viruses

Saudi Arabia's oil company, Saudi Aramco, says its main internal network is back up after a virus affected 30,000 work stations in mid-August, but the source of the attack remains unclear.

Saudi Aramco said all of the affected workstations have all been cleaned and restored to service and normal business resumed on Saturday when employees returned to work following the Muslim Eid holidays. The primary enterprise systems of hydrocarbon exploration and production were unaffected because they are kept on isolated network systems. Meanwhile, remote Internet access to online resources has been restricted, the statement said.

Saudi Aramco blamed … Read more

The 2013 updates to the Kaspersky protection suites bring to consumers some of the most advanced security technology currently available. It involves introducing an exploit prevention engine as part of the security suite, but also a Safe Money banking protection tool that you can interact directly with. The suite's scans aren't the fastest, but it definitely will protect you.

Installation Installing Kaspersky has been dramatically simplified over the past two years. Following on 2012's fuss-free install, the installer for 2013 will remove conflicting security programs and any detected malware automatically.

You're still on the hook for … Read more

A safer way to conduct online transactions and a new exploit blocker are the keystones to Kaspersky Lab's 2013 security suites, the company announced today.

The major new feature that's in both Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 (download exclusively from Download.com today) and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2013 (download) is the exploit blocking engine called Automatic Exploit Prevention. It's a response to the increase in the number of phishing attacks and includes an anti-phishing engine -- similar to the antivirus and anti-malware engines -- that updates daily.

Roel Schouwenberg, a senior antivirus researcher at Kaspersky and founding member of … Read more

A team of researchers working for security company McAfee are considering the ways to protect vehicles from security threats, Reuters reports.

As automakers add more and more technology to their vehicles, they're also making them increasingly vulnerable to the same security flaws that affect PCs and mobile devices.

While the effects -- and likelihood -- of remote attacks are unknown, flaws in cars' systems could theoretically be exploited to steal the vehicle, eavesdrop on a driver's conversation, or even lead to navigation systems becoming confused and potentially cause accidents.

Studies have already proven that it is technically possible … Read more

Comodo Internet Security is a free antivirus and PC security solution that combines a number of effective security tools into one easy-to-use package. It's one of the latest challengers to enter the expanding field of free security bundles, with which it shares some important characteristics, such as cloud-based virus scanning and behavior analysis to counter zero-day threats, a sturdy firewall, sandboxing, and anti-spyware -- all controlled from a single access point that takes the guesswork and program-swapping out of the security equation. Each strives to satisfy advanced users and absolute beginners alike. Comodo Internet Security passes all those checkpoints … Read more

Two labs are offering ways to check if your system is infected by Gauss, the new malware software from the Middle East.

Kaspersky Lab -- which recently released information identifying Gauss -- posted the tools today after receiving inquiries about detecting the new malware. Gauss has been dubbed a "cyberespionage toolkit" that can steal sensitive data, including browser passwords, online banking accounts, cookies, and system configurations.

Folks can download the Kaspersky virus removal tool, or use a Web page provided by Hungarian research lab CrySyS to scan for the virus. The CrySyS page will check your system for … Read more

When it comes to security software, there are plenty of perfectly good freebies. Avast Free, Microsoft Security Essentials, Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition...the list goes on and on. You really can safeguard a PC without spending a dime.

That said, why not use a full-featured, support-backed security suite if you can get it for free as well? Every so often I see a deal on one such suite, but today, Newegg has nine Windows security programs for free (after rebate).

Scroll down just a bit and you'll see the various choices, all of which show their regular prices … Read more

New features on Google's latest Android mobile OS -- Jelly Bean 4.1 -- beef up the system's security over all other past OS iterations. With Jelly Bean's design, Google has aimed to defend against hacks that install viruses and other malware on mobile devices using the system.

"Android has stepped its game up mitigation-wise in the new Jelly Bean release," security researcher Jon Oberheide wrote in an analysis published this week.

Oberheide notes that the central difference between Jelly Bean and other Android systems is that it incorporates Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), which … Read more

The bottom line: Bitdefender Total Security 2013 remains one of the best high-end security suites around. This update gives you a fully isolated Web browser for secure financial transactions.

Review: Bitdefender Total Security 2013 presents a convincing alternative to its better-known competitors. It's a strong program, with all the major tools that users expect, and some additional useful tricks in its arsenal. When it comes to efficacy, Bitdefender isn't the best in every area, but it's definitely competitive.

Editors' note: Portions of this review are based on CNET's review of Bitdefender Total Security 2012.

Installation Bitdefender … Read more