Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Thousands of Facebook Users Hit by Video Attack, Sophos Reports

Following links to 'sexiest video ever' risks adware infection

MUMBAI / BANGALORE, India – May 17, 2010 – IT security and data protection firm, Sophos, is warning Facebook users to be wary following a video attack on users this weekend designed to infect computers with adware. Thousands have been hit by the attack which posted a fake video to profiles claiming to be the ‘sexiest video ever’.

The malicious posts, which seemingly came from users' friends on Facebook, read—

this is without doubt the sexiest video ever! :P :P :P
Candid Camera Prank [HQ] Length: 3:17

The messages were accompanied by what appeared to be a movie thumbnail of a woman on an exercise bicycle wearing a short skirt.

However, Sophos experts warn that clicking on the movie's thumbnail doesn't play a video, but takes victims to a Facebook application that tells them they don't have the right player software installed, and tries to trick them into installing revenue generating adware.

"You may want to watch a sexy video, but you're more likely to end up being plagued by pop-up advertising," warned Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos. "Not only is adware being installed on your computer, but the rogue Facebook application is posting the same message to all of your friends' accounts. It's no surprise that your friends might click to watch the movie when it looks to all intents and purposes that you are the person who has sent it to them."

Facebook users hit by the attack are advised not to click on the links or allow the Facebook application to run.

"If you fell victim to this attack, scan your computer with up-to-date anti-virus software, change your passwords, and review your Facebook application settings and remove whatever application was installed during this attack," continued Cluley. "70% more Facebook users are reporting being attacked by malware via the site in the last year, and the problem only seems to be getting worse. Social networking users need to learn not to fall for simple but effective social engineering tricks like this in future."

# # #

About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use, and that deliver the industry’s lowest TCO. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs—a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, UK and Boston, US. More information is available at www.sophos.com

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Friday, May 14, 2010

Security Scare over Facebook Friend Suggestions

MUMBAI / BANGALORE, India – May 14, 2010 – IT security and data protection firm, Sophos, is urging Facebook users not to panic, after alerts were posted by thousands of users warning of a new virus sending out large numbers of friend suggestions.

A typical warning posted across the site reads—

VIRUS WARNING: ANYONE WHO HAS GOTTEN A TON OF FRIEND SUGGESTIONS BE CAREFUL! IT IS A VIRUS! IF YOU ACCEPT THEM THEN YOUR ACCOUNT WILL SEND OUT ABOUT 85 TO SOMEONE ELSE!!! WARN YOUR FRIENDS NOW! This is a new virus that is sending requests to spread. DO NOT ACCEPT FRIEND SUGGESTIONS AT THE MOMENT!

The warnings have gained momentum in recent days, against a backdrop of increased concern and high profile media reports about privacy and security controversies on Facebook.

However, Sophos advises, there is no evidence that the multiple friend suggestions (some people report having received over 500) are due to a computer virus infection.

"This security scare is spreading like petrol on fire at the moment across the Facebook network, frightening people that their computers might have been compromised by hackers just when there are many headlines questioning how well Facebook protects its users," said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant for Sophos. "Rumors of a virus can propagate at breathtaking speeds on social networks, and can be hard to stamp out. Just one person who has been left in the dark about the facts can kick start them again."

Cluley explains that Facebook has changed the way in which handles friend suggestions, now sending notifications to both the person you're suggesting a friend to and also the suggested friend too.

"Imagine that you are Tom, and you think that your friend Dick should become Facebook friends with Harry. You visit Dick's Facebook profile, scroll down to where it says "Suggest friends for Dick" and choose Harry's name. Your suggestion that Dick should become friends with Harry doesn't just go to Dick, but it will also now go to Harry as well," explained Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos on his blog. "Presumably Facebook has made this change in order to encourage more users to interconnect."

Furthermore, Facebook can automatically suggest friends based upon many factors, including shared networks, work and education information and friends imported using Friend Finder.

"Put simply Facebook can send friend suggestions to other users based upon email addresses that you may have imported into the site from your email address book," continued Cluley. "What many people do not realise is that even if you didn't add everyone you imported from your address book as a Facebook friend, Facebook remembers the contacts you imported from Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail etc. and can use them to make future recommendations."

