Latest PostsArchived Posts
Increase in USB-Based Malware Attacks
Security Intel Analysis Team @ November 20, 2008 12:17:03 AMymantec is currently observing an increase in malicious applications that use USB flash drive devices as a propagation method. Just as a clarification for any ...Read More
Spammers Continue Their “Acquaintance” With the IRS – in November!
Dermot Harnett @ November 19, 2008 5:21:14 PManuary to March is traditionally the time when taxpayers in the U.S. become reacquainted with their tax advisers as the mid-April “tax day” deadline looms. Unf...Read More
Lost and Found
M.K. Low @ November 17, 2008 3:16:26 PMwhile back I came across an article about a website that tries to reunite lost photos with their owners. People who come across cameras, memory sticks, or pho...Read More
A Smart Worm for a Smartphone – WinCE.PmCryptic.A
Andrea Lelli @ November 13, 2008 10:41:15 PMe have already seen a file infector working on smartphones (see WinCE.Duts.A) and a worm that could spread by infecting storage cards (see WinCE.Infomeiti). No...Read More
Data ProtectionArchived Posts
NetBackup for VMware: Buy One (Restore), Get One Free
Daniel Hoffer @ October 7, 2008 11:15:35 PMI've always been surprised by how much of an effect the "Buy One, Get One Free" slogan has on my psyche. For example, I lived in New York during gr...Read More
Risk Management and Data Protection
TimBur @ September 18, 2008 3:02:56 PMhe idea of risk management is in the news lately, given the turmoil in the financial markets. Working in data protection, we think long and hard about risk man...Read More
Top Data Protection Myths - Myth 6
JasonFisher @ September 12, 2008 7:00:10 PMJust in time for VMworld this week, I'd like to debunk one last myth around data protection-the myth that virtual machines automatically require an additiona...Read More
Top Data Protection Myths - Myth 5
JasonFisher @ September 11, 2008 7:36:17 PMAs we make our way through common data protection myths, we have talked quite a bit about how innovation has advanced data protection technologies over the l...Read More
EmergingArchived Posts
Symantec – At the Cutting Edge of Technology
Joe Pasqua @ October 8, 2008 6:39:40 PMLast week's Cutting Edge event was an absolute blast. Cutting Edge is our internal technical conference where we gather top engineers, architects, and resear...Read More
Symantec – How We Win at Securing Customers in a Virtual World
Tom Thomassen @ October 7, 2008 2:39:11 PMSymantec's Cutting Edge 2008 engineering conference had a remarkable symmetry on the second day. The first keynote was delivered by Enrique Salem, COO of Sym...Read More
Cutting Edge – By Engineers, For Engineers
Tom Thomassen @ October 3, 2008 8:51:50 PMSymantec's Cutting Edge 2008 conference closed on Friday. As the Chair of this year's Cutting Edge conference, hosted each year by the Office of the CTO, I c...Read More
How We Win – Openly
Rob Clyde @ October 2, 2008 10:10:08 PMHere at Cutting Edge we have a lot of exciting technological developments and innovations to share. At the top of the list for me is the Symantec Open Collab...Read More
Evolution Of SecurityArchived Posts
Security Bugs Vs. Regular Bugs
Jesse Gough @ August 28, 2008 5:29:02 PMThere has been much debate recently that stems from discussions related to Linux kernel development, over whether or not security vulnerabilities should be t...Read More
PCI-DSS Version 1.2 - Changes Forthcoming
Jesse Gough @ August 26, 2008 6:53:35 PMThe PCI Security Standards Council has released a summary of changes and clarifications for version 1.2 of the PCI-DSS standard, which is scheduled for relea...Read More
Elcomsoft Debuts Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Password Recovery Advancement
Erik Kamerling @ November 12, 2007 8:00:00 AMOn October 25, 2007, Elcomsoft Co Ltd. in Moscow, Russia filed for a US patent on a reportedly new password recovery method that makes use of a video card's ...Read More
One More Crack at the WEP
Patrick Fitzgerald @ October 3, 2007 7:00:00 AMWireless Equivalency Protocol (WEP) has been one of the hottest topics in Irish news over the last few days. One of the leading providers of DSL in Ireland h...Read More
Grab BagArchived Posts
Lost and Found
M.K. Low @ November 17, 2008 3:16:26 PMwhile back I came across an article about a website that tries to reunite lost photos with their owners. People who come across cameras, memory sticks, or pho...Read More
The Security Response Blog Will be Changing its RSS Feed
SR Blog Moderator @ October 20, 2008 11:30:53 PMhis Thursday morning (Pacific Daylight Time), October 23rd, we will switch over our RSS feed to a new URL. Please be sure to update your RSS feeds to use the n...Read More
Security Professionals and Social Networks
Kevin Haley @ August 15, 2008 11:54:54 AMSecurity professionals understand the risks of social networks better than anyone. So, given the concerns they may have, do they actually use social networks...Read More
Safe Summer Travels on the Information Superhighway
Zulfikar Ramzan @ August 1, 2008 4:37:51 PMWith the Olympics right around the corner and being that we are in the heart of the summer, I’m sure many of you will find yourselves travelling quite extens...Read More
ISTRArchived Posts
I'd Buy That for $10
M.K. Low @ July 10, 2008 3:14:29 PMThe costs of most goods are so much higher than they were 30 years ago. Back then, cars were under $10,000 (I remember this because the Price is Right only h...Read More
ISTR XIII: Malicious Code—Who Do You Trust?
