McAfee buys whitelisting technology pioneer Solidcore

Published- May 20, 2009
By Anonymous

NewYork - Anti-virus software and intrusion prevention solutions provider McAfee Inc. has agreed to buy Solidcore Systems Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of dynamic whitelisting technology for $33 million in cash up-front and an additional $14 million if certain sales targets are met.


The deal, expected to be finalized by the end of June, will enable McAfee to offer whitelisting technology to a broader range of embedded devices, including ATMs, point of sale (POS) systems, multifunction printers, mobiles and other embedded devices, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.

Whitelisting technology ensures that only pre-authorized software and code (i.e. known safe applications) can run on devices. This approach is an alternative to blacklisting or looking for either the signature or behavior associated with known bad applications, used widely in anti-virus scanners, intrusion prevention tools etc.

According to a McAfee official, whitelisting technology assumes importance especially at a time when the security of control systems at utilities that rely on SCADA technology has become a topic of concern over recent months, with anonymous Federal agents alleging that overseas intelligence agencies have hacked into the US national grid.

"The Solidcore acquisition will allows McAfee to offer products designed to mitigate against these types of attack, as well as arguably more pressing concerns about malware on retail sales terminals," the official said, adding that the acquisition will also allow McAfee to beef up its product portfolio in virtualization security, using Solidcore's technology for locking down virtual environments.

McAfee said it plans to integrate Solidcore's dynamic whitelisting and compliance enforcement technology with its existing compliance mapping and policy audit tools.

"Solidcore's industry-leading compliance and protection solutions will extend the current McAfee security portfolio beyond signature-based anti-malware with the addition of dynamic whitelisting and application trust technology," said Dave DeWalt, president and CEO, McAfee.

"Combined with leading McAfee anti-virus, anti-spyware, host intrusion prevention, policy auditing and firewall technologies, we will help customers more easily mitigate the risks associated with vulnerable or malicious applications downloaded by employees. Through this acquisition, we believe McAfee can expand its reach into new markets, secure new platforms and strengthen its hold as the leader in the $6 billion endpoint security market," DeWalt said.

According to Anne Bonaparte, president and CEO, Solidcore, the integration of Solidcore with McAfee "will provide customers with the highest level of system integrity and security across their physical and virtual environments, and allow customers to more quickly and easily meet the today's demanding compliance requirements."

"Today's complex threat landscape and evolving compliance standards require customers to go beyond a reactive, 'check-the-box' model for security and deploy preventive security that incorporates dynamic whitelisting," she said.

Solidcore's customers span across 40 countries, comprising over 100 financial institutions and more than 15000 retail store.

Good for mcafee...

Symantec and McAfee race to develop applications for iPhone

Published- May 18, 2009
By Sunita Bothra

Symantec and McAfee, the anti-malware giants are apparently in a race to develop applications for Apple’s iPhone.

Although the final form of application is yet to be finalized, but both security companies are keen on developing software for Apple’s popular phone.

Appearing to be very similar to Apple’s MobileMe service, Symantec’s concept also backs up user data to protect against the eventuality of a problem.

Although it monitored potential issues, but the company said that it would not be developing anti-virus software for the device.

Dave DeWalt, Symantec Rivals McAfee’s Chief Executive told media that an iPhone product was being developed, adding: “We are working on a much more comprehensive suite for the Apple family.”

“The more applications become available, the more the threat of security and the threat of identity and data loss is there,” he added.

For a better future!!

Solidcore Sells To McAfee

Published- May 18, 2009
At http://www.pehub.com/40115/solidcore-sells-to-mcafee/

Solidcore Systems Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of IT control solutions, has sold to McAfee Inc. for $33 million in cash with a $14 million earn out. Solidcore has received $46 million in funding through four rounds of funding from the likes of Jafco Ventures, Matrix Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Sevin Rosen Funds.

Press release:

On May 15, McAfee, Inc (NYSE: MFE) announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately owned Solidcore Systems, Inc. Founded in 2003, Solidcore is a leader in protecting critical IT infrastructure from devices to the data center. Organizations worldwide trust Solidcore to detect and prevent unwanted change as a way to improve IT compliance, security, and availability. Solidcore easily automates PCI controls and is a pioneer in dynamic whitelisting technology for locking down critical systems and preventing unauthorized change events.

