5 Benefits of Automating Patch Management

You need a patch management solution for proper patch management. But what are the benefits of automating patch management for these companies?

 

1. Security

Security is the most obvious reason as to why companies would want to have an automated patch management solution in place. One of the main reasons why software vendors release new patches is to fix security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious software or people intending to damage the IT systems or network.

 

Applying security patches in a timely fashion highly reduces the risk of having a security breach and all the related problems that come with it, like data theft, data loss, reputations issues or even legal penalties.

 

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BlitzBlank 1.0 – Removes infections that nothing else removes

GFI Software Enhances its Security Product Offering with the Acquisition of Sunbelt Software

The company’s VIPRE technology will allow GFI to offer its own established antivirus product

Raleigh, NC – July 13, 2010 – GFI Software, a market leading provider of software infrastructure products for small and medium-sized enterprises, announced today that it has acquired Sunbelt Software and specifically its VIPRE® product suite. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition will allow GFI to merge VIPRE technology into GFI’s email security and web security solutions group, and will provide GFI with new security products consisting of world-class and innovative technology. The assets of Sunbelt’s software distribution business, started over 16 years ago and separate from the technology side of the company, will be divested into a separate entity and the company is exploring other strategic partnerships.

“Over the past several years, we have looked extensively for the best technologies, the best developers and the best management teams that will allow us to expand our current product offerings and to provide the best service we can to our customer base. We were impressed by the high quality and innovative technology that underlies Sunbelt’s VIPRE line of products and immediately saw strong synergies between the two companies. We have acquired a good, growing and cash-flow positive business that fits well within GFI’s strategic vision to consolidate our products and grow our business,” said Walter Scott, GFI’s CEO.

 

“Furthermore, Sunbelt’s technology is backed by a reliable, committed customer support team that provides great service – something so important for us. We see this investment in Sunbelt and its VIPRE technology as an excellent opportunity to increase our install base, drive the software globally through our international partner channel and also build our consumer market, which has a powerful drag-along effect on the SME and SoHo markets,” Mr. Scott added.

 

“The technologies developed by both companies are highly complementary and I have a hard time imagining a better combination,” said Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software.  “Additionally, GFI and Sunbelt are rooted in similar business principles, with similar markets and a commitment to superlative customer service.”

 

About Sunbelt Software

Headquartered in Tampa Bay (Clearwater), Fla., USA, Sunbelt Software is a leading provider of Windows security software including enterprise antivirus, antispyware, email security, and malware analysis tools. Leading products include the VIPRE® and CounterSpy® product lines, Sunbelt Exchange Archiver™, CWSandbox™, and ThreatTrack™.

 

About GFI

GFI Software provides a single best source of web and mail security, archiving and fax, networking and security software and hosted IT solutions for small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) via an extensive global partner community. GFI products are available either as on-premise solutions, in the cloud or as a hybrid of both delivery models. With award-winning technology, a competitive pricing strategy, and a strong focus on the unique requirements of SMEs, GFI satisfies the IT needs of organizations on a global scale. The company has offices in the United States (North Carolina and California), UK (London and Dundee), Austria, Australia, Malta, Hong Kong and Romania, which together support hundreds of thousands of installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with thousands of partners throughout the world and is also a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

 

 

To view this release online, go to:

http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Press/Releases/?id=362

 

For more information:

GFI Software

Please email David Kelleher on dkelleher@gfi.com

GFI – Malta: Tel: +356 2205 2000; Cell: +356 7906 3606; Fax: +356 21382419.

URL: http://www.gfi.com.

 

Sunbelt Software

Please email Brian Alberti on sunbelt@daviesmurphy.com

Sunbelt – US: Tel: +1-781-418-2403

URL: http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com.

 

 

Scan your Network for threats, up to 200 Computers for free with Sophos Computer Security Scan

 

Scan your computer and network to discover threats your security software may have missed:

Viruses, spyware, adware

Rootkits

Unwanted devices and applications

Suspicious files

 

Get started today.
One scan covers up to 200 computers and you’ll receive a comprehensive report of the results. Plus, we’ll provide recommendations for guarding against the threats found.

 

 

This tool requires the following minimum system components:

• Windows 2000, XP, 2003, 2003 R2, Vista, 2008, 2008 R2, 7 (including 64 bit versions)
• 1 GHz Intel Pentium processor or equivalent
• 256MB RAM
• At least 120MB disk space
• Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 or above

 

Installation
The installer enables you to run a specially configured version of Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 without uninstalling or disabling your existing anti-virus program.

1. Log on to your PC with an account that has administrator privileges.
2. Download the Sophos Computer Security Scan installer (< 40MB), a self-extracting archive file.
3. Click ‘Open’ to extract the file’s contents to your computer and start the installation wizard.
4. During installation, you will be asked for updating credentials. Enter the credentials given above.

 

Please note: Do not install on a computer where Sophos Anti-Virus is already installed. Installing Sophos Computer Security Scan on a machine running Sophos Anti-Virus may require you to reinstall Sophos Anti-Virus.

