Endpoint Security Blog

Paul Murgatroyd | 17 Aug 2010 | 23 comments

Hi All,

I just wanted to take some time out and talk about RU6 MP1. As you may have seen, there are some people on Connect anxiously awaiting its release for a number of reasons.

While I cannot give you a definite date at this point, I can tell you it should be available soon. We hoped to have it out by now, but there is one last issue which we have to fix before we can release. RU6 MP1 is a maintenance patch for RU6 and RU6a and because of this, its very much focused on customer defects (somewhere around 80 by the time we ship), although we are adding one new feature for you.

Some of the issues which are currently fixed (and should be released) are:

1925607: DWHxxxx.tmp files are being scanned and re-detected when new definitions arrive and during scheduled scan
Most of you are fairly aware of this one. We think we have it nailed for the most part,...

Preventing Rogue Security Infections

Kevin Haley | 15 Jun 2010 | 4 comments

There are a lot of big numbers being thrown out in the security world these days. Seems like every week a new stunner comes out. Last week we announced the discovery of 44 million stolen credentials from gamers. https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/44-million-stolen-gaming-credentials-uncovered

So given all those headlines you may have missed a very telling one. The FTC reported that a scareware (what we call a misleading application or rogue security) vendor between 2004 to 2008 made $163,167,539.95. http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0723137/100304jainamendedjudgement.pdf

We've done a lot of estimation on the size of the underground economy. But we’ve never been able to examine the books for one of these criminal gangs....

You Can Be Too Thin!

Kevin Haley | 09 May 2010 | 2 comments

One of the smartest security guys I ever knew once said “It’s about the endpoint stupid.” Now that part about stupid was rhetorical, not directed at me. I think. But what he meant was that the most important things to protect were the endpoints. Not that other parts shouldn’t be protected, but that the endpoints were the critical pieces. And recent facts have backed him up.

Look at the latest ISTR numbers. In 2009 four out of the top five targeted vulnerabilities were client-side vulnerabilities. The largest cause of breaches in 2009 were lost or stolen endpoints (laptops in this case). And even when information was stolen via hacking, the hacker was targeting the endpoints. It’s much easier to get inside an organization by planting malware on a client system, then to attack a well guarded server or break through a firewall. And if the Hydraq attacks...

Windows 7 Security: Perception vs. Reality

JimW | 11 Mar 2010 | 0 comments

It is funny how history repeats itself over and over again. A new “secure” operating system comes out and people think they don’t need to use an endpoint security solution for protection against malware. For Mac’s we have heard it for years and now with Windows 7—since it looks like it is more secure than earlier versions from Microsoft—the same rumor spreading. Well, looks can be deceiving, and when it comes to the security of your PC, and those deceiving looks can be dangerous.

I saw some not so surprising results from our survey, “Symantec’s 2010 State of Enterprise Security,” which supported the anecdotal information. Seventy-three percent of the people taking the survey reported that they believe Windows 7 will either significantly improve or somewhat improve endpoint security. This concerns me because they are the people who are now getting infected by malware since they will probably loosen...

Help Shape Future Endpoint Protection Offerings from Symantec

Hear4U | 04 Mar 2010 | 8 comments

Symantec is developing next-generation endpoint protection solutions. We’d like to invite you to participate in testing some of these concepts in a program that will run from now until April, 2010.

For more information on how you can enroll in this testing program, please send your inquiry to: priyank_kumar@symantec.com. We will contact you to determine whether your environment is a fit with the program and provide instructions on how to enroll.

Info you need to know regarding Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager database backups when using the built-in backup utility

Hear4U | 11 Mar 2010 | 3 comments

We want to take this opportunity and alert our customers that we have identified an issue when using the built-in Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager utility "Database Back Up and Restore" with a large database size that results in a zip file greater than 4 GBs.

Development has determined that this is not a product issue and is currently working as designed. The backup and restore utility does not have a size limitation. The built-in utility is able to read and restore its own backups. The issue is that third party zip utilities are not able to read and understand our backups when the zip file size is greater than 4 GBs. The backup files are actually no longer a standard zip file and can only be read by our built-in utility during a restore. Development is researching a possible product design change in a future release to avoid this confusion.

For information about how to backup the database using Microsoft SQL...

Critical Infrastructure Protection Now

Francis.deSouza | 11 Feb 2010 | 2 comments

Recent reports of cyber attacks on Google and other American companies have raised concerns about protecting the critical infrastructure of a company or a country against a coordinated, targeted cyber attack. The recent cyber attack on Google used exploits targeting zero-day client side vulnerabilities to insert a backdoor trojan called HydraQ into the corporate networks. The attack has drawn much attention to the viability of the United States’ critical infrastructure to ward off similar attacks in the future, perhaps on a broader scale. The concern around this issue is warranted, justified and echoed throughout the industry.

It is important to bear in mind that there are steps that can be taken right now by Congress – steps that have the support and involvement of the cyber security industry and other private sectors -- to address some of these concerns and further secure the United States’ critical infrastructure:

Pass the Federal...

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