“Solidcore’s industry-leading compliance and protection solutions will extend the current McAfee® security portfolio beyond signature-based anti-malware with the addition of dynamic whitelisting and application trust technology. Combined with leading McAfee antivirus, antispyware, host intrusion prevention, policy auditing and firewall technologies, we will help customers more easily mitigate the risks associated with vulnerable or malicious applications downloaded by employees. Through this acquisition, we believe McAfee can expand its reach into new markets, secure new platforms and strengthen its hold as the leader in the $6 billion endpoint security market.”

—Dave DeWalt, president and chief executive officer, McAfee, Inc.

Solidcore offers innovative application whitelisting technology

Solidcore is a leading provider of dynamic whitelisting technology that helps enterprises control which applications are installed on a computer, resulting in improved IT compliance, security, and availability. Solidcore’s single solution for endpoint security—which provides options for file integrity monitoring, whitelisting, and runtime control—is a growing favorite among IT and security professionals that want protection beyond the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Solidcore has been deployed to protect more than 200,000 endpoints in more than 40 countries at more than 100 financial institutions and across more than 15,000 retail stores.
McAfee strengthens its compliance solutions with real-time enforcement

Solidcore’s dynamic whitelisting protects against vulnerable or malicious applications and ensures that only pre-authorized software and code can run on servers, endpoints, fixed function devices, and mobile devices. Through this acquisition, McAfee will couple Solidcore’s dynamic whitelisting and compliance enforcement technology with McAfee compliance mapping and policy auditing, delivering the industry’s first end-to-end compliance solution.

McAfee will now offer customers continuous management of the compliance lifecycle (auditing, reporting, remediation, and now enforcement), resulting in reduced costs and faster time to compliance. Customers will also benefit from centralized management and reporting of the integrated technologies through the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator® (ePO™) console.

“Today’s complex threat landscape and evolving compliance standards require customers to go beyond a reactive, ‘check-the-box’ model for security and deploy preventive security that incorporates dynamic whitelisting. The integration of Solidcore with McAfee will provide customers with the highest level of system integrity and security across their physical and virtual environments, and allow customers to more quickly and easily meet the today’s demanding compliance requirements.”

—Anne Bonaparte, president and chief executive officer, Solidcore Systems, Inc.

Following the closing, Solidcore’s technology will be incorporated into the McAfee Governance, Risk, and Compliance business unit, headed by George Kurtz, senior vice president and general manager.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2009 pending regulatory reviews.

Could be a protection of invesments...

'Mozy' Up: McAfee, EMC Team For Online Backup

Published- May. 18, 2009
By Joseph F. Kovar

McAfee and EMC are teaming up to offer online PC backup services in a move that will help EMC open up another front in its battle with archrival Symantec.

McAfee said late last week at its analyst meeting that it has signed a deal with EMC's Mozy division to offer the Mozy online backup service to its customers, according to Reuters.

McAfee plans to introduce the Mozy service in the second half of the year. It beta-tested a backup service a few years ago but never brought it to market, Reuters said.

Mozy is a part of EMC's new Decho Corporation, formed last year to offer online storage and other online services.

McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt is a former EMC executive.

Mozy is now the base on which EMC is building a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering.

Symantec in mid-March unveiled its own online backup storage service, calling it Norton Online Storage Service.

Norton Online Backup is based on technology from SwapDrive, an online storage service provider acquired by Symantec last June.

Symantec also sells a business-oriented online storage software service called Symantec Protection Network, which it unveiled about a year ago as its SaaS platform.

Storage vendors have been actively signing deals in the past few months with providers of storage services, especially at the consumer and small-business PC level.

For instance, EMC Mozy archrival Carbonite, a Boston-based online storage provider, has in the past few months signed contracts to provide a similar service with Lenovo, Acer and LaCie.

Austin, Texas-based Caringo, a provider of clustered storage software, signed a similar deal to provide online storage services using technology from Chennai, India-based Vembu.

Good Team up...

McAfee plans new Apple, iPhone security products

Published- May 15, 2009
By NEW YORK (Reuters)

McAfee Inc plans to develop new security software for the iPhone and other Apple Inc products, Chief Executive David DeWalt said on Thursday.

McAfee, the world's second-largest maker of security software, already supplies security products for Apple computers and is in the process of expanding its offerings for the consumer electronics giant.

"We are working on a much more comprehensive suite for the Apple family," he said in an interview in New York ahead of the Reuters Global Technology Summit. "Through the course of 2009, we'll have a lot more technology for them."

McAfee provides a range of security technology including encryption, safe Web surfing, and protection from malicious software such as viruses.