 

Screenshots

Need help installing, scanning, or uninstalling? Get the Sophos Computer Security Scan Start Up Guide. 
http://www.sophos.com/sophos/docs/eng/instguid/scss_10_sgeng.pdf

 

What’s my computer doing? Free software to monitor H.D. and CPU processes

The free software “What’s my computer doing?” tells you why. It shows all programs (with details!), that are accessing your hard disk or using the CPU. Furthermore you have the option to close these programs or even uninstall them.

 

System reuirements
Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, 2000, NT

 

 

[ Download What's my computer doing? software ]

 

Handy Backup Server – reliable backup solution for enterprise network

 

How to backup server and the whole corporative network?

 

The award-winning server backup software by Novosoft LLC Handy Backup Server is designed specially for centralized backup of enterprise networks. The program consists of a server part and client workstations. This software works well on windows server backup (including Windows 2008, 2003, 2000 Server), performing client server backup scheme.

 

To protect your business from loss of critical data and to set you free from routine actions like manual backup and sync, Handy Backup Server has the following features:

 

• Centralized backup. This can help you to organize the best backup management. All backup operations in the network can be performed by one person from the central server. Your employees may even be not aware that their work is backed up!
• Database backup. Handy Backup Server has a wide range of functions for database backup. The utility is able to run backup of most popular ODBC-compatible databases: MS SQL Server backup, MySQL, DB2, Oracle, InterBase backup and other.
• Exchange server backup. Microsoft Exchange mail server is used by most companies today, which means that a lot of important data is stored in Exchange Server. Handy Backup Server will allow you to easily back up, synchronize and restore email, calendars and other data.
• Backup to FTP server. There’s no doubt that remote data storage is more secure than a local one. This program will help you to back up your data to FTP/SFTP server – either your own or the special backup server in a secure data center.
• Automatic backup. The flexible scheduler gives you an opportunity to run your backup tasks automatically with any suitable period of time.
• Windows service. Handy Backup Workstations run as windows service, providing the administrator access to back up all users’ data without them being logged in.
• Multi-threaded backup engine provides fast backups without interfering users’ activity.
• One-way and two-ways synchronization. You can easily synchronize folders and files between computers in the network.
• Encryption, compression, masks, filtering. These and many other additional functions will help you to achieve the perfect backup strategy without any difficulties.

 

About Novosoft

 

Novosoft LLC was established in 1992. During the years of successful work this company has gained a good reputation and recognition of users throughout the world. Today Novosoft LLC is a prominent developer of computer and server backup software for home users as well as for small and middle-sized enterprises. The key product of the company – Handy Backup – is present in three major editions meeting every user’s needs: Handy Backup Standard, Handy Backup Professional and Handy Backup Server. Depending on individual needs there are different customer solutions based on flexible plug-in system.

 

To learn more about Handy Backup Server functionality please visit the official website www.handybackup.net.

 

A free 30-days trial including all features is here: Download Handy Backup Server.

 

 

Apple Safari zero-day exploit revealed

 

 

Apple’s Safari browser contains a critical, unpatched bug that attackers can use to infect Windows PCs with malicious code, researchers at US-CERT and other security firms said today.

 

Hackers could compromise PCs with simple “drive-by” attack tactics, researchers added.

 

The vulnerability, first reported by Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia and confirmed by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), was disclosed by Polish researcher Krystian Kloskowski on Friday. The bug is caused by an error in the handling of the browser’s parent windows.

 

Apple Safari gets security fix in update | Apple Safari 4 browser | How to use Greasemonkey scripts with IE, Chrome and Safari

 

“This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code when a user visits a specially-crafted web page and closes opened pop-up windows,” said Secunia’s alert.

 

The vulnerability can also be exploited by attackers who dupe users into opening rigged HTML-based e-mail within Safari, added US-CERT in its advisory. That scenario likely would involve tricking users into opening malicious messages in a Web mail service, such as Gmail or Windows Live Hotmail.

 

Both Secunia and US-CERT confirmed today that the proof-of-concept attack code published by Kloskowski successfully compromises the Windows version of Safari 4.0.5, the most up-to-date edition. Secunia rated the vulnerability as “highly critical,” the second-most-dangerous ranking in its five-step threat scoring system.

 

It’s not known whether the vulnerability also exists in the much more widely used Mac OS X version of Apple’s software. “Other versions may also be affected,” cautioned US-CERT.

 

Charlie Miller, the noted vulnerability researcher who won $10,000 by hacking a Mac in March at the Pwn2Own contest, was out of his office and not able to verify that the bug also exists in Safari on Mac OS X.

 

US-CERT urged users of the Windows version of Safari to disable JavaScript as a temporary defense.

 

Apple last patched Safari in mid-March when it fixed 16 flaws, including six that applied only to the Windows version of the browser. It’s not unusual for Apple to patch Windows-only vulnerabilities when it updates Safari.

 

Apple patched Miller’s $10,000 vulnerability in mid-April by plugging a hole in ATS (Apple Type Services), a font renderer included with Mac OS X. Miller accessed the ATS bug via Safari during Pwn2Own.

 

 

By Gregg Keizer, techworld.com

Surveillance firm sells Apple iPad spyware

Could someone be spying on the emails you send and the websites you visit on your iPad?

 

For many the thought that someone could be reading every email you send, secretly logging every call that you make on your mobile phone, or silently tracking your location via GPS would be the stuff of nightmares.

 

And yet software exists (and is sold completely legitimately online) that does exactly this for those who wish to spy on their workers, or on members of their family.

 

And now a firm which in the past has made surveillance software to monitor the usage of iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Android , Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones has announced a version of its snooping software to spy on iPads.

 

For just $99.97 a year, Mobile Spy customers can access a website that allows them to view a list of every website visited on an iPad, every contact added to the address book, and every email sent and received.

 

The way that vendors get away with this is by explaining that it is almost certainly an offence to install software onto a phone or computer that monitors or spies upon the owner unless you have authorisation to install it.

 

So, for instance, it would be okay to spy on your employees phone, computer or iPad activity if they had agreed to such surveillance in their contract. And it would be okay to snoop upon your kids because.. well, they’re your kids, and how likely are they to take you to court?

 

Such software exists in the “grey” area between legitimate and illegitimate software, typically promoted as a way for wives to spy on philandering husbands, or for concerned parents to keep an eye on what their babysitter is up to, or to assist companies in enforcing acceptable use policies, rather than more traditional identity theft – but it’s clear that it can be used for a criminal purposes too.

 

Fortunately, Mobile Spy’s spyware for iPads only works on jailbroken devices. In other words, not only does whoever want to spy on you need access to your iPad to install the software, your iPad also needs to have been tinkered with to allow you to run software that hasn’t been given the stamp of approval by Apple.

 

Late last year we saw malware which targeted users of jailbroken iPhones. My expectation is that if enough iPad owners jailbreak their gizmos too that some of the hackers at least won’t be far behind.

 

Hat-tip: Krebs on Security

 

By Graham Cluley, Sophos

How To Block Malicious Website Access by Any Weblock software

 

 

The free web content control software that block acess to any website on your computer.

Any Weblock is a web content control software that gives you the power to block anywebsite on your local computer. It works with any web browser and displays a fake error page. No network knowledge required to configure. You only need to know the domain/subdomain names of the websites to be blocked.

 

Possible uses include parental control (porns, online games or chat rooms) and ads or malicious content blocking.

 

Summary of features

Works with any web browser

Block websites and additional subdomains

Password protection to prevent unauthorized access

Blocking remains intact even after uninstalling, unless properly unblocked by this program.

Export and import to share block list among computers

Auto-backup and roll back to a previous backup

 

Screenshots

Manange block list

• Add, modify or remove block entries.
• Export or import block list.

---

Block new website

• Add a website domain for blocking.
• Enter any additional subdomains for blocking.
• Choose to block main domain or only its subdomains.

---

Import block list

• Append the entries from the imported list to current list.
• Replace the current list entirely with the imported list.

---

Password protection

• Create a password to prevent unauthorized access.
• Decide a secret question and answer for password reset.

---

Backup and roll back

• Backups are automatically created.
• Choose a limit for the number of backups.
• Roll back to a previous backup.

 

 

New ClamAV for Windows Powered By ( immunet and sourcefire )

 

The new ClamAV for Windows is the result of a partnership between Immunet Corporation (http://www.immunet.com) and Sourcefire, Inc. (http://www.sourcefire.com). It is designed to provide the ClamAV community with a free Windows-specific Anti-Virus (AV) solution using an advanced Cloud-based protection mechanism.  You can use ClamAV For Windows as a stand-alone, host-based AV solution, or in conjunction with your pre-installed AV solution to provide enhanced detection for the latest malware threats.

 

Say goodbye to the days of watching AV software drain your memory and processing speed. Immunet’s unique Cloud-based technologies allow the ClamAV application to leverage the power of the Cloud to drive the AV engine. When you use ClamAV for Windows, you save system resources for the tasks they really want to run, like games and business applications.

 

ClamAV for Windows utilizes advanced Cloud-based and community-based detection methods. Developed by Immunet, these detection methods leverage the computers of your friends, family and a worldwide global community to harness their collective knowledge for securing your PC. Every time someone in this collective community encounters a threat, everyone else in the community gains protection from that same threat in real time. You no longer have to rely on the isolated security of your current Anti-Virus vendor. You are able to protect your friends and family while being better protected yourself. This is exactly what we designed ClamAV for Windows to do. By providing a fast and light layer of virus detection, and linking everyone in a global community, we harness a security sum that is far greater than its individual parts, we call this Collective Immunity.

 

Immunet placed ClamAV into their Cloud infrastructure alongside their Ethos detection engine, and several other detection technologies.  By combining all these technologies, and utilizing the power of community-based detection, we feel we have the most effective Anti-Virus technology on the market. And it only gets better with every user that installs and utilizes our technology.

 

Download New ClamAV :

• ClamAV for Windows 32 bit
• ClamAV for Windows 64 bit

 

Minimum System Requirements

1. Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7
2. A working Internet connection

Optional Requirements

1. A Facebook account
2. A Twitter account

 

 

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