Marc Fossi @ April 10, 2008 10:17:28 PMIn late May 2007, the MPack attack kit was first observed in the wild. This kit relied on compromised Web pages to redirect users to an MPack server that att...Read More
ISTR XIII: Vulnerability Highlights
David McKinney @ April 9, 2008 7:00:00 AMWith the launch of volume XIII of the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), I’d like to discuss some of the highlights we’ve seen in vulnerability...Read More
IT Risk ManagementArchived Posts
Millennial Workforce: IT Risk or Benefit?
Samir Kapuria @ March 19, 2008 7:00:00 AMThis is an issue I explored in a blog post several months ago, IT Risk and the Millennials, which really seemed to resonate with customers and industry peers...Read More
Dispelling Myth 4: IT Risk Management is a Science
Jeremy Ward @ February 12, 2008 8:00:00 AMSo you think IT risk management is a science? Or maybe you’ve never thought about it—you've just assumed that some clever expert has worked out all the angle...Read More
Dispelling Myth 3: IT Risk Management can be Solved by Technology Alone
Jeremy Ward @ February 6, 2008 8:00:00 AMSo, you think that there’s a magic bullet to deal with IT risk? In fact you probably wish there was, but since you don’t believe in Santa Claus, you know the...Read More
Dispelling Myth 2: IT Risk Management is a Project
Jeremy Ward @ February 4, 2008 8:00:00 AMSo you’ve got a project to manage the risk to your IT systems? Well, in actual fact you probably haven’t! (It’s more likely that you’re too busy dealing with...Read More
Malicious CodeArchived Posts
Increase in USB-Based Malware Attacks
Security Intel Analysis Team @ November 20, 2008 12:17:03 AMymantec is currently observing an increase in malicious applications that use USB flash drive devices as a propagation method. Just as a clarification for any ...Read More
A Double Dose of Worms Exploiting MS08-067
Symantec Security Response @ November 3, 2008 6:21:25 PMt's nearly been a couple of weeks since Microsoft released their patch for the Microsoft Windows Server Service RPC Handling Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilit...Read More
Vulnerabilities in Malicious Code – Owning the Owners, Part 2
Davide Veneziano @ October 29, 2008 3:59:40 PMy previous post was intended to demonstrate that malicious software could also be affected by security vulnerabilities. The example considered a remote code ex...Read More
Vulnerabilities in Malicious Code – Owning the Owners, Part I
Davide Veneziano @ October 17, 2008 5:52:50 PMolume XIII of the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report highlighted the fact that the number of vulnerabilities affecting web applications is growing. Howev...Read More
Mobile & WirelessArchived Posts
A Smart Worm for a Smartphone – WinCE.PmCryptic.A
Andrea Lelli @ November 13, 2008 10:41:15 PMe have already seen a file infector working on smartphones (see WinCE.Duts.A) and a worm that could spread by infecting storage cards (see WinCE.Infomeiti). No...Read More
Tall Latte, Hold the Malware
Henry Bell @ August 20, 2008 5:20:52 PMThere’s nothing like coffee one-upmanship to make the blood boil. “You’re still drinking lattes? With actual milk from a cow? Good grief, where have you been...Read More
First Sightings of Malicious iPhone Package
Orla Cox @ January 7, 2008 8:00:00 AMReports started appearing on Saturday regarding the existence of malicious packages for the Apple iPhone. A package called "iPhone firmware 1.1.3 prep&q...Read More
Who's Spying on Whom? The Future of Privacy Invasion
Teo Adams @ November 29, 2007 8:00:00 AMRecently there have been several reports of security flaws in a product provided by a company called Mobile Spy. The product is an application for Windows Mo...Read More
Online FraudArchived Posts
Reactive Phishing Defenses - Part 2
Antonio Forzieri @ October 27, 2008 6:01:57 PMy previous blog article was intended to highlight two new features observed in a number of phishing kits that held the aim of making the lives of security anal...Read More
A Guide for Beating Phishing Attacks
Kelly Conley @ October 21, 2008 11:37:52 PMhishing is a way for individuals who are known as "phishers" to obtain your private information such as bank account details and passwords. Phishing messages c...Read More
Reactive Phishing Defenses – Part 1
Antonio Forzieri @ September 30, 2008 5:49:01 PMA "phishing kit" is small piece of software usually written in PHP, HTML, and JavaScript that mimics legitimate portals (for example, financial ins...Read More
Did You Catch Some Phish?
