Kaspersky Lab Targets Top Three Position in Global Endpoint Security Market in 2011

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces plans to refine its organizational structure and become one of the top three IT security solutions providers for endpoint users in 2011.

“This year we are closer than ever before to becoming one of the top three providers of IT security solutions in the global market,” says Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab. “In order to achieve this breakthrough we need to maintain our current rate of growth and once again demonstrate that as a company, we have what it takes to retain our competitive edge. By making our organizational structure globally-aligned we expect to achieve our goal of becoming one of the three biggest players in the global market by the end of 2011.”

According to Kaspersky Lab’s operational results for 2010*, the company demonstrated significant growth in all regions. Globally, the company’s revenues grew by 38% year-on-year and exceeded US$500 million. The most successful regions in 2010 for Kaspersky Lab were: Europe, where company revenues increased by 16% and amounted to US$218 million; the USA and the countries of North and South America, which saw growth of 68% and revenues of US$134 million. In the Asia-Pacific region and Japan the company experienced dramatic growth of 111%, which translated into revenues of US$55 million. The year 2010 was also a successful one for Kaspersky Lab in the CIS, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where revenues totaled US$131 million – an increase of 35% compared to 2009.

These impressive levels of regional expansion mean Kaspersky Lab is set to become one of the top three providers of endpoint security solutions**. As part of the company’s strategy for continued business growth, and in order to accomplish its planned increase of market share, Kaspersky Lab’s management team has initiated a process that will refine the company’s organizational structure in two strategically important areas – product development and our regional sales network.

One of the key drivers behind Kaspersky Lab’s growth has been its winning unified technological platform developed in-house and used as a single foundation for all company's products targeted to different market segments. In March 2011, a decision was taken to reinforce this process still further by creating a single division that will oversee the product strategy for all three of the company’s current business areas – consumer products and services, corporate solutions and technology licensing to other vendors.

Petr Merkulov, formerly Head of the Technology Alliances Division, has been appointed to the position of Chief Product Officer.

“Our goal is to hold leading positions in every sector in which the company operates, and in order to achieve that goal we need to continue actively developing our products and solutions in line with market demands,” says Petr Merkulov. “The company’s extensive international expertise in combating Internet threats is a major advantage when it comes to IT security, and we ensure that this know-how provides real benefits to users of the company’s solutions. With the creation of a single division responsible for product development and services, Kaspersky Lab’s cutting-edge solutions will become even more highly integrated in order to provide our users with comprehensive protection.”

In March 2011, Kaspersky Lab management also took the decision to revise the company’s approach to managing its network of regional sales and to create a single division that will develop and maintain global sales platform and take direct responsibility for sales and marketing in Europe and North America.

Heading the new division, Steve Orenberg, formerly Managing Director for Kaspersky Lab, Americas, has been appointed Chief Sales Officer. “At present, Kaspersky Lab is a truly international company with a global sales structure. By combining all the sales units into one division, Kaspersky Lab can implement a unified approach to dealing with global partners and clients, thus ensuring a uniformly high level of service for users in every country of the world,” says Steve Orenberg.

Kaspersky Lab plans to complete the changes to its organizational structure in the first half of 2011. According to the management team, the new centralized management structure will allow the company to more effectively develop its business worldwide, ensure stable growth and strengthen its position in the global IT security market.

*Unaudited revenue

** Kaspersky Lab is rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2009

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Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 Receives 'Super Product' Title From Leading IT Consumer Portal benchmark.pl

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces that Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 has been awarded the title 'Super Product' by the popular Polish computer technology Internet portal benchmark.pl. Kaspersky Lab's solution earned the highest possible mark in testing – the only product of those tested to do so.

Experts from benchmark.pl analysed 10 of the most popular IT security software packages available on the Polish market. Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 was the only one to receive five stars out of a possible five, winning it the title 'Super Product'. When evaluating the solutions, benchmark.pl's experts looked at the malware detection capabilities of the products, their system resource usage, user-friendliness, the number of additional security utilities provided aside from the antivirus scanner, and last but not least, the price of each solution.