# # #

About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use, and that deliver the industry’s lowest TCO. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs—a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, UK and Boston, US. More information is available at www.sophos.com
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Thursday, May 13, 2010

New Adaptec MaxIQTM Storage Controllers With SSD Caching Offer Data Centers Up To 8X Faster Performance and 70% Savings

Expanded MaxIQ SSD Caching Product Line Offers Increased Performance, Broad SSD Support and New Management Tools for I/O Analytics

BANGALORE, India, May 13, 2010 — Adaptec, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADPT), a global leader in data center hardware and software storage solutions, today announced the expansion of the Adaptec MaxIQ SSD Caching product portfolio with three new MaxIQ Storage Controllers, a new MaxIQ 64GB Cache Performance Kit, wider support for solid-state drives (SSDs) and enhanced management and analytics tools. Adaptec’s MaxIQ SSD Caching products can deliver up to eight times the I/O performance1 of hard disk drive-only arrays, and reduce capital and operating expenses up to 70 percent by allowing IT managers to build High-Performance Hybrid Arrays (HPHAs) – data storage arrays consisting of both hard disk drives (HDDs) and SSDs.

Our goal is to provide our customers with performance enhancing products that provide more flexibility and create greater operational efficiencies. Our enhanced Adaptec MaxIQ solutions meet all of these goals,” said Jared Peters, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Adaptec. “As SSDs continue to prove their value in a wide range of enterprise, data center and other high-performance computing environments, the need for effective solutions that allow IT managers to take advantage of SSD performance benefits at the lowest possible cost is paramount.”

The Adaptec MaxIQ Storage Controller family is built on Adaptec’s advanced data protection and high-performance architecture, and includes Adaptec Intelligent Power Management (IPM) for energy-efficiency, as well as support for all mainstream SSDs including drives from OCZ Technology and STEC, delivering IT managers with increased flexibility when designing storage systems.

OCZ is constantly looking for new opportunities to provide our customers with innovative ways to integrate SSD technology into enterprise class storage solutions that meet the demanding performance and reliability requirements of data center and computing applications,” said Alex Mei, CMO of the OCZ Technology Group. “MaxIQ Caching Software together with OCZ SSDs will increase I/O performance and lower the total cost of ownership while reducing energy consumption, offering a considerable improvement in overall value and performance.”

The Adaptec Q-Series Storage Controller Family includes—

1. Adaptec MaxIQ 2405Q (4 internal ports)
2. Adaptec MaxIQ 5805Q (8 internal ports)
3. Adaptec MaxIQ 5805ZQ (8 internal ports with Zero-Maintenance Cache Protection for battery-free data protection)

All MaxIQ Storage Controllers feature 1.2 GHz of processing power, 512MB of DDR2 write cache, MaxIQ Hybrid SSD read caching with support for multiple MLC and SLC SSD devices, and direct I/O connectivity for SATA/SAS SSDs, hard drives, and tape devices. Using SAS expanders, these controllers support up to 256 devices; they also support a broad range of operating systems and are compatible with more than 300 third-party devices. These controllers are also supported by Adaptec Storage Manager™ for centralized management of all Adaptec RAID controllers on the network.

Our customers depend on us to deliver server solutions that meet their high-performance standards and bandwidth requirements ” said David Rudnick, President of PC Solutions & Integration. “The Adaptec MaxIQ SSD Caching solution allows us to convert industry-standard servers into cost-effective, high-performance, scale-out application storage appliances that help our customers save money while attaining high levels of I/O performance.”

As a complement to the new MaxIQ Storage Controllers and the existing MaxIQ 32GB Cache Performance Kit, the new MaxIQ 64GB Cache Performance Kit can be paired with any Adaptec Series 5Z, Series 5 or Series 2 Storage Controller and includes a 64GB Intel X-25E Extreme Solid-State drive.

SSD caching end-user tools are also available to intelligently analyze I/O data flows and predict performance. Plus I/O instrumentation allows for easy configuration, monitoring and management, making it easy for data center and cloud computing customers to integrate HPHAs without disrupting existing operations.

