symantec

Report: Spam now 90 percent of all e-mail

Spam now accounts for 90.4 percent of all e-mail, according to a report released Monday from security vendor Symantec. This means that 1 out of every 1.1 e-mails is junk. The report also notes that spam shot up 5.1 percent just from April to May.

Symantec's May 2009 MessageLabs Intelligence report reveals other disturbing trends, as well. Rather than just hijack disreputable Web sites, cybercriminals now favor older and well-established domains to host their malware. The report says 84.6 percent of all domains blocked for malicious content are more than a year old. One type … Read more

Symantec, McAfee target iPhone for new products

Security companies Symantec and McAfee will be the latest big-name developers to make products for Apple's iPhone, as the two look to cash in on the popularity of the device.

Speaking to Reuters, McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt said his company is developing security software for the iPhone, though no other details on the product were provided. DeWalt also said the company is working on a "much more comprehensive suite for the Apple family."

Symantec is throwing its hat into the iPhone ring too, but it won't be developing traditional security software. Instead, Symantec is looking at … Read more

Norton Online Family to leave beta, remain free

Editors' note: In the original version of this blog, we used the beta name for this product. The official name is OnlineFamily.Norton.

Back in February, Symantec debuted a new security program that sought to help parents talk to their kids about how they use the Internet. OnlineFamily.Norton has been a free beta since then, but this Monday at midnight, the program will leave beta and remain free at least until the end of 2009. The program was originally called Norton Family Online.

This parental control suite provides parents with an interesting and possibly unique approach to online child … Read more

Symantec acquires Mi5, expands security offerings

Updated 9:40 a.m. PDT April 21 with Symantec CEO comment from keynote.

SAN FRANCISCO--Symantec has acquired Web security firm Mi5 Networks and announced two new security suites at the RSA security conference on Tuesday.

Mi5 sells a Web security appliance that protects corporations against Web-based threats. Symantec will integrate the technology into its offerings later in 2009 and offer it as a stand-alone product, Joan Fazio, director of product marketing for Symantec Endpoint Security, said in an interview.

The all-cash transaction was completed in March, she said, declining to disclose the terms.

The company also is announcing Symantec … Read more

Symantec: Security holes, malware spike in 2008

If you worry that the Internet is a scary place full of digital pickpockets and online identity thieves, your fears will be bolstered by the latest Symantec Internet Security Threat Report released Tuesday.

The report finds huge increases in the number of security holes in software and the number of Internet threats, particularly attacks in which browsers are hijacked and forced to download malicious programs as people surf the Web.

Even visiting trusted Web sites isn't always safe. Most Web-based attacks target visitors to legitimate Web sites that have been compromised and that either serve up malicious content to … Read more

Symantec investigating customer credit-card data theft

Updated at 9 p.m. PDT with more details from a Symantec representative.

Symantec is investigating allegations that a call center in India leaked credit card numbers of its customers to someone who then sold them to BBC News reporters posing as criminals.

The security company has informed U.K. privacy authorities and attorneys general and officials in eight U.S. states and Puerto Rico of the allegations that three U.K. customers had credit card information leaked and that about 200 U.S. customers may have been affected because of interactions with the call center, Symantec spokesman Cris Paden … Read more

Symantec creates havoc with unsigned Norton patch

Symantec released a diagnostic patch for some of its older Norton products on Monday night that did not identify its origin and thus triggered alerts on user firewalls, the company said Tuesday.

The patch for 2006 and 2007 versions of Norton Internet Security and Norton Antivirus, a program dubbed "PFST.exe," (Product Information Framework Trouble Shooter) was distributed to collect anonymous statistics on matters such as how many computers are using the products and what operating system they are running, Jeff Kyle, group product manager for Symantec consumer products, said Tuesday.

Because it was unsigned--a result of human … Read more

Symantec demos Project Guru at Demo 09

Are you sick of trying to diagnose your friends' computer problems over the phone?

Symantec is showing a demo on Tuesday at the Demo 2009 conference in Palm Desert, Calif., of a Web-based tool that allows tech savvy people to provide remote support to friends and family having computer problems.

Project Guru allows a user to connect remotely to another computer to troubleshoot and correct problems, with the connection secured using encryption and authentication. The tool offers diagnostic tools for network monitoring and identifying software installed on the remote computer.

The software uses that same internally developed technology as Symantec'… Read more

Attack exploits unpatched Excel security hole

Attackers are attempting to exploit an unpatched security hole in Excel that could allow someone to take control of a compromised computer, Microsoft said in a security advisory on Tuesday.

The attack exploiting the Excel Unspecified Remote Code Execution Vulnerability requires a computer user to open an attachment sent via e-mail that has a maliciously crafted Excel document, according to the advisory.

Microsoft said it is working on a security fix to plug the hole and will release it after it has completed testing. In the meantime, Windows users are urged to avoid opening Office files from untrusted sources or … Read more