The experts concluded that Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 stood out from the crowd because it offers:

• Best value-for-money
• Best scanner and protection performance
• Ease-of-use
• Excellent firewall
• Highly effective Parental Control filter
• Superb filters that prevent data leakage

The editors from benchmark.pl praised Kaspersky Lab's security solution, saying "We were really impressed by the Internet Security solution offered by Kaspersky Lab. KIS 2011 is a very complex package that in many respects is an example for the competition. The number of modules and tools is huge and it will certainly fulfil the needs of even the most demanding users. (…) Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 is undoubtedly one of the best programs of this type. It is very hard to find any flaws in it. (…) Kaspersky Lab made sure that everything works as it should, right from installation. No additional configuration is needed. KIS 2011 has little or moderate load on the system".

The editors at benchmark.pl pointed out a number of Kaspersky Internet Security 2011's strengths, such as: its effective antivirus scanner, its large number of configuration options and simple interface, its wide variety of Parental Control options, the product's frequent updates and the possibility of creating a rescue disc, the usefulness of the desktop gadget, its ability to block advertising banners and its drag-and-drop scanning method.

More information about the benchmark.pl test is available at: www.benchmark.pl.

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Kaspersky Lab: sensitive corporate information is increasingly at risk from mobile malware

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Kaspersky Lab has urged smartphone users to be more vigilant against the growing menace of mobile malware, especially if it threatens to compromise sensitive corporate information.

In January 2011, Kaspersky Lab recorded 154 different mobile malware families with 1,046 strains, two per cent of which are already targeting Android. "As a result of mobile workers, sensitive company information is also becoming more mobile, providing a lucrative point of attack for cyber criminals" says Marco Preuss, Senior Virus Analyst at Kaspersky Lab. "This is why the use of mobile devices must be subject to strict regulations such as data encryption, particularly in the corporate world."

Kaspersky Lab has also asked users to rethink their attitude to the IT security threats traditionally associated with Mac computers. Numerous Windows threats have already been adapted to the Mac OS. For example, the Windows Trojan horse PremierOpinion that first appeared in 2008 surfaced again in June 2010 – this time for Mac. This particular Trojan is bundled with applications and screensavers and runs at root with full system access. PremierOpinion is designed to steal data from local and network-based file systems. However, it is worrying that backdoor viruses such as HellRaiser or botnets such as Trojan.i.Services are also no longer a rarity on the Mac.

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Kaspersky Lab Granted US Patent for Resource Optimization Technology

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces that it has obtained a new patent in the USA. Patent ? 7,962,959 discloses technology that optimizes computer resources during antivirus scanning thanks to the use of cache data. The technology, developed by Kaspersky Lab employee Vyacheslav Batenin, reduces the system load during the launch of antivirus software and makes more effective use of computer resources when scanning files for malicious code.

Modern antivirus databases contain lots of information: malware signatures, the executable code of unpacking and heuristic data analysis algorithms, as well as the information needed to remove detected malware, etc. As a result, antivirus databases are usually quite large and updating them in full on a regular basis is impractical. To minimize the size of updates a difference-based updating method is employed, whereby only updated information is downloaded for merging with the existing contents of the antivirus database. Every time the antivirus software is launched, data stored in the antivirus databases are converted to a format that is used during execution of the antivirus application. Not only does this procedure consume system resources, but when several scanning processes are operating simultaneously, a separate copy of the database files is loaded to the operating memory for each of them, which also affects performance.

The new technology patented by Kaspersky Lab in the USA and Russia offers a more effective method of using the antivirus database with the help of cache data. The cache data is prepared in advance using antivirus databases in a form that is convenient for the antivirus system to work with. One or more code sections of the antivirus cache may be written to memory-mapped files or converted into dynamic link libraries. Such data representation enables data to be accessed by several scanning processes simultaneously without being loaded separately for each process. The cache is stored on the hard drive, which means it is not necessary to constantly convert antivirus databases into cache data. As a result, the technology reduces consumption of computer resources by the antivirus software.

This latest patent brings the number of technologies patented by Kaspersky Lab in the USA to 30. A further 45 patent applications filed by Kaspersky Lab are currently being processed by the relevant authorities in the USA. These pending patents all cover innovative new IT security technologies.

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February Figures Show Spammers Regaining Lost Ground

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Kaspersky Lab announces the publication of its spam report for February 2011. Compared to the previous month the amount of unsolicited mail traffic increased by 1.1 percentage points and averaged 78.7%. “Spammers are gradually regaining their position following the closure of major botnets in the second half of last year, and we foresee a return to spam levels of 81-82% by April-May 2011,” said Maria Namestnikova, Senior Spam Analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

Sources of spam

India remained the leading source of spam in February, accounting for 8.83% of all spam traffic – a drop of 1.02 percentage points compared to January. Almost half as much spam came from Russia – the second biggest source – compared to the previous month after a drop of 4.26 percentage points. Brazil rose to third place (+0.41 percentage points) and Indonesia moved up one place to fourth (-0.39 percentage points). Newcomer to the top five South Korea climbed six places to claim fifth place following a rise of 1.4 percentage points compared to the previous month. Italy, meanwhile, dropped to sixth place (-0.78 percentage points).

