viruses

Internet users are seeing less spam but more targeted attacks, according to security software company Symantec.

Looking at last year's security landscape, Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report 2013 found that traditional spam accounted for 69 percent of all e-mail in 2012, down from 75 percent in 2011. Yet, 30 billion spam messages are still sent on a daily basis.

Junk e-mails that hawk sex or dating products and services now account for 55 percent of all spam, taking the top spot away from pharmaceutical spam.

Malware is also part of one out of every 291 e-mail messages, with … Read more

AVG AntiVirus Business Edition 2013 continues the slimmer, flatter redesign from 2012, and brings the same interface improvements from its younger, smaller Free and Pro Antivirus counterparts.

The AVG installer will walk you through a few screens and present the option to install or omit additional products like Identity Protection, Email Scanner, and Surf-Shield. However, it also includes additional tools more appropriate for corporate IT environments, like Remote Admin. The AVG Toolbar is also offered, though, as opt-in as opposed to the opt-out setups found in the free counterparts. AVG does include Do Not Track, which some users may find … Read more

Funny thing about Symantec's security programs: Lots of people still hate them. Like, really hate them. I guess the bloated, sluggish, more-harm-than-good versions of yesteryear were enough to turn some users off Symantec forever, even though the products have improved dramatically in the past several years.

Indeed, several of the company's Norton tools are perennial award-winners, and have been since the early days of Windows 7. And yet I know that at least some readers will see this deal and write, "Norton AntiVirus? No way, never again."

More on that in a bit. For now, Newegg … Read more

If you are considering security software for your Mac there are a number of options out there, including those from popular companies like Sophos, Symantec, and Intego. There are both free tools and paid subscriptions to choose from.

A while ago I gave Intego's SecurityBarrier X6 suite a spin, which in testing has been found to be one of the better-performing anti-malware tools for OS X; however, the software did require a bit of a technical approach that was not too appealing to the average user.

In order to cater to a broader range of people, with its 2013 security suite … Read more

Looking to compete with both paid and free security suites, Avast wants to create a unified approach to your computer security. Long gone are the days of the quirky interface. Avast is accessible and robust, with an impressive list of free features and strong, though hardly stellar, performance benchmarks.

Installation Avast has improved its installation process so it's faster than before. It's not the fastest on the market, not by a long shot, but a standard installation took us about three minutes -- around the same as last year.

Some items of note during the installation that will … Read more

Looking to compete with both paid and free security suites, Avast wants to create a unified approach to your computer security. Long gone are the days of the quirky interface. Avast is accessible and robust, with an impressive list of free features and strong, though hardly stellar, performance benchmarks.

Installation Avast has improved its installation process so it's faster than before. It's not the fastest on the market, not by a long shot, but a standard installation took us about three minutes -- around the same as last year.

Some items of note during the installation that will … Read more

A cybercrime ring that infected millions of computers with ransonmware to extort possibly millions of dollars from people in 30 nations has been broken up, the European police agency said today.

Masquerading as police agencies, the suspects paralyzed computers with a virus and told their owners that illegal online activity had been detected and that a fine would have to be paid to unlock their computers, Europol announced in Madrid.

Investigators said they had identified up to 48 variants of the virus, which typically installs itself by tricking users into downloading a malicious executable filed via a socially engineered message. … Read more

In the midst of this year's particularly bad flu season, we're reminded just how many nasty little particles roam the air we breathe -- from bacteria and viruses to allergens and diesel exhaust particulates.

But a new device that recently protected immunocompromised mice from these particulates has the potential to be both effective and safe for human use as well, according to researchers behind a new study published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

"Small particles are difficult to remove, and our device overcomes that barrier," says Pratim Biswas, who chairs the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering at Washington University. In fact, the device not only traps the particles, it even inactivates them -- and that includes bioterror agents, Biswas says.… Read more

Even though the prevalence of threats for the Mac remains relatively minimal, malware on OS X has raised its ugly head a bit in the past few years. Some in the Mac community have been affected by threats such as the Flashback malware, DNSChanger, and the MacDefender Trojan, among others. As a result, while the most effective way of keeping a Mac secure is to follow safe browsing and computing practices, you may also be considering using anti-malware utilities. But which ones perform best?

Recently, Mac security analyst Thomas Reed attempted to tackle this question in part by putting a … Read more