Half of SMBs believe they are immune to targeted cyberattacks, failing to implement basic internet safeguards

Symantec Corp. recently announced the global findings of its 2011 SMB Threat Awareness Poll, which revealed that while awareness is high, SMBs don’t consider themselves targets of cyberattacks. As a result, they are not implementing the proper safeguards to protect their information. The SMB Threat Awareness Poll examined the awareness levels of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) regarding the dangers of security threats, and how well they are prepared to defend against them.

“Cybercriminals do not choose their targets based on the size of the business. They are seeking confidential information for financial gains and SMBs are increasingly appealing targets when their guard is down,” said Luichi Robles, senior country manager, Symantec Philippines. “While many SMBs know the dangers of cyberattacks, many of them don’t recognize they themselves are at risk.”

 

Norton Mobile Security protects Samsung GALAXY Smartphone users worldwide

Norton by Symantec announced that Samsung Electronics will provide Norton Mobile Security, an application for Android OS, to select smartphone users worldwide. Samsung will offer a full-featured, complimentary 90-day subscription of Norton Mobile Security in multiple languages to Samsung GALAXY users through Samsung Apps.

“We are pleased to extend our valued relationship with Samsung by helping to protect more of its customers’ devices and data from theft, loss and mobile threats,” said Janice Chaffin, group president, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec. “With smartphone sales now outpacing PC sales, cybercriminals are devising new threats everyday to steal from mobile users. Consumers need to be protected more than ever.”

 

Norton 360 Everywhere extends powerful protection to multiple devices

Norton by Symantec recently announced two premium security suites: Norton 360 Everywhere, which protects multiple platforms in one solution, and an update to the award-winning Norton 360. Norton 360 Everywhere, available in the first half of 2012, will provide security across PCs, Macs, Android-based phones and tablets. Norton 360 version 6.0 is available now and has just earned top rankings for both protection and performance.

Many families today have some combination of PCs, Macs, smartphones and tablets – all of which need security of their own to protect against online threats, data loss, and device loss and theft. A recent study found that some households have as many as 14 to 20 consumer digital devices. Norton 360 Everywhere will deliver a multiplatform solution where consumers can customize their security to meet their specific needs.

 

Free Android app allows parents to apply “House Rules” and filters to children’s smartphones

Norton by Symantec recently released Norton Safety Minder: Mobile Edition, a free app that allows parents to keep an eye on their kids’ smartphone activities. The application is used as part of Norton Online Family, the award-winning online family safety service for PCs and Macs. Through the new app, parents can avail themselves of several tools to teach kids safe and age-appropriate digital habits on their mobile devices.

The application provides web monitoring and blocking features for free, allowing parents to see what sites their kids are visiting and block content they feel is inappropriate. Applied through their Norton Online Family account, parents can use the same set of web filtering settings for the child’s PC and apply them to the child’s Android phone. The service tracks up to seven days of content for free.

 

Symantec’s Security Response Alert: Spammers on the lookout for Valentine’s Day bargain hunters

Spammers are on the lookout for Valentine’s Day bargain hunters, so be vigilant if you’re looking for great deals online!

Symantec researchers are observing a surge of spam as Valentine’s Day approaches. Unbelievable discounts on jewellery, dinners, and expensive gift articles are key themes for Valentine’s Day related spam. Other popular fake promotions include online pharmaceuticals, fake e-cards, gift cards, chocolates, and flowers, all designed with the goal of capturing a user’s personal and financial details.

 

Symantec Helps IT Organizations Get the Private Cloud They Want from the Infrastructure They’ve Got

Symantec Corp. recently announced version 6.0 of the company’s storage management and high availability products. With this release, Symantec enables IT organizations to build resilient private clouds by transforming their existing infrastructure. Organizations can manage entire business services end-to-end with built in resiliency, even if the business service is run across multiple virtualization technologies, operating systems, and storage platforms. This release spans multiple products in Symantec’s portfolio including its flagship Veritas Storage Foundation 6.0, Veritas Cluster Server 6.0, and Veritas Operations Manager 4.1, all tightly integrated to help IT organizations move confidently to private cloud architecture.

Vic Ciencia, Symantec’s senior principal consultant for Asia South Region added, “With Storage Foundation High Availability 6.0, Symantec empowers organizations to use the infrastructure they already have to deliver the services their business need. We have retooled and incorporated new innovations in the solution from across our product portfolio to help our customers build highly available, resilient private cloud environments out of the infrastructure they’ve already got. These innovations provide complete end-to-end visibility and complete control of their heterogeneous infrastructure”

 

Norton Online Family Report Identifies Issues of “Cyberbaiting” and Overspending

The latest edition of the Norton Online Family Report sheds new light on the realities and risks of growing up in the digital age. This year’s report identifies the new issue of “cyberbaiting,” a growing phenomenon where kids taunt their teachers, then capture the distressed reactions via cell phone videos. In addition, the report reveals a surprisingly high number of kids taking liberties with their parents’ credit cards for shopping online. However, it’s not all bad news: the report shows that following clearly stated house rules for proper Internet behavior can make a significant impact in averting negative online experiences.

Overall, almost 62 percent of kids across the world said that they have had a negative experience while online. Nearly 4 in 10 (39%), however, have had a serious negative experience online, such as receiving inappropriate pictures from strangers, being bullied or becoming the victim of cybercrime. The report also shows that kids who are active on social networks open up more doors for content or situations that can be tricky for them to handle: 74 percent of kids on social networks find themselves in unpleasant situations online, compared to 38 percent who stay away from social networking.

 

Symantec Announced New Data Loss Prevention Solution for Tablets

Symantec Corp. announced it is planning to offer Symantec Data Loss Prevention for Tablet, the first comprehensive data loss prevention (DLP) solution for the monitoring and protection of sensitive information on tablet computers. Available first for the Apple iPad, Symantec Data Loss Prevention for Tablet will help solve one of the most urgent problems facing security organizations today by providing content-aware protection for this remarkably popular new corporate endpoint. The solution is designed to maintain user productivity and protect an organization’s confidential data at the same time.

According to Symantec’s recent State of Security Survey, organizations are grappling with new security challenges stemming from the proliferation of tablets in the enterprise. Of those surveyed, 47 percent said mobile computing was making it more difficult to provide online security, and 45 percent said the “consumerization of IT” was a concern. The latter category includes new technologies that cross over from consumer to business markets, with tablets replacing laptops as the top concern. As users bring tablets into the enterprise and access the corporate network, IT is faced with the challenge of protecting sensitive business data on those endpoints.

 

Data Center Innovation in Small & Medium Businesses

Data centre innovation in mid-sized Enterprises 
Raymond Goh, Regional Technical Director, Systems Engineering and Customer Advisory Services, Symantec

The Symantec 2010 State of the Data Centre report reveals some interesting findings as the economy emerges from the deepest recession.

Overall, it would appear that data centres are at a crossroads. Whilst undoubtedly the state of the economy has put pressure on budgets, companies have sought to become more innovative to get more from their investment in IT.

 

THREAT BULLETIN: Windows Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploited

Hackers are exploiting the vulnerability disclosed last week in the Windows Help and Support Center functions for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. In a traditional drive-by attack a website has been compromised to serve an exploit, which can hijack computers running Windows XP.

Symantec has received about 300 pings from in-field products globally in more than 20 countries. This has a severity of around six or seven, when using a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most severe. We expect this severity to continue to rise while the issue is unpatched from Microsoft. Microsoft said the exploit has since been removed from the site. However, they expect additional exploitation due to the public disclosure of the details.