Revival of spam traffic from the USA

The USA may only have ended the month as the eighth biggest source of spam, but it should be noted that there is a gradual increase in the amount of spam traffic coming from the country. After the closure of the Pushdo/?utwail botnet in August 2010, the volume of spam emanating from the USA fell considerably with record-low levels at the end of last year (approximately 1-1.5% from October to December). In February, that figure reached its highest level in four months – 4.27% – and it looks like it will continue to rise over the next few months.

Malware in mail traffic

Malicious files were found in 3.18% of all emails in February, a rise of 0.43 percentage points compared with the previous month.Most of the malicious programs in February’s rating can be split into two groups. The first group consists of mail worms whose primary function is to harvest email addresses to continue propagating. Some of these worms also install other malicious programs on infected systems. The second group of malware consists of programs designed to steal confidential information, primarily of a financial nature. February’s rating also included a malicious program capable of disabling victim computers and demanding payment to restore access to them.

Anti-spam legislation

A joint document drafted by officials from China and the USA entitled ‘Fighting Spam to Build Trust’ is due to be published in March. “This is a major event in the sphere of anti-spam legislation,” explained Maria Namestnikova. “Spam is both an international and regional business, which means any measures to tackle it have to go beyond those of individual states. Hopefully, this initiative will encourage officials in other countries to follow suit.” The full version of the spam report for February 2011 is available at: www.securelist.com

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Kaspersky Lab Delivers Unrivaled Hybrid Protection from the Latest Threats

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News Flash

Kaspersky Lab announces the launch of two new versions of their flagship products for protecting desktops and laptops against malware, hacker attacks and spam – Kaspersky Anti-Virus (KAV) 2012 and Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) 2012.

The new versions are packed with industry-leading data protection technologies to counter the evolving IT threat landscape faster and more effectively than ever before. Kaspersky Anti-Virus and Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 provide a highly secure and user-friendly personal digital environment, whether you are working, banking or shopping online, or just catching up with friends and family on your favorite social networking site.

Quick Facts

The new features and improvements inside the 2012 product range include:

• Kaspersky Hybrid Protection, which harnesses the power of the cloud and world-class security technologies that reduce the average protection delivery time to just 40 seconds
• Top-notch defense against unknown cyber threats with smart application monitoring and roll back capability able to eliminate traces of even the most sophisticated malware infection, including rootkits
• Optimization for use with popular business and entertainment software packages resulting in a performance increase of up to 50% in some operations compared to the previous versions
• A new animated user interface that allows you to access all the main features of the product with just one click
• 28 other newly-refined technologies

Computer Threat Insight

The battle between the cybercriminals and security solutions vendors has grown in size, speed and complexity in recent years, reaching every corner of the globe. Today, Kaspersky Lab discovers a new malicious program every 2 seconds, with over 7 million web attacks registered each day.

Traditional data protection technologies are no longer sufficient to cope with emerging security challenges.

Lately, some security software companies have raced to “The Cloud” in search of ways to keep their customers safe from the exponential growth of malware. Some have even poured all their technology into the cloud, touting it to customers as a one-stop provider of speedy protection and better computer performance. But what happens if the cloud “goes down?” What happens if a user’s Internet connection fails, or performs too slowly to keep up?

The reality has become clear: remotely-hosted online (or cloud) technology isn’t a silver bullet. Effective, multi-layered computer protection requires the best security technology in both the cloud and on the PC itself. Many sophisticated threats exist that can’t be tackled by the cloud even if the user is online, such as advanced rootkits or malicious scripts. Unprotected computers that are offline can be infected from sources such as a local network or a USB storage device. However, although the cloud can block incoming infections, it is impossible to remediate an already infected PC in most cases.

Naturally the computer threat landscape requires well-balanced solutions that leverage the immediacy of the cloud approach and the capabilities of PC-based protection.