Pricing and Availability

The Adaptec MaxIQ 64GB SSD Cache Performance Kit featuring one 64GB Intel® X25-E Extreme SATA SSD and MaxIQ SSD Caching Software is MSRP US$1,795. The Adaptec RAID 2405Q, 5805Q, 5805ZQ list for MSRP US$645, US$1,215 and US$1,485, respectively. All products are currently available through worldwide distributors and resellers.

On May 10, 2010, PMC-Sierra announced the intent to acquire the Adaptec channel business. For more information, go to www.adaptec.com.

# # #

About Adaptec

Adaptec is the global leader in I/O innovation. The Company provides innovative data center I/O solutions that protect, accelerate, optimize, and condition data in today’s most demanding data center environments. Adaptec products are used in IT environments ranging from on-demand cloud computing to traditional enterprise data centers. Its products enable data center managers, channel partners and OEMs to deploy best-in-class storage solutions to meet their customers’ evolving IT requirements. Around the world, leading corporations, government organizations, and medium and small businesses trust Adaptec technology. More information is available at www.adaptec.com, on its blog, storageadvisors.adaptec.com and at adaptec.com/facebook and twitter.com/Adaptec_Inc.
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Spammers Use iPhone 4G as a Bait to Harvest Private Information

‘Too good to be true’ free iPhone claims spammed out via email and Twitter

MUMBAI / BANGALORE, India – May 13, 2010 – IT security and data protection firm, Sophos, has warned internet users that spammers are using the lure of a free next generation iPhone to gather email addresses and other personal information.

Sophos has intercepted email spam inviting recipients to sign up to test, try and keep the much-predicted (but as yet unannounced) next version of the iPhone, which is being dubbed the ‘4G’ by the media.

Separately, Sophos researchers have also uncovered a coordinated campaign on Twitter, using avatars of sexy young women, pumping out adverts to users promising a ‘free iPhone 4G’ in an offer that is claimed to end today.

However, clicking on the links provided in either spam campaign takes users to a website which demands private information such as name, address, email, contact details and date of birth.
"Even though it hasn't been officially announced by Apple, and may not be released for a couple of months, there is a lot of buzz on the internet about the iPhone 4G," said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant for Sophos. "In their excitement, some internet users might blindly hand over their personal information in the belief that they will get a preview version of what will be one of 2010's hottest gadgets. But, being careless with your data risks exposing yourself to more spam in future and costly identity theft."

Sophos recommends that internet users adopt a healthy level of scepticism over ‘too-good-to-be-true’ iPhone 4G offers.

"Apple is a company obsessed with secrecy about its upcoming products you have to ask yourself, would Apple really be leaking products out to the general public for testing before they have officially announced its existence? Security is tight around the iPhone 4G, the editor of the Gizmodo blog even had his house raised after he claimed to have got his hands on a prototype," continued Cluley. "Sometimes people's common sense goes out the window when they're faced with the possibility of a sexy new gadget and that's bad news for personal security and privacy."

# # #

About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use, and that deliver the industry’s lowest TCO. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs—a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, UK and Boston, US. More information is available at www.sophos.com
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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Inspan launches Genius ScrollToo200 Mouse

Multi-Colored ‘Value for Money’ product that works good with both hands

CHENNAI / BANGALORE / MUMBAI, India – May 12, 2010 – Inspan Infotech, one of the largest IT distribution companies for motherboards and hardware components, announced the launch of Genius ScrollToo 200 Mouse – the mouse that is feature-rich in this price range.

Genius has been able to break the price barrier for those large set of consumers who wished to have stylish optical mice but stayed away due to prohibitive price ranges. This mouse is fulfilling the needs of a trendy mouse but yet very competitive in the price band. This mouse comes with the patented ‘Magic Roller’ that lets the user browse with ease. The human-oriented design of this oval shaped mouse works comfortably with both the hands. Advanced 1200 dpi optical engine supports Vista also. This mouse comes with 3 buttons, left, right and center buttons with scroll.

Genius ScrollToo200 Optical mouse comes in four highly appreciated colors. Soft Pink & Sky blue that attracts the trendy users and Onyx Black & Natural White for those who want to keep it formal.