DeWalt did not give a specific date for the launch of iPhone security products, or say which products it would provide for the popular smartphone. He said users of advanced devices like the iPhone tend to use a wide range of applications.

"The more applications become available, the more the threat of security and the threat of identity and data loss is there," he said.

Of course, they'd plan something like that, as that is their main purpose, security...

McAfee buying Solidcore for whitelisting technology

Published- 16 May, 2009
By Ellen Messmer

McAfee today announced it intends to acquire Solidcore Systems for about US$33 million in cash and an additional $14 million if certain performance targets are met.

McAfee indicated its interest in the acquisition centered on Solidcore's whitelisting technology that can set controls on what applications are allowed to run on a computer. After the acquisition is completed, McAfee expects to bring Solidcore's whitelisting and compliance enforcement mechanisms into the McAfee product line under the management umbrella of the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) management console.

Solidcore's current product line includes S3 Control, software for change control and configuration audit, among other products, such as the Point-of-Sale Check and Control software used in electronic POS devices.

"We will continue to invest further from the engineering and sales perspective," said Candace Worley, McAfee vice president of product management for the systems security business unit, who says McAfee will support Solidcore's current product line and customer base.

Solidcore is said to have about 1,000 customers, including NCR, Dell and General Motors, and is mainly focused on North America. McAfee would like to extend Solidcore's products to other markets globally. The products are used on more than 200,000 endpoints, which include Automated Teller Machines, POS systems, mobile devices, process-control systems, servers and workstations.

McAfee anticipates that Solidcore's whitelisting and security-controls technology, which can assist in compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards for payment-card processing, could also find use in making virtualisation-based environments more secure. "We could leverage application whitelisting for securing a virtual environment," Worley noted.

The Solidcore acquisition is expected to be completed by mid-year.

Of course, nobody is an island, even for a gigantic company as Mcafee...

MPAA vs. RealNetworks: Five reasons why Hollywood will win

Published- May 18, 2009
By  Greg Sandoval


RealNetworks, the company behind the Real media player and Rhapsody music service, could this week become the latest courtroom conquest of the entertainment industry's fierce efforts to protect copyrights.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel is expected to hear closing arguments in proceedings that will determine whether to remove a ban on the sale of RealDVD. The $30 software enables users to create and store copies of DVDs to their computer hard drives.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the trade group representing the six largest film studios, filed suit last September to stop the sale of RealDVD and accused Real of copyright infringement and breach of contract. RealDVD and Facet, a proposed DVD player that can copy and store films, would hand users the ability to copy rented discs without paying a cent for them. The practice is known as "rent, rip, and return."

Real attorneys argued in court that the company operated within the law and that consumers have the legal right to backup copies of their media. Hollywood disagrees. "Fair use" proponents have kept a close eye on the case because a favorable decision for Real might bolster consumer rights.

But they're likely to be disappointed. Four days of testimony in a San Francisco federal court showed Real's case is trudging on very shaky legal ground. In addition to offering little evidence that it did not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Real's arguments that it obtained a license to use the studio's encryption technology and therefore owned the right to copy DVDs appeared to be overwhelmed by the MPAA's evidence to the contrary.

What might be most important about this case, a courtroom victory for the MPAA could put the kibosh on Facet, the device Real hopes is representative of the next-generation DVD player. Facet, which relies on the RealDVD software to make copies, can store up to 70 movies and would retail for about $300. In court, Real CEO Rob Glaser demonstrated the device and it hops between movies and television shows as easy as an iPod flips between songs.

Facet provides the kind of functionality that consumers want and could help rejuvenate slumping DVD sales, some observers say. The device, however, may never be sold in your local Best Buy for five reasons:

The rear view of Facet, a DVD-copying disc player that Hollywood says would cost it millions in pirated movies.
(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET Networks)

Not licensed to copy DVDs: In court, Real argued that the MPAA's breach of contract claims are baseless because the DVD Copy Protection Association, a group that includes film studios and DVD makers created to protect discs from piracy, issued it a license to use the organization's DVD Content Scramble System (CSS). This is the studio's encryption technology designed to prevent piracy.

When RealDVD copies movies, it never cracks the encryption, according to experts called to testify by Real. The MPAA's witnesses argued that the CSS license gives Real permission only to playback DVDs, not to copy them. Marsha King, a retired vice president at Warner Bros., testified that the whole purpose of the DVD-CCA licensing was to prevent consumer copying. "The studios were adamant that no copy be placed on the (computer) hard drive," she told the court.

