Primary Components of Antivirus

The heart of your antivirus solution is the DAT file – the key component that contains all the latest information your manufacturer has about known threats. Each data entry provides a fingerprint – a way of describing what a virus is and what to look for. After taking an initial scan of your system, the antivirus product will keep a constant watch on the file system (usually by asking the OS if any file additions or deletions have occurred), comparing new changes to the hard rive to the DAT file.

Email and Antivirus

There are two components to the email antivirus solution. First, we need to keep the mail server itself protected. This is done in the same way as a traditional server, by comparing the changes to the file system against the DAT file. We also need to analyze the data stream of emails – particularly looking at the attachments and embedded code inside of an email to check for possible malicious threats. This can be particularly difficult, as virus writes get more sophisticated in changing the “fingerprint” of their virus as it infects new systems.

What happens when a new virus breaks out?

Using virus definitions is great for known viruses. New viruses are coming out all the time, and the fact is that definitions while a good tool cannot help you when you system is getting bombarded with new threats. Enter Heuristic scanning. Heuristic is a type of generic scanning that looks at the actual code in the data stream and attempts to make intelligent decisions about the structure of that code. For instance, if a file is a video or audio file, but is also doing file I/O on your hard rive, then something may not be accurate. The antivirus solution is trying to make decisions based on what a piece of code should do. Of course, this is not perfect, and many times may cause problems with other programs. if you are installing new software and it is not working, antivirus is often the first place to look.

We will talk more about antivirus in the future, and what other add ons you should consider to your antivirus tool.

The case for antivirus

The CITES guide online recommends that “antivirus” be considered one word, but that “anti-spam” and “anti-spyware” be hyphenated. Princeton university says the same thing. There is a special case, notably symantec who refers to their product as AntiVirus. This is considered stylistically correct when ever referencing their product.

The case for anti-virus

a hyphen is defined as A punctuation mark ( – ) used between the parts of a compound word or name or between the syllables of a word, especially when divided at the end of a line of text. So, gramatically speaking anti-virus is correct. It does not in anyway violate the english language to write it that way. Style questions aside, this one passes the test.

The case for anti virus

In our case, the best definition of anti is “a prefix meaning against”. However, since anti is a prefix and does not stand alone as a word, “anti virus” is both grammatically and stylistically incorrect.

Have any other strange ponderings you want us to research? let us know!

SMB Antivirus

It used to be that antivirus software was all you needed to be relatively safe and all the bad guys wanted was to make a statement. Well, that is no longer the case, they want your money now or worse yet, your customers money. The good thing about this, is that when someone is predictable you can guard against them.

If all the bad guys just tried to deface websites or shut down systems or do other ‘vandal’ actions, then it would be hard to guard against them and even harder to justify spending money on it. Now, if their goal is to steal from you, steal your customers data, steal credit card or sensitive data or anything they can exploit for money, well it is pretty easy to know what you have that meets that need and justify spending money on it.

Cyber Vandal vs. Cyber Thief

Here are two scenarios:

1. A cyber vandal likes to take over websites and post his cyber name and a picture of some punk rock band or something like that and shut down your website for a day or so. Well, that would really stink, but the real damage is hard to calculate. We all know the media and tech communities like to post huge dollar amounts lost to hackers because systems were down, etc. Well, is that real…probably not.

2. A cyber theif likes to steal customer information so we can sell it on the black market to people that know how to make money with customer data or employee data or credit card data or just about anything. Do you think you can calculate a real damage there? Imagine notifying all your customers or employees their data was stolen! Imagine the money that will cost in actual damages and loss of reputation with them?

These days it is all about crime! So, what happened to me saying it was a good year for SMB IT Security, well like I said, once the threats become predictable it is easy to guard against them. Just ask yourself what data needs to be protected and what is the downside if it is not. In my opinion, once you know your risk, you can decide to take it or mitigate against it, but you have knowledge and that is power.

Michael Rowles

SMB IT Security & Antivirus

CopiaTECH

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms is based on an assessment of a company’s ability to execute and completeness of vision.

• “The stand-alone antivirus market has been replaced with a broader suite of defensive technologies supported by an extensible management platform that can subsume horizontal products, such as data protection and device management capabilities.”
• A modular architecture that enables selective configuration based on security requirements and device location is also critical.”

Gartner gauges a company’s completeness of vision by considering its market understanding, sales and marketing strategy, offering or product strategy, business model, and innovation. Our position in the Magic Quadrant validates our market leadership in security risk management.

When it comes to endpoint security, McAfee has achieved many industry firsts:

• First to deliver a single agent and a single console for endpoint security
• First to manage a broad range of security products—endpoint, network, data, and web and messaging security—all from a single, centralized console
• First to combine security and compliance processes—management and reporting—from one console
• First to unify security and compliance management for physical and virtual environments
• First to deliver an industry standard security software development kit to enable full interoperability and management across McAfee and non-McAfee security products

Besides the cost of the software and updates, total cost of ownership (TCO) considers the reality of your security costs by factoring in the cost of security systems management, including maintenance, reporting analysis and training, which amount to more than half the TCO for security solutions. The largest cost is in manpower, which can make up between 50 to 70 percent of TCO.

Integrated security suites are the answer for reducing your TCO for security software. Because integrated security solutions can offer comprehensive protection against viruses, spyware, spam, and phishing along with desktop firewall technology, you get a single integrated solution for reducing your IT security headaches and save time and money in the process. McAfee’s Total Protection Suite (TOPS) is a perfect example of a robust IT security solution that can reduce your TCO for securing your systems.

A Bundle is Cheaper than the Sum of Its Parts

Historically, it’s true that the bundling of software components into a unified suite adds a great deal of functionality at a lower price point than the sum of the components themselves.

An obvious example is Microsoft’s Office product, which combines a number of useful component software tools into an integrated solution at considerable savings over what the software would cost if all components had to be purchased separately.

Savings can be realized even if all of the component pieces aren’t put in use. Suites carry an additional advantage that unused components can be placed into service as the organization’s need change. Because the component pieces are designed to be inherently compatible with each other and much of the functionality is already familiar to the user, time and money are saved in training and configuration.

An Integrated Suite Saves More than Licensing Fees

In the case of McAfee’s Total Protection Suite, the benefit of purchasing a suite of components is not just the savings on licensing fees, this integrated security solution provides a unified management console for reporting and analysis. Centralized management allows you to view the big picture of your overall security status, details on individual users, and management reports.

Gathering your security data into a single view that allows you to see all of your security solutions in one place can mean the difference between responding to security risks in a timely manner and not using the software to its full advantage due to information overload.

Installation is greatly simplified and you spend less time testing security components before you deploy them because you don’t need to test their compatibility with your existing security components. Furthermore, you don’t need to tune the products to function correctly with any of the other security products or components you are using or plan to use in the near future.

Two Sizes Fit All

McAfee’s Total Protection comes in two sizes, so it will fit your organization regardless of its size:

• Total Protection Small Business (SMB)
• Total Protection Enterprise

Both the SMB and Enterprise products are available in two versions – standard and advanced.

The Total Protection SMB version includes:

• Single, centralized management console
• Desktop and file server anti-virus
• Desktop anti-spyware
• Desktop firewall

The Advanced SMB version adds E-mail server anti-virus protection and E-mail anti-spam and anti-virus service.

Total Protection Enterprise includes everything that’s in Total Protection SMB plus:

• Desktop host intrusion protection
• E-mail server anti-spam protection

The Advanced version of Total Protection Enterprise adds Network Access Control.

Get a Grip on Security

Compliance. Evolving threats. Complex networks. All of these demands require an integrated, end-to-end security solution with continuous updates, uninterrupted protection and a single management access point, regardless of your organization’s size. McAfee’s Total Protection Solution can provide that, saving you time, money and headaches.

Contact CopiaTECH today and start getting a grip on your IT security – it’s the right thing to do!

Download one or more of our McAfee white papers for FREE.

O noon of life! O time to celebrate!
O summer garden!
Relentlessly happy and expectant, standing: -
Watching all day and night, for friends I wait:
Where are you, friends? Come! It is time! It’s late!

The kind folks over at McAfee AVERT Labs caught this and wrote about a couple hours ago in their blog. I guess we should really start to worry when the virus writers begin to quote Machiavelli or Hitler!

read more | digg story

Michael Rowles

SMB Security Specialist

read more | digg story

How are we going to battle Malware?

Chris Bolin writes on the McAfee Insights Blog about this massive malware malady and McAfee’s cornerstone solution to the problem…management. Who is Chris, well he is McAfee’s EVP & CTO reporting directly to the CEO, so he should know things. What is ePO, it is ePolicy Orchestrator their management tool. As mentioned above i have a long history with ePO and have seen it grown from a 1.0 resource hog that could barely manage their AV product to a great cornerstone to their security strategy. If ePO does not manage one of their products, correlate the reporting data and all from a single console, it will soon.

Think of it as a good remote control. How many people only use the numbers, volume, power and up/down channel buttons? GO ahead, put your hands up. I bet if you knew how to use them all you would get a lot more out of your audio-visual experience. With malware popping up like college kids at an ESPN Gameday broadcast you better use all the firepower you have and ePO makes that a lot easier and reports on it all.

TheStreet.com has a great article about ePO and McAfee vs. Endpoint and Symantec (Endpoint is Symantec’s cornerstone solution and just recently released).

What is a customer to do?

Customers I talk to are the ones that really matter and they have to walk a line of balance. They cannot use a bazooka to swat a fly nor can they think a finger in the dike will save the day. Oh, and they have a million other issues to worry about and most of them help a company generate revenue, not fight off would be hacks, malware, spam and other nasties. At the end of the day, what is important is to work with your IT Security adviser to se what your policies are, make sure you are ok with that level of security and then match solutions until you find one you like.

That’s all.

Michael Rowles

IT Security Adviser

read more | digg story

Great blog post by Marc Fossi of Symantec about old hoaxes getting new life. I blogged similarly about Quechup Social Network spamming and how this is a security threat and not what users signed up for I am sure!

Is anyone original in this world? I would say, “Not Often”. I remember about a year ago so darn excited about the new Martin Scorsese film, “The Departed”. I love gangster flicks and I love Marty’s flicks and I was ready for a new experience in my life and to be enriched. Well, it was about half-way through the movie, when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character follows his boss, Jack Nicholson, into an adult movie theater to meet his mole in the Police Department.

At this point I realized I had seen this movie before. About a year before I had seen a phenomenal film from Hong Kong called “Infernal Affairs“. I was so disappointed, I mean crest fallen. Yes, Marty still made a good movie and yes there was a bunch of big American (whoopee) Hollywood actors in it, but the story, cinematography and everything had already been done superbly. Did these actors or Marty improve upon the original, no.

So, we have the same thing int he security world. Hoaxes have been around as long as email and the internet. They range from fake websites to chain emails that warn of viruses, bad luck without sending to your friends, missing kids, political shenanigans, urban legends and much more. These can be worse than an actual virus if they zap bandwidth or contain spam engines, etc.

So, as technology has evolved and people’s attention is on Facebook, MySpace and the like, the hoaxes return with a twist or just the same old one…originality is real work, and most people, especially hackers or makers of mayhem do not want to do real work. So, if you can think of any fun or funny stuff you got by email, stick it on your MySpace orFacebook and people will think you are cool and original!

Michael Rowles

Originality Inspector #7629

read more | digg story

Anti Virus, Anti Spam, Anti Spyware, Oh My!

An evil internet gang called the “Zhelatin gang, named after the Trojan they drop on your system, is hell bent to create the largest botnet, or network of robot programs the Gang control remotely on PC’s, ever. Us meaties better use all we have to defend against the bots because this is shaping up to be WW III Meaties vs. Bots!

What can a user do?

Well the top thing people can do at home or in their corporate environment is adhere to a security plan that is either personal or their corporate plan. Personally and professionally make certain you are running current and updated daily anti virus, anti spyware, anti spam, personal firewalls and a lot of common sense. Almost all of these emails are grandiose in nature and use “Social Engineer”. SE is when they pique your curiosity with a subject line like “Big Storms in Europe”, “Sadam Husein is really alive” or photos of your favorite stars doing things they should not be.

The users is encouraged to click the link and it takes you to a site, that without proper protection, loads a bot onto your system unknowingly. Businesses are encourage to have a strong security system in place, strong corporate security policy, strong and regular back-ups and strong employee education. A little bit of prevention goes a long way here.

But I have Anti Virus, Anti Spyware and Anti Spam…

Still be very careful. Do not ever open emails that you cannot verify come from someone you know or a source like a subscription service you have signed up for. These emails are usually rudimentary and it is a shame that users fall for them, but they do. Be ever vigilant because your personal identity and your employer rely upon it!

Michael Rowles

Internet Elliot Ness

Norton continues to be the bestselling antivirus program, and our review shows it is excellent at detecting viruses. Symantec continues to produce a top notch product that is well received by consumers. Some people do complain about speed – we found this to be very installation specific. It is important that the software be activated correctly. Fortunately, in the standard installation it seems to work well and the speed is acceptable.

What to look for in Anti-Virus Software

Top anti-virus software should be easy enough for a computer novice to both use and install. The software should effectively seek out and identify virus threats, as well as clean or isolate infected files. There should be understandable reporting available for each scan and plenty of help support available, so you can be well informed of the software’s activities and capabilities. Below are the criteria used to evaluate anti-virus software.

* Ease of Use –Exceptional anti-virus software is simple to use, regardless of a person’s computer experience or knowledge of viruses.

* Effective at Identifying Viruses and Worms – The best anti-virus products identify infected files quickly through real-time scanning, searching for viruses in a multitude of sources, including email, instant message applications, web browsing and so on.

* Effective at Cleaning or Isolating Infected Files –Truly capable anti-virus software thoroughly cleans, deletes or quarantines infected files—keeping them from spreading throughout the hard drive or network.

* Activity Reporting – Anti-virus programs should give immediate notification of viruses found by real-time scanners and should provide an easy-to-read report of scan results, including what it found and what it did with infected files.

* Feature Set – A well-rounded feature set allows anti-virus software to provide absolute protection. The best programs are those that offer a wide variety of tools, from basic real-time scanning to more advanced, heuristic scanning and script blocking—when it comes to virus protection, the more options the better.

* Ease of Installation and Setup – Anti-virus programs should be a breeze to install, making it easy to go from installation to initial scan in just a couple clicks of the mouse.

* Help Documentation – High-end anti-virus software come with plenty of help, including support via email, online chat or over the telephone. There should also be online resources, such as knowledge bases and FAQs available for quick and convenient help. So, no matter how serious a computer virus is or how quickly it is passed around, with today’s anti-virus software, you’ll always have a cure.

Norton Antivirus : Breaking News

Norton Antivirus: Other Post

• Norton Security – Antivirus Software | Norton Store

• Symantec – AntiVirus, Anti-Spyware, Endpoint Security, Backup …

• Norton AntiVirus

• Norton AntiVirus – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Norton AntiVirus: Information from Answers.com

• Norton Antivirus – Networking Software – Compare Prices …

• Free Virus Scan – Free Antivirus Software | Norton Security Scan

• Norton Antivirus and Internet Security Experts

• Norton Store – Antivirus, Internet Security, and PC Protection

• Norton Outlet: Norton Antivirus Software