The ‘OS’ is so last year

I have been travelling a lot these past weeks. I have even set a new record for myself: nine countries, in nine days! As I have been getting on and off ‘planes, I have had more of an opportunity to read a newspaper to help beat the boredom of travel. In one of the papers I was reading, what really caught my eye was an advert for a new ‘phone.  It looked great, nice screen and keyboard. My eyes meandered down the list of key features highlighted in the advert. It looked, just the job as I am starting to tire of my current smartphone.  However, I really wanted to know what operating system (OS) is used. What?? For reasons I will save you from, this is important to me for the moment. Now, the advert did not call out the OS, subsequently, I had to go and check the web site to find this out.

In travelling around and meeting with the Press, invariably the conversation gets round to a discussion about ‘what will be the threats in the future’? Now, predicting the future is a notorious game. However, I have long held the view that we are seeing the future being played out today. Our world is all about the internet and that is what will be attacked and wherein where the threats will come.  What is important, is having access to the ‘net at all times and in a flexible and adaptable way. Increasingly, we see the ‘net and our daily lives through a ‘browser’. We are seeing the browser being attacked and exploited. Whilst, at the same time, the browsers are becoming increasingly platform or OS, agnostic. You just expect your favourite browser experience to be available to you, never mind what device you are using, or where you are. Now, we are not quite there yet, but the direction is set. Which, gets me back to that advert for the new smartphone.

I really need to listen to myself a little more. The ‘OS’ really need not matter to me – I need to conquer that particular addiction. I need only concern myself with whether I can connect to the ‘net, surf and email, listen to music, use the GPS and watch movies. Importantly, that it should be safe at all times and in all situations.

October 19, 2008 | Filed Under Latest Gadget, Security, Technology | Leave a Comment 

Making a song and dance out of online safety

For those of you with children of primary school age, I though you would be interested in a new initiative that we at Symantec have launched. We have teamed up with ‘Perform’, the UK’s largest drama school, to teach more than 10,000 children how to keep safe when online.

Getting awareness and engagement on how to keep safe online is an on-going focus and commitment for us. The formation of the UK Council for Children Internet Safety (UKCCIS) this month, shows the importance of this issue and that it is now recognised at a national level. Reporting directly to the Prime Minister, the Council will help improve regulation and education around keeping children safe when online.

For our part we have decided to broach this important topic with schools and children in a fun, yet informative way – “Enter stage left”, Perform. In working with the guys at Perform, we have created two characters, Zak and Zara. Set in the future on ‘Planet Disco’, the children are taken through a colourful story and along the way meet interesting and fun characters, while learning key online safety messages around topics such as cyber-bullying and using chat-rooms safely.

For more information, or practical advice for parents and children on staying safe online, then please follow this link to the Norton Family Online safety resources web site.

October 19, 2008 | Filed Under Family Online Safety | Leave a Comment 

The ‘hard’ Trojan

An article in ‘Businessweek’ (October 13, 2008), got my attention.  The main article was entitled ‘Dangerous Fakes’ and what the impact of how counterfeit, defective computer components are getting into US warplanes and ships.

Within the article, there was an example given of how counterfeit routers were sold to the US Marine Corp and Air Force. The US based distributors of the counterfeit routers have subsequently been indicted.  Following on from this, the FBI provided a  briefing in which they outlined how counterfeit routers ‘could’ allow foreign agents to disrupt secure networks and ‘weaken cryptographic systems’.  Now, from what I could discern, there was no proof that these routers had been used to compromise any networks: but the point is made and understood.

For the moment, in the world of malware, Trojans are proving to be a popular and effective delivery method for the bad guys.  It is interesting to see, in this example,  the possibility for hardware to be used as the receptacle for the delivery of an exploit or attack. The hardware is the ‘Trojan’ and the threat lurks within. Given the fact, that increasingly, all manner of electronic devices now have some form of storage, processing power and the ability to ‘network’ themselves, then at a conceptual level, we can see the potential security issues.  Now, actual examples of real-life exploits are few and far between, to my knowledge. That being said, the Businessweek article moves the story on one more notch.

Once again, what it does show, is that the search to get branded goods at ‘bargain’ prices does come at some cost.  Notably, security.  As with everything, the lesson has to be: check into the provenance of what you are buying.

October 19, 2008 | Filed Under Security, Technology | Leave a Comment 

And the winner is….?

I came across a survey in PC Advisor that got me thinking. They asked their users ‘what’s the most important aspect of their security product’s arsenal?’. The resounding winner was the ‘firewall’ with 45% of respondents voting for it, followed by ‘signature based AV’ with 19% and the  ‘behavioural analysis’, with 16%. So, there you have it, the firewall is still ‘top-dog’ when it comes to security in the eyes of the readers of PC Advisor.

There was a side of me that was pleased that the readers felt comfortable and able to discern the elements of a modern day security product. Well, we have been talking about ‘strength-in-depth’ for a long time now and people would seem to recognise and understand this. But then again, one could generalise that the readers of PC Advisor are the more technically engaged and interested. Hence, they could determine the different aspect of a security product’s arsenal.  The reality is that probably, most people would not know the respective merits of one element of a security product from another. Nor should they I suppose, they expect us security companies to take care of all this stuff for them.

In that regard security software has gone the way of the automotive industry. Gone are the days when  you could lift the ‘bonnet’ of a car and marvel at the site of the carburettor, the overhead gasket and the timing belt. Back then, we were encouraged to take an interest, it was a talking point in drive-ways across the land as men-folk (trying not to be sexist here), would congregate to view and discuss the relative merits of one car engine versus the other. Have we fallen out of love with the car? No, we have simply moved on.

Now, with security software, times are moving on and fast. Many of the more obvious elements of the software are being supplanted and changed. We are trying to keep security software ‘out of the faces of users’, as much as we can. We are trying to do much of the job in the background and away from the user. It will be interesting to see, what aspects, of a security product PC Advisor readers will rate in two to three years time.

October 2, 2008 | Filed Under Security, Technology | Leave a Comment 

Blast off with Norton!

Do you want to take a trip into Space? Well, to celebrate the launch of the Norton 2009 products, we are offering the change to do just that! In an unprecedented sensory experience, rocket engines boost you beyond the normal limits of flight to regions above 62 miles (100 kilometers) – where space begins. After the engines shutdown, you will experience up to five minutes of continuous weightlessness, all the while gazing at the vast blackness of space and the blue horizon of the Earth below. Cool! This link takes you to a video of what to expect.

Follow this link to register for the competition. All the very best!

October 2, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment