mcafee

SAN FRANCISCO--The type of software corporations use to house source code that criminals targeted in the recent attacks on Google and others is generally weak in security protection, McAfee researchers said on Wednesday.

McAfee analyzed a commonly used software for housing intellectual property called Perforce and released its findings during a session at the RSA security conference here. The company helped in the discovery that a hole in Internet Explorer 6 was exploited in at least some of the recent attacks on U.S. firms and named the attacks "Operation Aurora" after the malware used.

Now the security … Read more

McAfee's 2010 consumer security suites are out, and they're impressively better than in years past. The interface is brand-new, and the protection components have been overhauled, too. The suite still has its problems, but it looks better than it has in years and it's easy to use. Read the full CNET Review, and let us know what you think.

McAfee spent three years researching and developing a new vertical interface for its consumer security suites, and has made them far better in the process. The improved detection engine includes enhanced download scanning, faster scan and start-up times, and a stronger firewall.

Check out this First Look video for a tour of McAfee AntiVirus Plus. If you're interested in McAfee Internet Security 2010 or McAfee Total Protection 2010, note that those upgrades have more features tacked onto the same security engine, but they lack trials.

"Bomb Blast." "Jackson is still alive: proof." "Obama cursed by Pope." These are just a few of the subjects used by cybercriminals last year to trick people into opening malware-infected e-mails.

Spam that uses the latest news headlines was just one of the hot trends last year in the world of cybercrime, according to McAfee's "Q4 Threats Report" (PDF), released Tuesday. The latest threat assessment also noted a rise in "hacktivism," or politically motivated cyberattacks.

Though spam levels in the fourth quarter actually dropped by 24 percent from the … Read more

Security suite vendor McAfee debuts its 2010 product line today, introducing an overhauled interface and new features in a bid to remain competitive. The change to its interface is as dramatic a shift as the one that Avast introduced in its 2010 suites, although McAfee's look is drastically different from any major security program currently on the market. Most of the features in McAfee AntiVirus Plus, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee Total Protection are not new, but the presentation is so radical that the improvements are likely to be glossed over. Users of older McAfee should note that VirusScan … Read more

Critical infrastructure networks around the world are subject to repeated cyberattacks from foreign governments and other high-level adversaries that can be damaging and costly, according to a report McAfee released Thursday.

Attacks that lead to down time can cost more than $6 million per day, and more than $8 million at oil and gas companies, the report, "In the Crossfire--Critical Infrastructure in the Age of Cyberwar," found.

Meanwhile, respondents said they worry about attacks on critical infrastructure in their countries coming from the U.S. and China more than any other potential aggressors.

For the report, which was … Read more

Attackers targeting Google and a host of other U.S. companies recently used software that exploits a new hole in Internet Explorer, Microsoft said Thursday.

"Internet Explorer was one of the vectors" used in the attacks that Google disclosed earlier this week, Microsoft said in a statement. "To date, Microsoft has not seen widespread customer impact, rather only targeted and limited attacks exploiting IE 6," the statement said.

The vulnerability affects Internet Explorer 6, IE 7, and IE 8 on Windows 7, Vista, Windows XP, Server 2003, Server 2008 R2, as well as IE 6 Service … Read more

Due to some Gmail attacks, Google has said it will remove its filters and possibly pull out of China altogether. There's definitely a lot more going on behind the scenes of this than we know, but we try to get to the heart of the matter as the nation of China negotiates with the nation of Google. We also discuss Facebook's requirement that you scan your hard drive to reactivate a hacked account, and we look forward to Martians coming this year. Yay for Martians!

In a move to show its 350 million members that it's serious about their safety, Facebook has launched a partnership with security firm McAfee: six months of McAfee's Internet Security Suite software, a discount subscription after that, and custom security software and education materials on Facebook.

"Facebook is applying all financial incentives from this partnership to the benefit of its users and will not be taking a share of any revenue from user subscriptions," a release explained. McAfee has also developed a free tool for Facebook users to clean their hard drives in the event that … Read more