on the Internet.

All companies who handle customer data should have stricter network security layers and policies in place. PCI is a start, but has not prevented credit card stealing from becoming a recurring theme. The bad guys are out in the dark, a constant threat over our shoulders, waiting for a vulnerable moment from our network. To give us a better chance, we need more security in the network both at the end points and at the gateway, as well as better designed systems that are designed with network safety in mind. Last but not least, more end user education, training, and access control.

Posted by: Pete at 4:49 PM
Categories: General , Malware , Spyware

 

Threat Lab Report: Malware and Phishing Web Sites

Posted By Netgear Threat Lab at 10:22 AM, April 30, 2009

Based on data collected in Q1 2009, we found that pornographic and sexually explicit sites were most likely to host malware. Also, as expected, Streaming Media and Downloads sites are high up at number 3. This is no surprise as such sites have traditionally been near the top of the list. Unexpectedly however, job search sites were amongst the top ten.

top-10-malware-q1-2009.png
As for sites manipulated by phishing, health & medicine related sites top the list, followed closely by Webmail. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are also becoming more frequently exploited by cyber criminals as a medium to spread malicious code.

top-10-phishing-q1-2009.png

Posted by: Netgear Threat Lab at 10:22 AM
Categories: Malware , Netgear Threat Lab , Phishing , Spyware , Viruses

 

Why Your Data is Never Safe (Or, what a totaled car teaches us about Internet Fraud!)

Posted By Pete at 12:33 AM, February 13, 2009

mycar_r.png
I was in a car accident a couple of weeks ago. Something I never thought I'd get into. I consider myself a good driver, always (most of the time anyways) following rules and traffic signs, alert, aware of my surroundings, what other cars around me are doing. However, I was still rear ended on the freeway, while I was at a complete stop. Apparently, the driver who hit me was not paying attention to the traffic in front of him, so he hit me and pushed my car into two other cars. The damage: my lovely car was totaled. Luckily, I managed to walk away from that with only a few aches and pains. The moral of the story? No matter how careful you are, you can't control how others around you drive. All you can do is drive the safest car you can afford and drive it safely.

So what does this have to do with your data? I came across THIS article a few weeks back and let out a long sigh of helplessness. One little keylogger and millions of credit card numbers are potentially compromised. So you've installed security software on your PC. You have a VPN firewall. You have a gateway security solution. You've deployed URL filtering, anti-spam, IPS, applied security patches...the works. You've taken all the steps necessary to secure your network. And yet your credit card numbers still end up in the wrong hands. No matter how careful you are, you have no control over where your data goes after it leaves your network. You have no idea what payment processing firms and other organizations handling our sensitive data have in place for network security. In the end, all you can do is deploy the best security you can afford and hope that others follow suit. Sound familiar?

Posted by: Pete at 12:33 AM
Categories: Malware , Phishing , Spyware

 

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