This is a good example of morphology of Value products to Volume products. Genius has intelligently designed this product to boost the pride of the user yet not pocket burning. This mouse in our opinion will address a quality oriented yet price sensitive market which is emerging.” said Sudhir S, Managing Director of Inspan Infotech, ”Genius ScrollToo 200 optical mouse would encourage the buyers and partners should offer this effectively” adds Sudhir.

Price, Warranty and Availability

Genius ScrollToo 200 Optical mouse is priced at an MRP of INR 489 and is available ex-Stock. This product carries a 3 year warranty.

Product Image

To download the product image of Genius ScrollToo200 please click here

# # #

About Inspan Infotech
Inspan Infotech is one of the leading IT distribution companies in India with distribution of established brands like Mercury, IXA, Genius, BenQ, Corsair, Cyberclean, Numeric, A-DATA, and ViewSonic etc. Inspan has proved to be one of the fastest growing companies in India registering double the growth rate of IT industry in India for last two years. Inspan has grown due to its strong channel partner network and strong association with major vendors. Inspan believes in providing full value to its partners and is constantly working to add more value per job done. Inspan is looking to constantly add new product lines to complement and leverage on its existing strength to provide more value to partners. With 22 branches across all regions of the country and 3,000 channel partners, Inspan is poised for the next big jump. Website: www.inspaninfotech.com
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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Apax Partners to Acquire Majority Interest in Sophos Plc

Customers, partners to continue enjoying effective services

MUMBAI / BANGALORE, India – May 4, 2010 – IT security and control firm Sophos has announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell a majority interest in the company to Apax Partners, a global private equity group, in a transaction valuing the company at $830 million (USD). When the transaction is completed, the founders of Sophos will retain a significant minority shareholding. TA Associates, a minority shareholder in Sophos since 2002, will sell its full interest to Apax in this transaction.

Sophos operates in the IT security market, protecting companies of all sizes against computer and data threats. Sophos’s flagship endpoint security and data protection product offers anti-virus, anti-spyware, client firewall, host intrusion prevention, network access control, application control, device control, disk encryption and data leak prevention. The company has over 100 million users in more than 150 countries, with customers including Cisco, Marks and Spencer, Heinz and Harvard University. In its fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 (unaudited), Sophos had billings in excess of $330 million (compared with $273 million in FY 2009), revenue in excess of $260 million (FY2009: $213 million) and generated unlevered free cash flow of approximately $55 million (FY2009: $40 million).

Over the past three years, Sophos has prospered operationally and financially, growing our revenues at a 27% cumulative annual growth rate and generating strong cash flow,” said Steve Munford, CEO of Sophos. “As the market continues its migration from point solution to tailored, unified security suites, Sophos's strategy to offer the world's most resilient, cost effective solutions without any additional complexity remains key. Apax's financial backing, combined with Sophos's deep understanding of security and data protection is great news for our customers, prospects, partners. It is also a testament to the efforts of all those who helped bring Sophos to where it is today. ”

We are delighted to have the opportunity to back Sophos as well as its excellent CEO and management team,” said Salim Nathoo, Partner in the Tech & Telecom team at Apax Partners. “We identified the security software space as an attractive investment area for us given its rapid growth driven by ever increasing malware threats and high barriers to entry. Sophos is a very strong platform and is gaining market share. Apax’s strong track record and industry specific knowledge in the technology sector makes Sophos a perfect fit and we look forward to working closely with this high-growth business going forward.”

We invested in Sophos eight years ago because of its stellar reputation in the security software marketplace,” said Ajit Nedungadi, Managing Director at TA Associates. “We have enjoyed working with the founders and management team of Sophos to further build on that foundation, helping them grow the company six-fold since 2002. Our best wishes to Steve and his team for continued success.”

Technology & telecom is one of the five sectors on which Apax Partners focuses exclusively. Notable current and historic investments in the sector include Promethean World, a leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology; SMART Technologies Inc, a Canadian provider of interactive collaboration products; TDC A/S, the pan-European telecoms business headquartered in Denmark; Weather Investments, an international telecommunications business; and Inmarsat and Intelsat, which are both global satellite operators.

