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Good News For Mac :: SOPHOS Free Anti-Virus

Dear Friends , a very good news for you :) , if you are using Apple's MAC,then the IT security firm Sophos has Launched Free Sophos Anti-virus for Home users.Sophos is one of the Top most IT security solution provider which is engaged in provide Security with focus on Corporate sphere.














 
Now with the MAC Operating System Increase market share and its contentiously growing , so its becoming a more attractive target for the malware writers , hackers and cyber-criminals .

So its a sophos initiative to focus on security of the home MAC users. The best feature of sophos is its IDs i.e virus detection identification are Platform independent i.e  they are same for windows as well as for Linux or MAC OS and moreover its Backed by sophosLabs.

Sophos Having 4 Labs globally and they works on rising Sun model , which take care of all threats 24/7 .

MAC Operating system supported by SOPHOS a specification.

- Mac with Intel or PowerPC processor
- 256 MB of memory
- 150 MB of available disk space
- Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
- Supports all Apple Mac hardware including iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air.


Download sophos Anti-virus for MAC from below Link

http://downloads.sophos.com/home-edition/savosx_72_he.dmg

How to Install Sophos and its configuration see the video and PDf docs @ http://www.sophos.com/products/free-tools/free-mac-anti-virus/support.html and if you have any query post your comment on sophos MAC forum.

http://openforum.sophos.com/MacAv

For any further info on this , feel free to get back me.

P.S : For more Info visit www.sophos.com to know more about the security and its oveview.

Source : www.sophos.com
            http://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/sophos-mac-home-interface-small.jpg






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Google Chrome : Safe And Secure Browsing

GOOGLE  CHROME





Last night I was trying to find some browsers which can give me fast browsing, at the same time are more secure.
The common thoughts that comes to mind is of few 
popular web browsers like Internet explorer, Mozilla Firefox , safari , google chrome and opera,
My Favoutite browser is Mozilla ,but there are few things which were not satisfying me is that which is the crash rate , hanging high CPU usage.





I tried google chrome way back , chrome is devoped by google from the open source project Chromium .But due to lots of security flaws I didn't used it there after.


But 
today I'm more confident to use google chrome then any other Web browser coz its now more secure than the present browser and moreover its security can be enhanced by 
using some extensions(plugins), these enhances the security and narrow down security risk to a greater extent. And being the fasted browser the browsing experience is amazing.


A Video on the evolution of Google chrome.. have a look





So here in this article about those cool extension which will reduce your online threats.


Following are the extension which I found very good afte testing.


1) AdBlock


 a very handy extension as it blocks the bugging adds,for security its very good as now a days malware writers are using these adds as target to successfully
intrude into your machine W/o you knowing it.
"Malware Ad Injections" is the technique used by malware writers to infiltrate into the accredited Web sites like the New York times, so it helps in blocking adds.

2) Bug Me Not

 is a very unique extenstion , helps in thwart advertising spam from Web sites that require registering. If a Web site requests information, it will check Bug Me 
Not.com’s database. If registration information is available, Bug Me Not will populate the form, allowing you to continue, yet remain anonymous.

3) FlashBlock
Vulnerabilities in Flash are becoming popular targets for hackers. FlashBlock helps by initially blocking all Flash content on a Web page. You can later-on whitelist(allow)
the website from where you want to have flash , like www.youtube.com.


4) Secbrowsing - plugin version checker

 extention Periodically checks if your browser is running any out-of-date, vulnerable plugins etc and keep you utodate.


5) SiteAdvisor
SiteAdvisor is a service that reports on the safety of Web sites. It shows the Web site’s rating. You also have the option of not allowing suspicious Web sites to load.

6) Unencrypted Password Warning
Unencrypted Password Warning does exactly what its name says. And Most importantly it also displays a warning if credit card numbers are sent in the clear. This extension is helpful for users who aren’t familiar with HTTPS and what it means. If there is a problem, it opens a window and explains what’s wrong.

7) WOT
Web of Trust (WOT) is another extension that rates the trustworthiness of Web sites. WOT is similar to SiteAdvisor but with a diffrent approach. Unlike SiteAdvisor, WOT rates search results, which is a nice feature. You have an idea before you proceed to the Web site.



P.S :  Dear Readers , hope you like the post , put your comments suggestion or any information I'm missing over here. You are most welcome , Have a nice Read :)




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Conficker The Deadliest Malware Of The Decade













Conficker was 1st malware which had affected the bussines in the last 2 years Very badly. Sophos was the 1st Security firm to detect the threat and report the microsoft vunerabilty which causes this Malware to exploit the machine's two critical service responsible for the communication i.e Server service and Workstation service.

This Malware exploits the Microsoft's MS08-067 vunerability and as a result all the security sites and Microsofts don't opens up. So the risk of getting infected got higher since the security application can't take update from their databank. And since your system is not uptodate and hence don't have anti-virus IDE's so malware tries to spead via network (network shares) , removal media etc.

So to tackle all issues the things that we need to use is to secure our system with Zero day threats by having a good firewall installed over your machine which can block the malware to spread or reports you on the security breach.