Kaspersky Lab has recognized the potential of cloud technologies for years, launching a first-of-its-kind cloud-based Urgent Detection System in 2006 as a way to immediately provide the latest protection to our customers worldwide. Later it was followed by Kaspersky Security Network, which has boosted the efficiency of cloud protection even further. KAV/KIS 2012 takes this concept to the next level, optimizing our technology to use real-time data from the cloud, but not dependent on an Internet connection to provide protection.

Product Highlights

• Hybrid Protection
  KAV/KIS 2012 are built around the concept of Hybrid Protection – harnessing the power of the cloud and top of the line security technologies we’ve placed on PCs. Users will benefit from the collective wisdom of the Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team and a worldwide network of users and expert analysts through the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network (KSN). KSN retains real-time data about malicious and suspicious application activity from the PCs of more than 30 million voluntary members from 213 countries. The system performs a comprehensive analysis of the collected data and automatically delivers a remedy to PCs for even the most advanced threats including zero-day exploits, phishing and spam.

  KSN provides users with a number of additional advantages.

  The File Advisor is an additional layer of protection that determines the trustworthiness of any file on your computer by checking its worldwide reputation with a single click. If our experts or other Kaspersky Lab customers have discovered the file is malicious, you won’t be tricked into opening it.

  The URL Advisor is a global database of website security statistics that enables users to learn if a link leads to a trusted, malicious, or questionable website before they visit. For example, when users perform a simple web-search, the resulting links are clearly tagged with a red, yellow or green icon, so users can easily avoid dangerous websites.

  The integrated Anti-Spam module no longer requires “training” by the user to accurately block unsolicited emails. The updated database and adjusted spam filtering rules are delivered from the cloud right after installation.

• Improved protection against unknown threats with roll back capability
  Being one of the industry leaders in protection against unknown threats Kaspersky Lab continuously improves its proactive technologies. KAV/KIS 2012 now has an advanced version of the System Watcher module for discovering suspicious activity, tracking down malicious traces and PC restoration.

  The System Watcher module records the activity of each installed application throughout each one’s entire lifecycle. This way, KAV/KIS 2012 can store event concatenations and develop a comprehensive pattern of both stand-alone and groups of applications. As a result, the discovery of a single malicious action will enable KAV/KIS to effectively reveal the infection details and roll back the changes including the disinfection of files, deleting newly-created data and restoring the system registry.

• New animated user interface
  KAV/KIS 2012 boast a whole-new user interface – the most extensive interface overhaul in three years – to make the product and its security tools easier than ever to use, and to reassure computer owners that their data is safe.

  The new interface provides instant visibility into the security status of the system, offers easy access to the most popular features, and displays information about how the cloud-enabled protection is working for you. All wrapped in a user-friendly and elegant environment with support for touch screen computers.

  This ease of access was also applied to the Kaspersky Desktop Gadget, which now provides more customization and instant-access options than ever before.

• Performance optimization
  Alongside the advanced technologies and innovations, the new product versions provide increased performance and improved compatibility.

  KAV/KIS 2012 works with a number of the most popular business and entertainment applications to achieve better performance without sacrificing protection levels. Users can now enjoy seamless integration with VoIP clients (including Skype), web browsers, video players and online games.

  The new intelligent updating system significantly reduces the traffic burden on broadband connections and minimizes the impact on operating systems and other resources.

Pricing, availability and upgrade options

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 and Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 will be available from the Kaspersky Lab global online store on 07 June, 2011. Contact your local Kaspersky Lab office to confirm product availability dates and prices for your region. Registered users of previous versions can upgrade to KAV/KIS 2012 free of charge.

Quotes

Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder and CEO, Kaspersky Lab
“We are really focused on optimizing advanced technologies, both in the computer and the cloud, that work seamlessly to keep our users safe. By staying focused on protecting our customers no matter how they use their computers – online, or offline - we have taken a huge step in protecting them from the most dangerous cyber-threats of today and tomorrow. In addition, our new look is refreshing and empowering, and I think our new interface will make our products easier to use than ever before. This is world-class protection in its most elegant form.”

Nikolay Grebennikov, CTO, Kaspersky Lab
“The new 2012 versions continue the long tradition of excellence that our home user products have come to be known for. At the same time, these products are now simpler and more user-friendly than ever before. Many of the modules featured in Kaspersky Internet Security 2012, such as web-antivirus, behavioral analysis, the threat rating sub-system and anti-rootkit components, have been made easier to update and now interact more effectively with cloud technologies.”

