Cisco System's VPN client for smartphones, Microsoft wards off attacks, Websense and Juniper get together, EMC expands security consulting, Canadian firm Defence Intelligence helps dismantle botnet, McAffee grows its SaaS base, Blue Coat and IBM team up, and...Do you know the most dangerous words on the web?

Cisco develops VPN client for PCs, smartphones

Cisco Systems is releasing a VPN client for smartphones and PCs aimed at enterprise administrators who want to provide secure access to their networks and ward off malicious software. Cisco's AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solution is part of Cisco's "borderless networks" initiative, which aims to provide better performance and security to traveling corporate workers. While other security vendors have end-point security software, they don't necessarily have the VPN (virtual private network) component as well. Cisco said its software is superior because once it is set up, it will maintain a VPN connection with a corporate network and users do not have to manually connect. All of the components for AnyConnect should be released by June. Pricing has not been finalized.

Microsoft: don't press F1 key in Windows XP

Microsoft Corp told Windows XP users not to press the F1 key when prompted by a web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE).  Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are impacted by the bug, said Microsoft, and any supported versions of Internet Explorer (IE) on those operating systems – including IE6 on Windows XP – could be leveraged by attackers. As an interim workaround, users are advised to avoid pressing F1 on dialogs presented from web pages or other internet content. Customers running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 are safe from such attacks.

Websense and Juniper bolster security solutions

Websense has expanded its partnership with Juniper Networks. The move involves Websense content security technology melding with Juniper’s SRX Series Services Gateways.  Websense’s Web Security Gateway and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technologies have been tweaked and designed to leverage Juniper’s security infrastructure. In theory, VARs can now help their customers to build secure, Web 2.0 content-rich networks without sacrificing performance or scalability. The solution is designed to simplify implementation processes and network topology. Optimization is key, and Juniper is touting its SRX Series, which has 120Gbps of firewall performance, 30Gbps of IPS performance, 10M sessions, and the integrated AppSecure services suite.

EMC expands security consulting services

EMC Corporation has announced expanded services and new offerings from the RSA Security Practice of EMC Consulting to help organizations meet industry standards and compliance regulations, secure virtualization and private cloud environments, mitigate fraud risk and assure identities, and advance security operations. New and complementary services include: Standards and Compliance:  Virtualization and Private Cloud Security; Fraud Mitigation and Identity Assurance; and Security Operations.

Trojan pretends to be Microsoft security suite

Microsoft is warning users that a Trojan is masquerading as the company's popular free Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) package. The alert came from Microsoft's Malware Protection Center. "One of the oldest tricks used by rogue antivirus products is to use a similar name as, or have a similar look and feel to, legitimate security software," Microsoft said in a post on the MMPC's Threat Research & Response Blog. The masquerading rogue security tool goes by the name Security Essentials 2010. Users who encounter the fake will see a bogus malware detection scanner that reports many files on a PC are infected with various types of malware, including Trojans and adware, replete with what looks like a legit "system warning." Users infected with the Trojan, known as Win32/Fakeinit, will be presented with a screen informing them that the software is just a "trial version" and that "removal and real-time protection features are disabled." The solution, the fake software informs users, is to "activate [the] full version." That's not a good idea, however. "Fakeinit's downloader not only installs the fake scanner component – it also monitors other running processes and attempts to terminate the ones it doesn't like, claiming that they are infected," Microsoft cautions. The bogus anti-malware product makes changes to the user's registry to lower security settings. According to the blog post, Fakeinit also downloads a second Trojan that installs the Alureon rootkit, the source of many Windows XP machines exhibiting blue screens and constant reboots. Additionally, the malware cuts off access to a list of URLs popular with users.

Spanish police and Canadian security firm dismantle botnet

A massive botnet of up to 12.7 million infected PCs has been dismantled after Spanish police, working in conjunction with a Canadian security firm, have arrested the botnet's operators. The Mariposa botnet first emerged in December 2008, and was used to steal credit card and bank details from infected PCs. The malware driving it was spread through instant messaging, USB thumbdrives, and peer-to-peer networking. Defence Intelligence, the Canadian firm involved in the bust, started investigating the botnet in spring 2009. The company discovered that the botnet had command and control servers based in Spain, and so joined forces with Spanish firm Panda Security. Mariposa's harvesting of financial information made it quite dangerous. The hackers themselves—unnamed, per Spanish privacy rules—appeared to be quite ordinary, far from the genius hacker stereotype. They were Spanish citizens with no prior criminal convictions, aged 31, 30, and 25. If convicted, they face up to six years in prison for hacking. Further arrests related to Mariposa are also expected.

Smartphones may face 'explosion' of virus attacks

Smartphones are under a growing menace from cyber-criminals seeking to hack into web-connected handsets, but the mobile industry has contained the threat so far, security experts said. Software security firms warned at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, that the increasingly popular smartphones could face an explosion of virus attacks in the coming years. Smartphones, with their email and Internet capabilities, will invite more break-ins, especially with the growth of mobile banking, experts said. "Tomorrow we could see a worm on phones which would go around the world in five minutes," said Mikko Hyppoenen, chief research officer at F-Secure, which makes anti-virus software for mobile phones. But security companies, mobile operators and makers of operating systems have found solutions to limit the attacks so far and delay an onslaught of spam and viruses, he said. The first mobile virus appeared six years ago, and so far F-Secure has detected only 430 mobile worms. This compares to millions of computer viruses. One of the first viruses was called Skulls; spreading through wireless bluetooth systems, a Skull would appear on a phone's screen and delete all its data. Another example is a trojan virus that can infiltrate a person's phone and send text messages to premium numbers controlled by the hacker.

Flawed security exposes vital software to hackers

McAfee warned that software systems used by many companies to store and manage their intellectual property are being actively targeted by hackers. The company’s chief technology officer, George Kurtz, said the security company found that a “common element” in attacks it investigated over the past year was the unauthorized access of software configuration management systems, which allow engineers to pull sections of code out, work on them on their workstations and then return the code to its place. In a white paper McAfee said such systems often don’t impose adequate security by default. And even when security measures are activated, they still have significant flaws in their design and implementation.

McAfee: 5.75 million SaaS security customers

McAfee’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings have 5.75 million users, with much of the growth being organic, though a big chunk of this was due to the 2009 acquisition of cloud-based security provider MX Logic, which added at least a million seats to their SaaS security tally. Symantec expects to generate more than $1 billion annually from SaaS and cloud services within the next few years, according to CEO Enrique Salem.

Blue Coat and IBM expand relationship

Blue Coat Systems Inc and IBM announced a global agreement under which IBM will provide a new Managed Security Service Secure Web Gateway offering to new and existing clients that use Blue Coat appliances. The expanded relationship between IBM and Blue Coat provides clients with a managed service to protect against Web-based threats.

Most dangerous words on the web

Symantec Hosted Services tracked the most popular words used in spam. These include: “today!”, “here!”, “shipping!”, “online!” and “available”. While these words are fairly generic,  all but one use an exclamation mark.  This tactic tries to create a sense of urgency and is geared towards encouraging an immediate reaction, as the victim may not realize right away that the email is a scam. In addition, the top spam botnets are using some specific words to get your attention, including: “free”, “supersale”, “discount”, and “special”.

CSIS reaches out to business to halt cyberattacks

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is calling on businesses to safeguard secrets considered vital to national interests. CSIS's corporate-outreach program started in the 1990s. Recent trends, however, such as the growth of hacking networks in China, have created a new sense of urgency.