Paul F. Roberts

Computer viruses and remote control programs called bots are adopting features from stealthy programs called rootkits to avoid detection, according to researchers at Finnish anti-virus software company F-Secure. New versions of Rbot, a malicious and ubiquitous remote control program, have features copied and pasted from a well known open-source rootkit called FU. The new features […]

The U.S. Department of Defense is soliciting bids for a massive anti-spyware software contract that will protect systems across the military. The deal could be a major opportunity for anti-spyware startups to score a victory against established anti-virus vendors. The solicitation from the DISA (Defense Information Systems Agency) is for an automated spyware detection, eradication […]

Two security companies, Preventsys Inc. and Intellitactics Inc., announced new technologies at the Information Security Decisions show here that bridge the gap that exists in many enterprises between teams that monitor security issues and operations staffs that are responsible for patching and maintaining systems on enterprise networks. Preventsys, of Carlsbad, Calif., debuted its IT Operations […]

A new version of Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd.s eSafe gateway security software promises to protect users from a host of Internet ills, including so-called drive-by download Web sites used to place spyware on vulnerable systems, the company said. Aladdin, of Tel Aviv, Israel, announced the availability of eSafe 5 at the Information Security Decisions conference […]

Pinched by tough, new data-privacy regulations on the one hand and aging Internet protocols on the other, IT security administrators said they are struggling to balance security with the needs of users and regulations and are losing hope that the war on malicious code will ever be won. On and off the show floor at […]

IBM last week announced its new IBM Tivoli Federated Identity Manager, which will extend the reach of Tivolis identity and access management technology, allowing companies to integrate disparate user authentication systems more easily within companies and between business partners. Federated identity technology has been a holy grail for many IT professionals, who see proliferating passwords […]

Security researcher Avi Rubin, who made a name for himself exposing weaknesses in electronic voting equipment, will soon be cracking open other companies products—for a fee. The Johns Hopkins University researcher and a team of top graduate students have launched Independent Security Evaluators, or ISE, a private company that will find security problems in other […]

New research into security weaknesses in a popular secure remote access technology highlights the vulnerability of large-scale computing environments such as grids and supercomputing clusters to a potentially crippling form of attack. The SSH (Secure Shell) technology is used by security administrators and other technical users to connect to remote machines via a secure, encrypted […]

A new tool bar for the Mozilla Foundations fashionable Firefox open-source Web browser can protect Web surfers from hidden online threats and help them cover their Internet tracks, according to Anonymizer, a Web security software company. Anonymizer Total Privacy Suite, which sells for $59.95, unites in one product three of the companys programs: Anonymous Surfing, […]

A trio of reports from security vendors and industry groups that monitor malicious code suggests that recent plagues such as phishing attacks and spyware may be abating. Reports released last week from managed e-mail security vendor Postini Inc. and the Anti-Phishing Working Group, or APWG, show that the volume of phishing e-mail messages and the […]

Cisco Systems Inc. hopes to make inroads in security with its new multifunction appliance, but integration and price issues, along with Ciscos late entry into a crowded market, could stifle the effort, analysts and users say. CEO John Chambers appeared at the Interop trade show here last week to introduce a multifunction device called the […]

Howard Schmidt, perhaps the United States most visible chief security officer, has left online auction house eBay and is donning the jersey of a startup security hardware vendor. Schmidt said goodbye to eBay last week and hello to Electronic Lifestyle Integration, where he will be chairman of the board. He said he was attracted to […]