security

Review: Symantec has moved Norton 360 to the same release schedule as Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus, making them into a three-tiered strategy for consumer security. Norton AntiVirus is the entry-level product, with Norton Internet Security occupying the middle rung and Norton 360 aimed at people who want the most bang for the most buck.

Notoriously slow to respond to trends, the consumer security field is surprisingly not taking Windows 8 lying down. Norton and many of its competitors are optimizing their suites for Microsoft's new operating system ahead of its release, and Norton is combining that strategy … Read more

Today might be Friday, September 14, but to PC security companies, it probably feels like Friday the 13th. AV-Test.org's latest regularly published results on home security suites have been released, and the vast majority of the best performing suites slipped a full point or more.

You can read the report at AV-Test's site.

AV-Test looks at three categories in its tests, and scores them each on a six-point scale. Protection gauges how well a suite blocks threats, Repair evaluates how well a suite removes malware, and Usability includes testing for false positives. Eleven points total are required … Read more

More than 50 percent of Android devices have serious vulnerabilities that are unpatched because carriers are often slow to update the software, a mobile security researcher says.

"Since we launched X-Ray [Android app used for scanning for vulnerabilities], we've already collected results from over 20,000 Android devices worldwide. Based on these initial results, we estimate that over half of Android devices worldwide have unpatched vulnerabilities that could be exploited by a malicious app or adversary," Jon Oberheide, chief technology officer at Duo Security, wrote in a blog post. The results are then extrapolated using Google's … Read more

A firewall that boosts outbound protection, browser protection that almost doesn't care which browser is your favorite, and compatibility with Microsoft's big October gamble are the highlights of F-Secure's 2013 suites, released today.

There's actually quite a few changes to F-Secure Anti-Virus 2013 (download) and F-Secure Internet Security 2013 (download) this year, but nearly all of them are focused on enhancing security already in last year's suites -- as opposed to providing entirely new features.

The most notable changes in F-Secure come to how it interacts with your Web browser, and how its firewall works … Read more

The House Intelligence Committee brought executives from two Chinese telecommunications gear makers to Capitol Hill today to press them on potential threats they pose to national security, but came away with little satisfaction.

"I can say that I am a little disappointed today," committee chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said at the end of the hearing investigating Huawei and ZTE. (CNET viewed the hearing via Webcast.) "I was hoping for a little more transparency... Other inconsistencies worry me greatly."

Rogers and his fellow committee members pressed executives from the two Chinese companies repeatedly, raising allegations that the … Read more

Apple failed to spring many surprises on fans today.

In the past, Apple was one of the most security conscious companies in Silicon Valley. Company managers protected the content of upcoming media events as if they were guarding state secrets. If leaks occurred, they were rare and feathers in the caps of the reporters who bagged them.

Today, all sorts of blogs can boast that they scooped the Apple event. Go down the list of Apple's new products or services and nearly all leaked out weeks or months ago.

New ear buds, check. A new dock connector, check. The … Read more

Like other premium security tools, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 offers unique extras to counter the many free antivirus tools available, most of which offer similar levels of basic protection to Bitdefender but in stripped-down packages that sometimes leave you wanting (and needing) more. In addition to powerful antivirus protection, Bitdefender's features list includes antiphishing, parental controls, firewall, secure online storage, ID security, USB device security, process behavior monitoring (to predict and counter zero-day threats based on anomalous system behavior), and a vulnerability scanner. Other tools have similar features, so Bitdefender ups the ante with extras like SafePay, which secures … Read more

There's been a lot of news lately on how Android mobile devices are malware's new favorite victims. While Google has been working to beef up security for its mobile OS, wireless carriers are also pitching in.

Verizon announced the launch of its McAfee "Mobile Security" app for Android today, which aims to help subscribers protect stored data on their smartphones. More specifically the paid version of the app lets users remotely locate, alarm, lock, and wipe data from their device.

"While most consumers with smartphones understand they are carrying around the functions of a computer, … Read more

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has pledged to invest $2 billion (£1.3 billion) in the U.K. economy, in an apparent bid for goodwill as the U.S. Congress opens a probe of the company's relationship with the Chinese government. (See the embedded press release below.)

Huawei will plow $1 billion (£650m) into its U.K. research and development efforts. It said  that will generate more than 700 jobs in the country, and pledged to spend a further $1 billion on U.K. procurement over the next five years.

The telecom giant, which already employs 800 … Read more