Alongside Apax Partners, current shareholders will retain significant stakes in the business, including Dr Jan Hruska and Dr Peter Lammer, who co-founded the company in 1985.

# # #

About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use, and that deliver the industry’s lowest TCO. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs—a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, UK and Boston, US. More information is available at www.sophos.com

About Apax Partners
Apax Partners is one of the world’s leading private equity investment groups. It operates across the United States, Europe and Asia and has more than 30 years of investing experience. Funds under the advice and management of Apax Partners globally total approximately $40 billion.

These Funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. Apax Partners Funds invest in companies across its global sectors of Retail & Consumer, Tech & Telecom, Media, Healthcare and Financial & Business Services. For more information, visit: www.apax.com

About TA Associates
Founded in 1968, TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced middle market private equity firms. The firm has invested in nearly 400 companies and manages more than $16 billion in capital. With offices in Boston, London, Menlo Park and Mumbai, TA Associates leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies in the technology, financial services, business services, healthcare and consumer industries. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dirty Dozen Spam Relaying Countries revealed by Sophos

China dramatically disappears from list of worse spam-relaying nations for the first time

MUMBAI / BANGALORE, India – April 28, 2010 – IT security and control firm Sophos has published its latest report into the top twelve spam relaying countries, covering the first quarter of 2010. The United States of America continues its unpopular reign as the king of spam, relaying more than 13 percent of global spam, accounting for hundreds of millions of junk messages every day.

However, most dramatically, China - often blamed for cybercrime by other countries - has completely disappeared from the so-called "dirty dozen", coming in at 15th place with responsibility for relaying just 1.9% of the world's spam.

The top twelve spam relaying countries for January to March 2010 are as follows—

1 United States 13.1%

2 India 7.3%

3 Brazil 6.8%

4 South Korea 4.8%

5 Vietnam 3.4%

6 Germany 3.2%

7 United Kingdom 3.1%

8 Russia 3.1%

9 Italy 3.1%

10 France 3.0%

11 Romania 2.5%

12 Poland 2.4%

13 Others 47.3%


"All eyes aren't so much on which countries are on the list, but the one which isn't. China has earned itself a bad reputation in many country's eyes for being the launch pad of targeted attacks against foreign companies and government networks, but at least in the last 12 months they can demonstrate that the proportion of spam relayed by their computers has steadily reduced," said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos. "A new dirty 'gang of four' - South Korea, Brazil, India and their ringleader USA - account for over 30% of all the spam relayed by hacked computers around the globe."

Spam accounts for a staggering 97 percent of all email received by business email servers, putting both a strain on resources and wasting a huge amount of time to lost productivity. Used largely as a method for selling counterfeit or illicit goods such as fake pharmaceuticals, luxury watches and false diplomas, virtually all spam comes from malware infected computers (called bots, or zombies) that are controlled by 'botherder' cybercriminals.

Computer users can unwittingly allow their PCs to become part of a botnet in a number of ways, including clicking on malicious links that are frequently contained within the spam messages that the botnets are used to distribute. The only way for users and administrators to reduce the risk of being compromised is to run anti-spam and anti-malware protection and ensure all software and hardware is up to date with security patches.

"Countries such as the USA would do well to remember that cleaning-up infected PCs in their own back yard will be an important step in fighting cybercrime. Furthermore, we all shouldn't forget that if no-one bought products sold via spam there would be a lot less incentive to send junk email," explained Cluley. "Computer users should not just protect their computers from threats like malware and spam; they should also pledge to never ever buy anything advertised via spam."

By continent, Asia continues to dominate in spam, with more than a third of the world's unsolicited junk email relayed by the region. Although the US remains the top offender by country, North America as a whole has reduced its spam throughput since last quarter, dropping from second to third place. The breakdown of spam relaying by continent is as follows—

January to March 2010

1 Asia 33.7%
2 Europe 31.2%
3 North America 16.9%
4 South America 14.7%
5 Africa 2.6%
6 Others 0.9%

Sophos recommends that companies automatically update their corporate virus protection, and run a consolidated solution at their email and web gateways to defend against spam and viruses.

# # #

About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use, and that deliver the industry’s lowest TCO. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs—a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, UK and Boston, US. More information is available at www.sophos.com
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