Security

Scalable storage and data security vendor, Imation, has signed a distribution deal with WhiteGold Solutions to expand its presence for scalable storage solutions within the Australian market.

With Dell’s acquisition of network security vendor, SonicWall finalised, Dell SonicWall vice-president, Richard Ting, has confirmed that the channel will maintain its sales position.

The Bluetooth functionality of the Flame cyberespionage malware could potentially be used to pinpoint the physical location of infected devices and allow local attackers to extract data if they get in close proximity to the victims, according to security researchers from antivirus vendors Symantec and Kaspersky Lab.

U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the Stuxnet cyberattacks on Iran in an effort to slow the country's development of a nuclear program, according to a report in The New York Times.

Apple has won a battle over the standard for a smaller SIM card, use of which would leave more room for other components in future phone designs.

The cloud 'security strategy' involves adopting security solutions that seamlessly span physical, virtual and private/hybrid/public cloud environments while simplifying operational and management complexities. Roundtable attendees got down to business, discussion the 'practical steps' and issues and opportunities involved in securing the cloud environment. Jennifer O'Brien reports.

ARN pulled together a panel of industry representatives to discuss how to position security solutions successfully to 5-499 seat organisations in today’s economic climate. This roundtable was held in conjunction with Symantec.

The ARN round table was held in conjunction with Firewall Systems and its vendor partners, AirMagnet, Blue Coat, Check Point, Network Box, TippingPoint and WatchGuard.

The proliferation of datacentres around the world has made the Cloud not only accessible, but also affordable in the process. However, the issue of data sovereignty, the location of where the data is stored, has been an inhibitor.

With the introduction of Windows 7, many PC and notebook users may feel more secure than they did using older versions of the Microsoft operating system. Newer OSs have more security features, offer better out-of-the-box security settings and have closed many of the historical security holes. Windows 7, for example, has changed the default User Account Control level so that it's harder for rogue programs to run without first explicitly gaining the user's permission.

The good news for enterprises: Mobile devices are packed with power. A new iPhone is 100 times lighter, 100 times faster, and 10 times less expensive than the luggable notebooks of the early 1980s.

While Jeff Schmidt, the CEO of JAS Global Advisors, was surfing the Web on his new Android smartphone (his first Android phone) earlier this year, what appeared to be an ad popped up on his screen. The "ad" looked like the prompt that appears when his phone rings. He clicked the button on the ad to pick up the putative call, and the ad began downloading a binary file - malware - onto his Android phone. Schmidt had been hit by a drive-by download, a program that automatically installs malicious software on end-users' computers--and increasingly, smartphones--without them knowing.

It's a fact of modern life that archiving data is essential to prevent a data disaster. Still, something like one-third of computers are never backed up, according to 2257 respondents in a recent Backblaze poll carried out by Harris Interactive. The survey came to the dismal conclusion that a scant 7 per cent of users practice safe computing by archiving their systems on a daily (or nightly) basis.

Name: Harry Sverdlove

Recently appointed Webroot A/NZ and South-East Asia channel account manager, Kerri Mosley, chats about the security vendor’s channel prospects and development strategies.

Name: Amichai Shulman

Founder, Nir Zuk, on the vendor’s approach to the local market

Insentra's Ronnie Altit talks about some of the challenges with starting a business and the importance of building trusted relationships with partners

Much outrage has been expressed about Google's new privacy policy. People are acting as if they are shocked that Google would consolidate the personal information it gathers from its customers through all of its varied services. What is shocking to me is that none of these people, including members of Congress, seemed to see it coming.

It seems like only yesterday I was writing an article about the merits of cloud computing, storing your precious irreplaceable data and photos online. At the time it was topical as the Victorian Black Saturday fires had devastated parts of the state. Many treasured memories were lost forever. I thought about online storage and backups once again when the floods and then cyclones ripped through Queensland recently.

While it doesn't quite rank up there with dumping hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil into the ocean while your CEO goes yachting, Google's huge Wi-Fi spying "oops" may become the search giant's BP moment.

It seems many things in our industry come in vertical stacks. We have vertical network stacks, we have vertical protocol stacks and now we have vertical cloud stacks.

Quit Facebook Day may have flopped when it comes to creating a mass exodus of Facebook users, but those who care about privacy owe a debt of gratitude to the failed movement.

Microsoft NAP is an effective network gatekeeper for Windows endpoints, but initial configuration is complex, policies are basic, and reporting is absent. NAP is best used as a core technology deployed in combination with others for a more complete, manageable, and scalable solution.

IronPort S160

Many sandbox security vendors claim that their products stop all known and unknown attacks. Even assuming the ability to curtail all known attacks could be proven, it's simply impossible to believe that any piece of software could halt all unknown attacks. Of course, that doesn't prevent the vendors from making empty promises or the malware authors from proving them wrong.

The Internet is a scary place. Criminal malware lurks on legitimate and illegitimate Web sites alike, looking to steal your money one way or the other. Vendors have been scratching their collective heads attempting to make more consumers safer, more often. One of the results has been a class of anti-malware software that I call sandbox protection products. These items encapsulate Internet browsers (and e-mail programs and sometimes any other program you can run) within a virtual, emulated cocoon designed to keep malware from reaching and modifying the underlying host computer.

The news media is full of stories about e-mails and documents that were better off not sent. Last year an airline CEO accidentally sent an ultra harsh e-mail to complaining customers, the text of which was obviously not intended for the customers. Frustrated employees frequently send embarrassing internal memorandum to public news sources. And is there an e-mail user who hasn't regretted accidentally sending an e-mail to an unintended party? Whether e-mail or documents are sent intentionally or not, it is clear that content intended for a restricted audience is being shared with unauthorized parties on a regular basis.