A Penton Media Property
December 26, 2007
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IN FOCUS
--Top-Performing Antivirus Solutions
by Mark Joseph Edwards, News Editor, mark at ntsecurity / net
Last week, I wrote about how malware is evolving to bypass commonly used
control methods. I described how, according to Finjan, new malware will
use popular Internet sites as go-betweens to help bypass current
detection and control methods. Naturally, security tools need to evolve
to defend against the more evolved types of malware.
Although I don't have any data yet about how existing tools perform in
terms of detecting the newer types of malware, I do have some other data
about virus scanners that might be useful to you. One major problem with
security is legacy support. Some people can't resist using the latest
and greatest OS platform; however plenty of other people see no need to
rush into something new when something old still does the job quite
well. A prime example is that many of you are still probably using
Windows 2000.
A couple weeks ago, I got a copy the December 2007 report from Virus
Bulletin--a company that measures the capabilities and performance of
various antivirus solutions, among other things. Most antivirus
solutions detect more than just viruses. Top-notch solutions also detect
worms, bots, Trojans, and assorted other types of malware. So Virus
Bulletin's report is useful in commenting on tools that run on Windows
2000 and monitor for all those types of malware.
The report contains two types of tests: on-demand scanning and on-access
scanning. The results are interesting because they reveal some top
performers that I hadn't heard of before.
According to the on-demand scanning tests, McAfee VirusScan and Symantec
Endpoint Protect both had detection perfect scores with no false
positive detections. Coming in right behind those two products were
GDATA Anti-virus and Frisk F-PROT with perfect detection scores but some
problems wth false positives. Agnitum Outpost Security Suite Pro,
BitDefender Antivirus 2008, and Bullguard 8.0 all earned high marks too
for overall performance.
In the on-demand scanning tests, the top performers were, again, McAfee
VirusScan and Symantec Endpoint Protect. Close seconds were ESET NOD32,
Fortinet Forticlient, and Frisk F-PROT. Virus Bulletin also gave CA
eTrust kudos for overall performance.
Several other products made high scores in both categories, and still
others were either newcomers to the market or rising stars. Virus
Bulletin said that of the over two dozen products it tested, roughly
half "made the grade," meaning that their overall detection rate and
performance were reasonable. The two biggest problems faced by antivirus
vendors are the ability to detect polymorphic viruses and the prevention
of false positive detection.
This report is part of the December issue of Virus Bulletin online
magazine, which contains news, articles, editorials, reviews, and
comparative reports. It was the first full report from Virus Bulletin
that I've read, and I found it to be very useful. The report, and others
like it, aren't available free to the general public. You need a paid
subscription to access full articles, and subscriptions start at $175
per year. If you don't want a paid subscription, you can register on the
Virus Bulletin site (www.virusbtn.com/ (http://ct.email.windowsitpro.com/rd/cts?d=33-960-803-202-62923-55627-0-0-0-1-2-207) to
gain access to summary data.
This is the last issue of Security UPDATE for 2007. I hope you all have
pleasant holidays, and I'll be back next week to kick of 2008 with some
New Year's revelations.
=====
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SECURITY NEWS AND FEATURES
--Microsoft Fixes Broken Internet Explorer Hotfix
Microsoft's recently released cumulative update for IE is designed to
fix four security problems in the browser. But when Windows XP SP2 users
installed the update, it caused IE to crash. Microsoft has since
released an automated workaround.
To view the full article go to:
http://ct.email.windowsitpro.com/rd/cts?d=33-960-803-202-62923-55629-0-0-0-1-2-207
--Nearly All Mail Is Spam According to Barracuda Networks
In the early 1990s when the Internet began to explode into mainstream
use, no spam was to be found in anyone's inbox. By 2001, 5 percent of
all email was spam. In 2007, we find that at least 90 percent and
perhaps as much as 95 percent of all email is spam.
To view the full article go to:
http://ct.email.windowsitpro.com/rd/cts?d=33-960-803-202-62923-55630-0-0-0-1-2-207
GIVE AND TAKE
--SECURITY MATTERS BLOG: Mozilla's New Firefox Support Forums and Live
Chat
by Mark Joseph Edwards
Mozilla's got two new ways to get support for Firefox: a new forum and a
live chat system based on the cross-platform Spark client from Ignite
Realtime, which runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
To view the full article go to:
http://ct.email.windowsitpro.com/rd/cts?d=33-960-803-202-62923-55631-0-0-0-1-2-207
--FAQ: Remove Authorized DHCP Servers from the Command Line
by John Savill
Q. How can I view, add, and remove authorized DHCP servers from the
command line?
Find the answer at
www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/97863
(http://ct.email.windowsitpro.com/rd/cts?d=33-960-803-202-62923-55632-0-0-0-1-2-207)
--Announcing the 2008 Windows IT Pro Community Choice Awards!
The nomination period for the 2008 Windows IT Pro Community Choice
Awards has begun! Visitors to the Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine
online forums are encouraged to nominate and vote on their favorite
products and services. Nominate your own favorite products in the
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RESOURCES AND EVENTS
Learn the Fundamentals of Messaging Management Systems
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Download this free resource before you evaluate a new message management
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Today's hackers are after your enterprise data, and they use tools and
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Enterprise Protection and an Affordable Price
Looking for an alternative to expensive licensed solutions for Exchange
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FEATURED WHITE PAPER
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Exchange 2007 Mastery Series: January 28, 2008
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