Posted 09/24/08 at 11:06:36 AM by Paul Lilly

Believe it or not, there are security options out there other than AVG. McAfee, being one of them (surely you've run across McAfee on an OEM rig or two), announced plans to acquire network security vendor Secure Computing for around $465 million. The move, according to McAfee, is intended to beef up the company's network security portfolio.

"Today's announcement of this pending acquisition is a natural extension of McAfee's security-only focus," Dave DeWalt, CEO and president of McAfee, said in a statement. "We expect the pending combination of McAfee and Secure Computing will create an annual projected combined revenue of just under $500 million in the network security segment of our SRM (security risk management) portfolio."

Before the acquisition can go through, it must first pass regulatory approvals and get the green light from Secure Computing's stockholders, all of which is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

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Software, Security, Mcafee

Posted 08/04/08 at 03:07:27 PM by Mark Edward Soper

MySpace and Facebook users now have bigger worries than whether Wordscraper will stay online: two new worms, known as the Koobface family, are attacking Windows users of these popular social networking (or "Notworking" sites, as our friends at The Inquirer call them). These new worms pose a threat to the peace of mind of people like Zac Koobface (a real Facebook user, by the way).

Kapersky Labs was the first to detect these worms: Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.a (targets MySpace) and Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b (targets Facebook). McAfee refers to both worms as W32/Koobface.worm, while Symantec uses the terms W32.Koobface.A and W32.Koobface.B.

Both worms send comments or messages to other users of the service. The messages or comments contain alleged links to humorous YouTube files (such as "Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street"). When the user clicks on the link, the link redirects to a website that displays an error message claiming the user needs an updated codec to enable the Adobe Flash player to play the video. The alleged Flash player update (codecsetup.exe) contain the worm.

When the Koobface.A worm runs, it configures itself to run automatically when the system starts, checks for MySpace cookies, and if it finds them, modifies the user's profile by adding links to malicious sites that contain the worm. To learn more about Koobface.A and Koobface.B, check the McAfee and Symantec links earlier in this article.

If you use Kapersky, McAfee, or Symantec antivirus, the latest virus definitions will detect and stop these worms. If you use other antivirus or anti-malware programs, check for updates daily - and don't click on funny video links from other MySpace or Facebook users. The results just aren't very funny.

Been bugged by these or other social-networking worms? Tell us your story after the jump!

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windows, Software, Security, malware, facebook, myspace, web 2.0, antivirus, worm, Social Networking, Mcafee, symantec, Kapersky

Posted 07/07/08 at 08:53:12 AM by Chris Moody

In May 2008, McAfee set up 50 individuals from around the world with new laptops and email addresses and then had them surf for 30 days trolling for spam to discover “how much spam they would attract and what the effects would be, both short lived and long term”.

Every techie reading this is thinking the same thing, Well DUH, they got a crap load of spam and were really @%!#& annoyed by it. Really McAfee’s S.P.A.M. (Spammed Persistently All Month) Experiment amounts to pseudo news or a marketing campaign. That is not to say that it did not generate some useful data, but most of its conclusions are a no brainer.

Jump through to see what conclusions McAfee came to!

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spam, email, Mcafee, report