Cracking ARccOS and RipGuard violates DMCA: Perhaps the weakest area of Real's defense is the circumvention of ARccOS (Advanced Regional Copy Control Operating Solution) and RipGuard.

The MPAA says these are anticopying technologies used by some of the major film studios as another layer of piracy protection in addition to CSS. They're not included in the CSS license. This means that even if the CSS license gave Real permission to copy, it wouldn't protect Real's cracking of ARccOS and RipGuard. Circumvention of copy protections violates the DMCA.

Real denied ARccOS or RipGuard are copy-protection measures. Douglas Dixon, one of Real's technology experts, testified both technologies are ineffective. This was one of the reasons the studios rarely used them, he said.

To illustrate his point, Dixon said Sony Pictures used ARccOS or RipGuard on just four film titles last year. Real's argument was this: if a copy protection isn't effective then it isn't really protecting anything and is not covered by the DMCA.

The irony is that Arccos and RipGuard were effective enough to foil Real's months-long attempt to crack them--starting in 2007--court documents showed. The copy protections even stumped Rocket Division, a company hired by Real to decrypt ArccOS and RipGuard, and a group the MPAA calls a "Ukranian hackers."

"Been...fighting with it for two weeks and no big success yet," wrote one of Rocket Division's managers in an e-mail to a Real executive. "With Arccoss the task appeared to be a little bit -- a little harder than we thought."

The studios told Patel that Real's argument that a copy protection needs to be impossible to break for it to be covered by the DMCA isn't logical. Why would unbreakable encryption need a law banning circumvention? The DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions are designed to cover all copy protections, MPAA lawyers said.

Studios could lose millions: Claims by the MPAA that RealDVD could cause significant financial harm were less convincing when the case was just about the software. With scores of similar products that cost nothing and were readily available online, why would anyone pay $30 for technology that were restricted by copy controls? RealDVD allows a user to watch a copied movie on five individual devices while copies made from software such as HandBrake are free of such limitations.

Then, Real's efforts to develop Facet surfaced and that changed the picture.

RealDVD was only one part of Real's DVD-copying strategy. The prize for Real was selling a box that copied and stored movies. Glaser acknowledged during the hearing that Facet offers no protection against piracy other than presenting a notice urging users not to copy movies they don't own.

Judge appears skeptical: Judge Patel has indicated several times that she isn't buying Real's story.

After Glaser outlined his company's attempts to stop Facet users from pirating films with little more than strong language, Patel hurumphed "Do you think this will be more effective than 'Just Say No?" This was a reference to the anti-drug campaign launched by the Reagan administration that was derided by critics for being naive and ineffective.

Last fall, when Patel halted sales of RealDVD, she told lawyers from both sides that she had questions about whether the software could enable mass copyright infringement. During opening arguments in the injunction hearing, one of Real's lawyers suggested that the company was in the right because it helped consumers backup their films.

"It's even more attractive to consumers to get everything for free," Patel said, in a seemingly sarcastic remark.

Real is grasping at legal straws: By accusing the studios of antitrust violations late in the process, Real is signaling that the company is less than confidant in it's case. In what appears to be a "Hail Mary" legal maneuver, Real claimed last week in a court filing that the studios are a cartel and that the CSS licensing agreement is proof they are guilty of boycotting Real.

This is a little late for Real to be raising these issues. The company could have made the claims at any time since September. Neither the CSS license, nor the studios relationship to it, is new.

Regardless of where Real's claims go, antitrust cases take years to litigate and will be unlikely to help RealDVD or Facet reach the market any time soon.

I wonder why I posted this here,

McAfee, Symantec eye iPhone products

Published- May 18, 2009
By Jim Finkle and Ritsuko Ando

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - McAfee Inc said its business improved in May from April and, like larger rival Symantec Corp, the security software maker is developing products for Apple Inc's popular iPhone.

McAfee Chief Executive Dave DeWalt, speaking to Reuters a day before the company's investor day in New York, also said the No. 2 security software maker is sticking to its earnings target for the current quarter.

"We think everything's steadily improved. That's encouraging," DeWalt said in an interview ahead of the Reuters Global Technology Summit next week.

"We've seen somewhat of a return to normal spending," he said. "In January, February, it was almost a complete freeze in some cases, followed by March, just a little bit better. And April, better still."

McAfee is developing security software for the iPhone and Mac computer, DeWalt said, in addition to technology it supplies to protect Apple computers against viruses.

"We are working on a much more comprehensive suite for the Apple family," the CEO said.

In addition to anti-virus software, McAfee also sells products for safe Web surfing and data encryption.

As the iPhone's popularity has surged, software companies have rushed to develop programs that run on the device. A billion programs had been downloaded from Apple's App Store within 9 months of its launch in July 2008.

Symantec, the No. 1 software security maker, is looking at developing a backup service that would protect data on the iPhone and allow users to use the device to access information stored on their PCs or on the Web, said Symantec Senior Vice President Rowan Trollope.

Such a product would directly compete with Apple's MobileMe service, which includes data back-up in addition to email and other services.

Trollope told Reuters his company closely monitors iPhone security issues, but has no plans to introduce new security products for the popular phone in the near future.

DeWalt did not give a specific date for the launch of McAfee's iPhone security products, or say which products it would provide for the smartphone.

"The more applications become available, the more the threat of security and the threat of identity and data loss is there," he said.

EYES ON HP

DeWalt also said he hopes to persuade Hewlett-Packard Co to end an agreement to distribute Symantec's anti-virus programs on HP personal computers.

Symantec has a multi-year, exclusive distribution agreement with HP, which DeWalt said is due to expire within the next 12 months.

Trollope said he is confident HP will stick with Symantec once it evaluates all the relevant factors.

DeWalt said he is standing by the earnings targets that he issued two weeks ago, when McAfee released fourth-quarter results. The company forecast profit, excluding items, of 54 cents to 58 cents per share in its fiscal second quarter ending June 30. It projected revenue of $455 million to $475 million.

Analysts are expecting profit of 56 cents per share on revenue of $467 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

DeWalt declined to elaborate on the forecast, saying he and other executives at the Santa Clara, California, company will discuss the software maker's business in detail on Friday at the investor day in New York.

Shares of McAfee gained 18 cents, or 0.48 percent, to close at $38.03 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Symantec fell 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $14.90 on Nasdaq.

Another product held by two large known companies...

Ingram Pays $15 Million to End SEC’s McAfee Inquiry (Update1)

Published- May 12, 2009
By David Scheer

Ingram Micro Inc., the world’s biggest distributor of computer equipment, will forfeit $15 million to settle a U.S. regulator’s claims over the Santa Ana, California, firm’s role in McAfee Inc.’s accounting fraud.

Ingram, McAfee’s largest customer, collected millions of dollars while engaging in “highly irregular transactions” from 1998 to 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission said today in a statement. The regulator faulted Ingram for failing to keep accurate records and lacking adequate internal controls.

McAfee reached a $50 million settlement with the SEC in 2006 after the agency accused the anti-virus software maker of inflating net revenue by $622 million over three years. The company engaged in “channel-stuffing,” selling distributors more products than they needed, booking revenue and offering incentives to keep inventory from being returned, the SEC said.

Ingram Micro, McAfee’s biggest distributor at the time, collected “unearned profits,” cash payments and improperly recorded fees, the SEC said. The company didn’t “fairly and accurately” record some transactions, and inadequate controls failed to alert senior managers to the dealings.

The distributor sought to benefit from McAfee’s willingness to make payments for increasing amounts of unneeded products, the SEC said. Ingram Micro employees ignored internal goals of carrying no more than eight weeks of inventory, accruing a 22- month supply. It later reduced the stockpile by engaging in circular transactions with McAfee that lacked “economic substance,” the regulator said.

No Earnings Impact

Ingram Micro didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing. It said in a statement that it previously set aside money to cover costs from the inquiry and that the settlement “should not have an impact” on earnings in 2009.

“Ingram Micro has instituted far more rigorous controls and standards than those in place when these events occurred 9 to 11 years ago, significantly improving our policies with vendors,” it said. “We’re glad to put this issue behind us.”

McAfee, formerly known as Network Associates, disclosed a sales shortfall on Dec. 27, 2000, sending its stock tumbling 61 percent to $4.50, the biggest one-day drop since the shares were first sold to the public in 1992. The Santa Clara, California- based company later restated earnings for the affected years. It didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing when settling with the SEC.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Scheer in New York at dscheer@bloomberg.net.

Too many news about Mcafee, I guest that's really the life of being "No.1"..

McAfee, Symantec eye iPhone products

Published- May 14, 2009
By Jim Finkle and Ritsuko Ando

BOSTON/NEW YORK, May 14 (Reuters) - McAfee Inc (MFE.N) said its business improved in May from April and, like larger rival Symantec Corp (SYMC.O), the security software maker is developing products for Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) popular iPhone.

McAfee Chief Executive Dave DeWalt, speaking to Reuters a day before the company's investor day in New York, also said the No. 2 security software maker is sticking to its earnings target for the current quarter.

"We think everything's steadily improved. That's encouraging," DeWalt said in an interview ahead of the Reuters Global Technology Summit next week.

"We've seen somewhat of a return to normal spending," he said. "In January, February, it was almost a complete freeze in some cases, followed by March, just a little bit better. And April, better still."

McAfee is developing security software for the iPhone and Mac computer, DeWalt said, in addition to technology it supplies to protect Apple computers against viruses.

"We are working on a much more comprehensive suite for the Apple family," the CEO said.

In addition to anti-virus software, McAfee also sells products for safe Web surfing and data encryption.

As the iPhone's popularity has surged, software companies have rushed to develop programs that run on the device. A billion programs had been downloaded from Apple's App Store within 9 months of its launch in July 2008. Symantec, the No. 1 software security maker, is looking at developing a backup service that would protect data on the iPhone and allow users to use the device to access information stored on their PCs or on the Web, said Symantec Senior Vice President Rowan Trollope.

Such a product would directly compete with Apple's MobileMe service, which includes data back-up in addition to email and other services.

 Trollope told Reuters his company closely monitors iPhone security issues, but has no plans to introduce new security products for the popular phone in the near future.

DeWalt did not give a specific date for the launch of McAfee's iPhone security products, or say which products it would provide for the smartphone.

"The more applications become available, the more the threat of security and the threat of identity and data loss is there," he said.

EYES ON HP

DeWalt also said he hopes to persuade Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) to end an agreement to distribute Symantec's anti-virus programs on HP personal computers.

Symantec has a multi-year, exclusive distribution agreement with HP, which DeWalt said is due to expire within the next 12 months.

Trollope said he is confident HP will stick with Symantec once it evaluates all the relevant factors.

DeWalt said he is standing by the earnings targets that he issued two weeks ago, when McAfee released fourth-quarter results. The company forecast profit, excluding items, of 54 cents to 58 cents per share in its fiscal second quarter ending June 30. It projected revenue of $455 million to $475 million.

Analysts are expecting profit of 56 cents per share on revenue of $467 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

DeWalt declined to elaborate on the forecast, saying he and other executives at the Santa Clara, California, company will discuss the software maker's business in detail on Friday at the investor day in New York.

Shares of McAfee gained 18 cents, or 0.48 percent, to close at $38.03 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Symantec fell 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $14.90 on Nasdaq.

I thought these 2 are already not together..

McAfee reports huge drop in spam

Published- May 5, 2009
By Ellen Messmer


Network World - Global e-mail spam volumes have dropped 20% for the first quarter this year compared with the same period last year, according to McAfee's latest research.

McAfee attributes the dramatic reduction in e-mail spam to the November shutdown of the notorious McColo spam-generating site. In the McAfee Threat Report for the First Quarter 2009, published today, the security company said spam levels are still 30% below their peak seen in the third quarter of last year right before the shutdown of the rogue ISP McColo.

Spam as a total percentage of e-mail volume is now at 86% -- hardly great news, but 90% had been the more common figure and current levels haven't been this low since 2006, according to McAfee. All e-mail, both good and bad combined, is believed to have averaged about 100 billion messages per day worldwide in March, a trend continuing into April, notes Dave Marcus, McAfee director of communications.

However, McAfee is not optimistic that e-mail spam volumes will continue to drop. "The question is not whether spam will return to previous levels but rather when it will return," McAfee says in its report.

The U.S. remains the top country whose computers -- many of them compromised -- generate the most spam worldwide. "The U.S. continues to lead the world with 35% of the glove's spam output," McAfee states in its report.

But in other nations there's also trouble, McAfee points out, asserting that criminals have been attacking Russian banking and government networks in order to use computer resources within them to generate malware-laden e-mail and spam.

McAfee cites Rusfinance Bank, OGO Bank, Tusarbank, Link Capital Investment Bank, Maritime Bank, Vladivostok Alfa Bank, Bank Voronezh and Inter-Svayz Bank as being among the Russian financial institutions inadvertently generating spam.

"This data suggests online criminals are largely indiscriminate about their targets and will attack any organization of financial or other interest to them," McAfee states in its report.

