[+]d'ZheNwaY's Blog[+]: McAfee Delivers Comprehensive Protection ...

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Just when you were starting to get ahead of the curve when it comes to locking down the network and protecting PCs, everything went mobile. Not just laptops--but tablets, and smartphones that run unique operating systems and applications on completely different hardware. To help you combat the dramatic rise in mobile security threats, McAfee has developed Enterprise Mobility Management.

Smartphones and tablets have enjoyed some degree of security by obscurity. Although it has always been theoretically possible to hack or compromise mobile devices one way or another, the incentive wasn't there. But, with smartphones and tablets storing 32GB, 64GB or more of data, and providing access to sensitive resources, malware developers are paying more attention.

McAfee EMM takes a three-pronged approach to protecting mobile devices and data.The nascent nature of mobile device hardware and software, though, make it new territory for you to wrestle with and try to protect. As if that isn't enough, the very point of mobile devices is to be mobile--so there is no pretense of a "perimeter" to hide inside. These devices are out there roaming about, and you need tools to protect the information they contain.

Another challenge you face is the sheer diversity of platforms. Businesses typically have some degree of standardization when it comes to PC hardware, operating system, Web browser, and installed software. But, with mobile devices you might be dealing with iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and more--plus the diversity of hardware and apps that come with each mobile platform.

"Mobile device adoption is exploding, and unfortunately, so are the threats targeting mobile platforms. If McAfee’s historical experience analyzing threats on numerous platforms is any indication, we believe that the emerging mobile malware we are seeing today is just the beginning," said John Dasher, senior director, mobile security for McAfee. "It’s a whole new world, and a challenge for IT to craft security policies that make sense while updating their infrastructure. At McAfee, we’re working hard to create new technology to help enterprises address the challenge of securely incorporating these new mobile platforms into their environment."

McAfee Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) uses a three-pronged approach to mobile security--protecting the device itself, the data it contains, and the apps that run on it. The device protection brings the familiar controls and security measures from McAfee desktop security solutions and applies it to mobile devices. The device protection also includes VirusScan Mobile to guard against malware, and McAfee Site Advisor to protect mobile devices from malicious websites and phishing attacks.

McAfee EMM has data leak prevention controls. McAfee claims that data remains protected even on jailbroken or rooted devices. The data protection measures also include remote backup, lock, and wipe functionality to protect data if the device is lost or stolen, and McAfee is working on additional controls to separate business data from personal data.

The apps that run on these mobile devices can be a security threat in and of itself. Some platforms are more susceptible than others to rogue, malicious apps. The McAfee EMM app protection includes McAfee App Alert which lets users know how they apps are accessing or using personal data. McAfee is also expanding the Global Threat Intelligence network to include mobile app reputation services to help identify potentially malicious apps.

Mobile threats will continue to escalate and proliferate, so the sooner you get a security framework in place to protect your mobile devices and the data they contain, the better. Visit McAfee Mobile Security Solutions for more details on Enterprise Mobility Management.

nb : pcworld

Source: http://dzhenway.blogspot.com/2011/09/mcafee-delivers-comprehensive.html

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[+]d'ZheNwaY's Blog[+]: Malicious spam campaigns proliferating

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Summary: In a recent blog post, researchers from Commtouch have summarized their observation status, and pointed out that someone is actively building crimeware-friendly botnets.

With spam continuing to represent the distribution vector of choice for the majority of cybercriminals, it shouldn’t be surprising that the volume of malicious spam campaigns is proliferating.

In a recent blog post, researchers from Commtouch have summarized their observation status on the malicious spam campaigns from last month, namely, UPS/FedEx, Map of love and Hotel charge error and pointed out that someone is actively building crimeware-friendly botnets:

“Pre-outbreak levels varied between a few hundred million emails to around 2 billion per day.  The peak outbreak included distribution of nearly 25 billion emails with attached malware in one day.”

Malware campaigns have cyclical pattern of distribution, namely, cybercriminals constantly rotate and introduce new topics, once the lifecycle of the previous campaign have reached the maturity stage. Meanwhile, users continue interacting with spam emails, clicking on links, downloading attachments and unsubscribing themselves, prompting the success of spam in general.

Now, that the cybercriminals have set up the foundations for their botnet aggregation practices by spamvertising billions of emails, it’s worth keeping an eye on the actual response rate of the command and control servers used in the campaigns in order to roughly estimate the damage caused by the campaigns.

nb : zdnet

Source: http://dzhenway.blogspot.com/2011/09/malicious-spam-campaigns-proliferating.html

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[+]d'ZheNwaY's Blog[+]: Adobe to rush out Flash Player patch to ...

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Summary: Another in-the-wild zero-day attack prompts an urgent Flash Player patch from Adobe.

Adobe is planning to rush out a critical Flash Player patch later today (September 21, 2011) to fix security holes that are being used in targeted zero-day attacks.

According to Adobe, the Flash Player update will address critical security issues in the product as well as an importantuniversal cross-site scripting issue that is reportedly being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks.

The company is expected to fix at least 16 documented vulnerabilities, some critical enough to expose Windows and Mac users to code execution attacks via Flash files hosted on Web pages.

The Adobe patch comes a day after Google shipped a Chrome update that “includes an update to Flash Player that addresses a zero-day vulnerability.”
Details on the targeted zero-day attacks are not yet available but it’s clear these types of attacks are happening at a very high level.

Just this week at the United Security Summit, Adobe security chief Brad Arkin said the company’s main adversaries are state-sponsored actors.
From Threatpost’s Dennis Fisher:

“In the last eighteen months, the only zero days found in our software have been found by what Dave Aitel would call carrier-class adversaries,” Arkin said in his keynote speech at the United Security Summit here Tuesday. “These are the groups that have enough money to build an aircraft carrier. Those are our adversaries.”

Arkin said that when a new attack involving a zero-day bug in one of Adobe’s products starts, it typically will begin with attacks against a select group of high-profile organizations. That usually means defense contractors, government agencies or large financial services companies. Once the security teams at those organizations find and analyze the threat, Arkin said his team will begin getting a flurry of calls within an hour or two as the campaign hits.

From there, the attack will often then move down the ladder to other large enterprises and then smaller ones as the new exploit shows up in crimeware packs and automated attack tools. By that time, it’s likely an entirely different set of attackers using the exploit. But it’s the well-funder and highly skilled attackers who are doing the real heavy lifting in terms of finding new bugs and designing methods to exploit them.

“These samples trickle downhill really quickly and show up in crime packs,” Arkin said. “The actual exploits it turns out are very, very expensive and difficult to build. Finding the flaw is a lot easier than writing the exploit. If you want to defend against the carrier-class adversary, it’s a very different cost.”

In addition to Flash Player, Adobe’s PDF Reader and Acrobat software products are among the main targets for sophisticated attacks.

nb : zdnet

Source: http://dzhenway.blogspot.com/2011/09/adobe-to-rush-out-flash-player-patch-to.html

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