computer anti-virus info

MessageLabs, a leading provider of integrated messaging and web security services to businesses worldwide, today announced the results of its MessageLabs Intelligence Report for March 2007. Quarter on quarter spam levels have raised to 76.3 percent, their highest in two years. Virus and botnet activity has also increased. The report highlights the impact of increased spam levels on small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) as these organizations receive more than double the volume of spam per user each month than in enterprise organizations.

While spam levels for the month of March decreased by 2.6 percent from February, MessageLabs saw an overall increase in spam for the first quarter of 2007. Spammers do not distinguish between the sizes of organizations being targeted; smaller businesses will receive just as much spam as larger enterprises but are less likely to have defense systems in place. For small businesses, spam can very quickly become a silent killer, overwhelming the reso...

CORE NEWS FACTS Results:

In the five months of eWEEK Labs' testing, the following results were observed: QUOTES AND COMMENTS

According to Michael Caton, eWEEK Labs technical analyst: SUPPORTING FACTS

IronPort Virus Outbreak Filters begin quarantining suspicious email at the earliest sign of viruses. From October 2005 through June 2006, IronPort Virus Outbreak Filters identified and stopped 325,000 viral messages - saving an estimated $32M for IronPort customers. MULTIMEDIA LINKS

To view the eWEEK Labs Report on IronPort Virus Outbreak Filters: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2022934,00.asp

To receive automated alerts of when IronPort Virus Outbreak Filters first detect outbreaks, please visit: http://www.ironport.com/outbreak_alerts/

To view the response times of the major anti-virus vendors plea...

SurfControl (LSE: SRF), the global leader in Internet protection, is currently tracking a new malicious threat that masquerades as a video file relating to a recent dispute between the coach of the Brazilian football team and President Lula of Brazil over the health of team star, Ronaldo.

The email is in Portuguese and includes photos of the Brazilian World Cup star, as well as photos of President Lula. Currently in wide distribution throughout Brazil, it encourages the reader to click on the attached file to view a video relating to the national controversy. The attachment is in fact a malicious Trojan .exe file. Upon download, the file extracts itself and emulates a Microsoft software installation thus allowing it to alter firewall settings such that it can operate seemingly undetected. The application then attempts to perform a distributed denial of service...

SurfControl (LSE: SRF), the global leader in Internet protection, is currently tracking a new blended threat that masquerades as the launch of a new Google service.

The email from 'Team Google' claims to launch a new Google Pharmacy service. Demonstrating crafty mimicry, the 'Os' in the Google logo have been replaced by blue Viagra pills.

The email directs users to an online pharmacy website that contains two previously identified Trojans. The first is a Downloader Trojan, designed to download other malicious programs, while the second compromises security settings to allow unauthorized execution of arbitrary commands.

The scam plays on user trust of the Google brand, as well as its reputation for continually bringing out new beta products and services. The blended threat uses frames to display a fake notice at the bottom of the website that claims it has been accredited by Google Pharmacy. This mimics Google's Online Pharmacy Qualification Program for its AdWords service. ...

Prevx, a leading developer of Automated Malware Research, has spotted a substantial increase in malware and spyware infection rates among new PC owners. In the last two months, a number of malicious malware and spyware entities -- including Spyware Quake, Spy Falcon and Trojan.Taskdir -- have achieved significant penetration into tens of thousands of computers belonging to users of pre-shipped trial security products, particularly those shipped with new PCs.

Spyware Quake, Spy Falcon and Trojan.Taskdir are clear examples of the type of state-of-the-art spyware which has readily evaded detection by older and weaker security products to infect a large number of PCs. These spyware entities infect a PC, display a bogus warning that the PC is infected by a multitude of different pests and then promote themselves as the solution. Many users fall for the scam and part with $30 or more, only to find that the real infection still exists. Once infected the user's PC can be force-fed with jus...

While 98 percent of organizations reported implementing an anti-virus solution, nearly 84 percent reported a virus attack at least once over the course of a year, according to the 2005 FBI Computer Crime Survey. GFI Software, an international leader and developer of network security, content security and messaging software, offers a unique email security solution that hosts multiple anti-virus engines from different vendors. GFI Software announced today the most comprehensive email security solution offering on the market, GFI MailSecurity 10, which features a new anti-virus engine, GRISOFT AVG, guaranteeing a higher detection rate and faster response to new viruses, and RSS quarantine feeds, providing more convenient quarantine monitoring.

The addition of GRISOFT AVG brings a company with 15 years of experience in the anti-virus industry, employing some of the world's leading experts in anti-virus software, specifically in the areas of virus analysis and detection. GRISOFT AVG add...

SurfControl (LSE: SRF), the global leader in Internet protection, today updated customers that the Symantec spoof email the Threat Experts were tracking in mid-April is now posing a further threat in South America, with new variants written in Portuguese.

Much like the details SurfControl issued in the April 18, 2006 release (SurfControl Threat Experts First to Detect and Protect Customers from a Symantec Spoof), the link takes the user to a site with instructions on how to download and proceed with an update to Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus. Selecting the link will start a download of a .scr file hosted on a compromised Korean site. This file does not appear to be working. However, a malicious .exe file is downloaded when visiting the IP address in the link. When run, a Trojan is installed as a hidden process on the system, leaving the user susceptible to further malicious activity.

SurfControl's Threat Analysis and Research department is uniquely positioned to provide protecti...