The McAfee report also adds, "Our data suggests that computer systems in the following Russian government offices are controlled by cybergangs. These institutions would include the Ministry of Taxation, Nazran Region; the Russian State Internet Network; Regional Finance and Economy Institute; Joint Institute for Nuclear Research; and Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, among several others.

Marcus says McAfee has notified these institutions of its findings, which were recently made as the company combed through information it was collecting about spam and IP addresses.

When it comes to malicious Web activity from sites with "bad reputations" for hosting malware, the top three countries remain the U.S., China and Russia. But this last quarter saw growth in malicious Web activity from sites in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, Japan, France, Canada and Czech Republic, the McAfee report says.

Of course is something like this happens, there would be a possibilty that spammers are creating their way to counter act... Just talking aloud...

Personal Computing: Zombies an Increasing Concern

Published- May 8, 2009,
By Reid Goldsborough

Computer zombies are out to get you. That may sound like a tagline from a bad B movie, but there's truth behind it. A "zombie" in the computer lexicon is a computer that has been taken over by a piece of malicious software planted by a hacker typically for the purpose of secretly sending out unauthorized mass e-mail, or spam. That computer could be yours, and you could be totally in the dark about it.

According to a just-released study by computer security software company McAfee, cyber-criminals are having increasing success in commandeering the computers of others through the Internet in this way. McAfee has a vested interest in sounding the alarm. By doing so, it stands to sell more software. But it's a company that has been around since 1987 and has a good reputation.

In the U.S., fully 18 percent of personal computers have become zombies, which is nearly a 50 percent increase from the previous quarter, according to McAfee Threats Reports: First Quarter 2009.

If your computer is turned into a zombie, it becomes part of a "botnet," or robot network. This also sounds like science fiction, but it's frighteningly real. Botnets can consist of thousands of commandeered computers all working behind the scenes to carry out the objectives of the person or persons behind them.

One botnet facilitator, a Web hosting company in San Jose, Calif., was taken down in November 2008, but only after reportedly being responsible for billions of spam e-mails a day.

Botnets aren't all set up for nefarious purposes, but those consisting of zombies are. Along with spam, zombie computers may be used for other purposes as well.

Zombies can launch "distributed denial-of-service" attacks, where a large number of computers are directed to access a single Web site simultaneously, overloading it and preventing legitimate users from accessing it, or "distributed degradation-of-service" attacks, which are a less intense but more frequent flooding of a Web site designed to slow it down and compromise its usability.

Another purpose carried out by zombies is connecting en masse to Web sites that carry pay-per-click advertising. Here the false connections don't bring or slow the site down but instead artificially boost "click-throughs" on its ads, thereby committing "click fraud."

Spam remains, however, the most common reason that zombie networks are set up. Among the most common items advertised by spam, according to the McAfee report, are counterfeit prescription drugs, bogus male enhancement products and counterfeit watches. The connection is clear.

Another big part of the spam problem are "phishing" attempts that try to trick you into revealing credit card, banking, Social Security or other personal information so the criminal or criminals behind them can steal your identity.

Welcome to the computer age.

Though criminal activity involving computers may be increasing, it has been around from before the time that the personal computer revolution began in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There's no cause for panic. There is cause for prudence.

To protect yourself, most importantly, use a firewall program designed to block incoming and outgoing traffic. The firewall software that comes with Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS provide basic protection, but as with most such bundled utilities, you can do better with a third-party program.

McAfee and Symantec provide robust firewalls, sold separately or packaged in their security suites. ZoneAlarm, available in free and pay versions, is another well regarded firewall. Whatever you use, make sure you keep it up to date.

One new program designed specifically for detecting zombie attacks that's getting good press is RUBotted. It's a free offering from Trend Micro that's still in beta or test mode, but it appears to be stable.

You should also use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and you should also keep these programs up to date. Keep your computer's operating system, Web browser, and other software up to date as well with security and other patches.

Be careful with file attachments that come with e-mail messages, particularly from unknown sources. Even if you know the source, if you're not expecting the attachment it's safest to send a quick e-mail asking if that person was the one who actually sent it.

Finally, be careful with downloaded games and other software. Use only reputable Web sites.

If your computer does become a zombie, you won't necessarily lose data. But the computer will slow down, as will your access to the Internet, not to mention the bad things you'll be helping the bad guys get away with.

As this article says, be careful... and be aware if yours is one...

Symantec Continues Losing Share to McAfee

FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009
by Katherine Egbert

Jefferies downgraded security-software firm Symantec to Hold from Buy.

WE ARE DOWNGRADING Symantec to Hold from Buy, as we are concerned that revenue weakness is more than macro-related, and may reflect market-share loss.

March-quarter revenue and pro forma earnings per share of $1.49 billion/38 cents were mixed versus our estimates of $1.51 billion/36 cents estimate and consensus estimate of $1.52 billion/35 cents. Excluding foreign-exchange rates, revenue was $1.5 billion. Revenue was impacted by customers opting to renew maintenance versus buy new licenses. In constant currency, revenue was up 2% year over year (reported revenue was down 4% year over year). Pro forma EPS managed to post upside on the back of good expense management. Sales and marketing was $532 million and 36% of revenue, significantly below our estimate for $590 million and 40% of revenue. These are good cost savings, but we expect they are attributable to lower commissions for significantly lower license sales -- not the ideal way to reduce operating expenditure.

Security and Compliance in particular was very weak -- down 9% year over year. We are concerned about this performance, especially in light of McAfee's (MFE) strong growth in enterprise security. We believe that McAfee continues to take share from Symantec. Consumer business revenue was up a solid 4% year over year and Norton 360 now accounts for 30% of consumer revenue, up 65% year over year. Storage revenue of $539 million was up 1% year over year and services provided the stopgap for revenue, growing 41% year over year to $135 million. Large transactions were significantly impacted in the quarter, with less than $300,000 deals declining 18% to 369 in the quarter and deals over $1 million declining 20% to 85. Cash flow from operations was strong at $677 million (strong account collections and cost cutting) and non-generally accepted accounting principles deferred revenue of $3.08 was up roughly 6% year over year in constant currencies.

Management guided to [first-quarter] non-GAAP revenue/pro forma EPS of $1.45 billion-$1.51 billion/34-36 cents and GAAP revenue/EPS of $1.44 billion-$1.50 billion/9-11 cents. Financial Accounting Standards Board accounting changes for convertible debt will increase noncash interest expense by $100 million or $25 million per quarter in fiscal 2010 -- will be excluded for non-GAAP results. Non-GAAP/GAAP deferred revenue is expected to be $2.85 billion-$2.95 billion/$2.84 billion-$2.94 billion, driving non-GAAP billings of minus-19%.

Approximately $955 million of revenue is expected to come from the balance sheet. This 64% of revenue off the balance sheet is well below McAfee's ambient 80%.

We are adjusting our first-quarter revenue/pro forma EPS estimates move to $1.46 billion/35 cents, from $1.54 billion/38 cents previously. Our 2010 estimates move to $5.69 billion/$1.33, from $6.23 billion/$1.53 previously. We are introducing 2011 estimates of $6.05 billion/$1.49.

If this would continue, Sysmantec would surely be an independent company, unless if it would have shares from other companies too...

McAfee profit tops Wall Street views as sales rise 21%

Published- April 30, 2009
By John Letzing, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- McAfee Inc. on Thursday posted a first-quarter profit that topped Wall Street's expectations, as sales of its security software jumped 21% compared to the same period last year.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee also issued a surprisingly strong profit outlook for the current quarter, helping send its shares slightly higher to $37.70 in late trading.
McAfee said its first-quarter net income rose to $51.8 million, or 34 cents a share, from $30.2 million, or 18 cents a share in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the period ended in March rose to $448 million from $369.6 million. Excluding special items, McAfee said earnings for the quarter were 57 cents a share.
Chart of MFE
Analysts on average had been estimating McAfee would post earnings excluding special items of 48 cents a share, on $448.5 million in revenue, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
McAfee's results "Reflected record quarterly revenue... and our continued focus on improving profitability and operating cash flow," McAfee Chief Executive Dave DeWalt said in a statement.
McAfee said its profit result benefited by 3 cents a share from "an insurance reimbursement" related to past litigation, and was diluted by 2 cents a share stemming from its acquisition of Secure Computing.
The company said its sales to businesses rose 28% in the first quarter, while its consumer business saw sales grow 12%.
For its current, second quarter, McAfee said it expects earnings excluding special items to be between 54 and 58 cents a share, and revenue to be between $455 million and $475 million.
Analysts have been estimating McAfee would post second-quarter earnings excluding special items of 54 cents a share, and $466 million in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

This clearly states that Mcafee has its increasing earnings.....