Davide Veneziano @ September 29, 2008 11:22:15 PMThe evolution of a phishing attack is quite straightforward. At first, the fraudsters compromise a vulnerable server and deploy a package called a "phis...Read More
Security RisksArchived Posts
The (File)Name Game!
Elia Florio @ October 3, 2008 6:38:15 PMDigging into our honeypots and spam-trap systems to look for malicious attachments is always an interesting exercise. We can identify different spam campaign...Read More
Misleading Application Targets Free Online Services
Umesh Wanve @ September 3, 2008 4:44:16 PMWe have seen in recent times that malicious binaries are spreading through social engineering attack vectors like spam emails, phishing, and social networkin...Read More
Yet another Site Falls Prey to XP Antivirus
Vikram Thakur @ March 25, 2008 7:00:00 AMA couple of weekends ago, I was doing exactly what most computer users do in their free time. I was sitting front of the computer, visiting sites that I have...Read More
Cloning Shop for Mac Users Now Open!
Alfredo Pesoli @ March 21, 2008 7:00:00 AMThis week, our friends at Trend blogged about a new misleading application for the Mac. We decided to take a look at it as well. The application, named iMuni...Read More
SpamArchived Posts
Spammers Continue Their “Acquaintance” With the IRS – in November!
Dermot Harnett @ November 19, 2008 5:21:14 PManuary to March is traditionally the time when taxpayers in the U.S. become reacquainted with their tax advisers as the mid-April “tax day” deadline looms. Unf...Read More
Hosting Company Shutdown Causes Spam Volumes to Fall - For Now!
Dermot Harnett @ November 13, 2008 7:59:49 PMhe recent shutdown of a San Jose based hosting company – McColo.com – appears to have resulted in a significant short term drop in spam traffic world wide. At...Read More
Image Spammers Show That There is Some Fight Left in the Old Dog
Dermot Harnett @ November 13, 2008 3:19:06 PMark Twain once said, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.” And, this idea also seems important when considering i...Read More
Spammers Continue to Wage Their Own U.S. Presidential Campaigns
Dermot Harnett @ November 5, 2008 9:24:21 PMhile the U.S. voters have now been heard and are welcoming their new president, it is important for us to remember that the spam campaign is certainly not over...Read More
Vulnerabilities & ExploitsArchived Posts
Microsoft Patch Tuesday - November 2008
Robert Keith @ November 11, 2008 7:25:23 PMello and welcome to this month’s blog on the Microsoft patch releases. This is a light month, with two bulletins covering four vulnerabilities....Read More
Acrobat util.printf() Exploit Detected with Existing IPS Signatures
Sean Hittel @ November 7, 2008 11:16:59 PMt appears that last night, an exploit for the Acrobat util.printf() vulnerability was added to a well known Web attack toolkit. The attack exists as a compress...Read More
ActiveX File Overwrite/Delete Vulnerabilities - Continued
Parveen Vashishtha @ October 28, 2008 6:38:25 PMn a blog article from last year, I discussed the rise in popularity of exploits using ActiveX overwrite/delete vulnerabilities due to their ease of use. Since ...Read More
MS08-067 Exploited in the Wild
Sean Hittel @ October 24, 2008 10:32:08 PMam sure by now that many have read about Trojan.Gimmiv exploiting the new MSRPC vulnerability. While we have not seen any evidence of Gimmiv replicating by it...Read More
Windows VistaArchived Posts
Microsoft Patch Tuesday for December
Robert Keith @ December 11, 2007 8:00:00 AMello, and welcome to this month’s blog on the Microsoft patch releases. Microsoft released seven bulletins this month, covering a total of eleven vulnerabiliti...Read More
Microsoft Patch Day - July 2007
Ben Greenbaum @ July 10, 2007 7:00:00 AMhis month's Microsoft patch release includes six bulletins, addressing 12 vulnerabilities in common client and server software, including four in a popular dev...Read More
Who Left the Tunnel Door Open (in Windows Firewall for Vista)?
Jim Hoagland @ July 10, 2007 7:00:00 AMymantec Security Advisory SYMSA-2007-005[1] is now available. This covers a Teredo-related vulnerability in the Vista version of Windows Firewall (BID 24779, C...Read More
Microsoft's Inaccurate Teredo Documentation, and Other Vista CVEs
Jim Hoagland @ April 3, 2007 7:00:00 AMast week the CVE project issued nine new CVEs for Vista, numbered CVE-2007-1527 through CVE-2007-1535. While these CVEs were directly based on our findings in ...Read More