Well having said that the Conficker Malware which is in the web still haunts , it has been modified by virus writers and lots of varients has been known  which are Mal/Conficker-A, Mal/Confick-Dam, Mal/Conficker-B, Mal/ConfInf-A, Troj/ConfData-A, Troj/ConfDr-B, Troj/ConfDr-C, Troj/ConfDr-Gen , W32/ConfDr-Gen, W32/Confick-A, W32/Confick-B, W32/Confick-C, W32/Confick-D, W32/Confick-F, W32/Confick-G, W32/Confick-H, W32/Confick-I, W32/Confick-K, W32/Confick-L, W32/Confick-M, W32/ConfikMem-A, W32/ConfikMem-B.

This malware is not detected by virus scanner itself as it other process are hidden ,so anti-rootkits mechanism is used to find out the malware and then removed using a specific tool.

since most of the operating systems Either Windows 2000 , XP , 2003/2008 servers versions are not being patched by MS08-067 security patch from microsoft.
SO the first objective is to patch the machine with Microsoft's MS08-067 patch.
I.e from below download Links for respective operating system.

WIN Xp SP2 - http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/f/a/4fabe08e-5358-418b-81dd-d5038730b324/WindowsXP-KB958644-x86-ENU.exe

Win XP SP3 - http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/f/a/4fabe08e-5358-418b-81dd-d5038730b324/WindowsXP-KB958644-x86-ENU.exe

Win Vista - http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/c/0/dc047ab9-53f8-481c-8c46-528b7f493fc1/Windows6.0-KB958644-x86.msu

Win 2003 Server Sp1 - http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/e/3/ee322649-7f38-4553-a26b-a2ac40a0b205/WindowsServer2003-KB958644-x86-ENU.exe

Win 2003 server sp2 - http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/e/3/ee322649-7f38-4553-a26b-a2ac40a0b205/WindowsServer2003-KB958644-x86-ENU.exe

Win 2008 server - http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/9/8/498e39f6-9f49-4ca5-99dd-761456da0012/Windows6.0-KB958644-x86.msu


And then download the Conficker Removal utility from the below link

http://downloads.sophos.com/custom-tools/conficker-removal-tool.msi

Install this tool and run the scan , it will take some time depending upon your data volume and when scan finises will ask for reboot , and the Malware will be removed.

So moral of the whole article is that keep your system updates with latest Microsoft patch and have the best security defence as mentioned in my previous article http://rise-of-the-pheonix.blogspot.com/2010/04/computer-security-applications.html

Hope this article will help you.


P.S : For any query feel free to get back to me @ TALK TO ME 
        section or post your comment over here.
        reference: www.sophos.com

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Computer Security Applications

Security applications are necessity of the present time.
Having a security application installed over your computer is very important, you probably face many situations everyday that could harm your computer with malicious content without you knowing or consent.

If you're a regular web surfer, or download frequently, or even share a portable drives with friends or family, then your chances of getting your computer infected has just increased.

The absense of a security application is like driving bike without a helmet, you're just playing with the odds, it might happen, or not. It's always better to be safe than sorry. with either!

Fortunately, there are a lot security applications available, some of them are even free, so if you don't have the budget to pay for one, just use a free one.

Everyday new virus, trojan or any type of malicious files are created, before they are intented to harm machines but now the virus writer wants business (money) ,it's just one of those "human mystery behavior", but they do exist, and if you're not cautious then you might lose all your computer's content or even have your personal information revealed and used without your knowledge.

For example, a malicious technique called "keylogging" can be used against you to log every key stroke you make with your keyboard, this means all your passwords, chats.. then easily sent to the remote person that infected you with that file to use the information without your knowlege.

Also, if you frequently download files online, or share files with your friends, you're faced with a possibility of infection, malicious files are "covert" that means even your friend that you shared files with might get infected without him/her knowing about it.

There are a lot of arguments that none of the security applications are perfect, however that doesn't mean they are not necessary, they decrease the chance of your computer being infected by at least 70%.

Here is a list of security applications that I recommend for you to use: (Pick one only) I hv picked SOPHOS for you.

* McAfee Anti-virus ( You need to purchase )

* Sophos Anti-virus ( You need to purchase , but I'm giving 30days keys so that it works for you)



* Symantec Anti-virus ( You need to purchase )

* Kaspersky Anti-Virus ( You need to purchase )

* Clam -Anti-virus ( FREE)


* avast! Anti-Virus (Free edition available)


* AVG Anti-virus (Free edition available)

* Antivir - anti-virus ( FREE)


* Malwarebytes ( FREE)


From the above I would like to tell you about SOPHOs , the one which has got nice features.

Download it from the below link..


Sophos Anti-virus With Firewall

http://downloads.sophos.com/dp/full/escw_90_sa_sfx.exe?escw_90_sa_sfx.exe.

Sophos Anti-virus Without firewall.

http://downloads.sophos.com/dp/full/savw_90_sa_sfx.exe?savw_90_sa_sfx.exe
The best practice is to have firewall and Anti-virus Installed

Follow the procedure to install


Username: ESEM96D3F2
Password: ugyefwth










                 












 





 

 






















When the configuration is finished run the scan over the machine

or you can create batch file and run it whenever you want you machine to scan

To do so copy the following content in a notepad and save it as "Scan.bat".

cd\
cd Program Files
cd Sophos
cd sophos Anti-virus
sav32cli -f -all -di -dn -remove -noc -p=c:\scanlog.txt 

Save the above one  as Scan.bat and run if you want to run command line scanner.

After you install the security application you chose, always make sure that you keep it up-to-date to better protect you from new malicious files.


P.S : If You have any query feel free to get back to me over  TALK TO ME or comment over here .




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