Petr Merkulov, Chief Product Officer, Kaspersky Lab
“We conducted an in-depth analysis of the performance of our new products with a variety of operating systems, thoroughly optimizing them for the most widespread usage scenarios and applications. As a result, compared to the previous version, we’ve significantly improved the speed of application startup, network connection bandwidth, and the boot time of various versions of Microsoft Windows. Additionally, file operations such as opening, closing and saving are now performed twice as fast”

Useful links

• More details on Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012
• More details on Kaspersky Internet Security 2012
• Downloads
• Screenshots, logos, photos and box shots

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Kaspersky Lab Shows Significant Results of Market Growth in First Half of 2011

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces its successful results of business growth on US and European markets in the first half of 2011. The company demonstrated outstanding results by gaining bigger market share in B2C sector and significantly outperforming the competition.

"Both European and US markets are of the strategic importance for Kaspersky Lab from the point of view of its capacities as well as competition, - said Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab. - Gaining bigger market share on these mature markets proves that our expansion and business development strategy reflects both understanding of market needs and better knowledge of technology trends. Today we’re getting even closer to global market leadership which shows that we’re on good path to reach #1 position in our market segment in the foreseeable future."

The early indicators of the 1st half 2011 shows that Kaspersky Lab continues strengthening its market positions. As by NPD* data, the company is ranked number one in the B2C Antivirus Market in the US with a Market share of31.3% (by dollar volume) in the first quarter of 2011. In Total Security and Security Suites segments Kaspersky Lab has the second and the third positionsin dollar volumeaccordingly.

The company has the best growth indicatorsin European countriesamong the Top 4 vendors and continues speeding toward its competitors. According to GfK data, in the first half of 2011 Kaspersky Lab has shown #2 position in B2C sector in Western Europe**, being on the first place in such key countries as Germany and France. In the antivirus category Kaspersky Lab has shown especially high results, being #1 with 46% of the European retail market*** in the first quarter of 2011.

About Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab is the largest antivirus company in Europe. It delivers some of the world's most immediate protection against IT security threats, including viruses, spyware, crimeware, hackers, phishing, and spam. The company is ranked among the world's top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users. Kaspersky Lab products provide superior detection rates and one of the industry's fastest outbreak response times for home users, SMBs, large enterprises and the mobile computing environment. Kaspersky® technology is also used worldwide inside the products and services of the industry's leading IT security solution providers. Learn more at:www.kaspersky.com. For the latest on antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and other IT security issues and trends, visit:www.securelist.com.

* The NPD Group, Retail Tracking Service, January-March 2011

**Ranking by Sales Value in GfK Retail Market, B2C

***Ranking by Sales Units inGfK Retail Market, B2C

 

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Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 Awarded "Advanced+" Rating in AV-Comparatives’ Retrospective Testing

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, reports that its Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 product has deservedly received the “Advanced+” grade in a retrospective test conducted by AV-Comparatives. A similar result was received by the same Kaspersky Lab product in AV-Comparatives’ “On-Demand” test, held simultaneously with the retrospective test.

In the retrospective test, 12 products of different manufacturers were tested and compared against one another. Unlike the On-Demand testing, in the retrospective test the quality of heuristic detection of new malware was analyzed. Interestingly, all other means of threat protection were disabled, including the possibility to update the antivirus database.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 successfully passed the testing and received the Advanced+ grade. The level of detection of malware using only heuristic algorithms came to 55%, which is one of the highest in the industry. In the simultaneous On-Demand test the detection rate for Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 came to 97%. The results of the false positive/alarm test (12 instances for Kaspersky Lab’s product) were similar to those in the On-Demand comparative. It should be pointed out that, according to data of the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network, all 12 files are practically never encountered on users’ computers.

Nikita Shvetsov, director of Anti-Malware Research of Kaspersky Lab, said: “What is interesting is that the leading antivirus companies refused to take part in the test, stating that without cloud protection and updates of antivirus databases their products won’t protect users in the proper manner. We think that even without an Internet connection or cloud services the user should be fully certain about the security of his/her system and personal data. As a result, even given such test conditions Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 showed one of the highest levels of threat detection, which demonstrates how users of our products are protected even without an Internet connection. However, we agree that the retrospective testing reflects just a small part of the capabilities of Kaspersky Anti-Virus, even less than the On-Demand test, which also doesn’t fully reproduce a real situation with a user’s computer. Therefore, in judging anti-virus products, we recommend using results from more realistic tests, such as those carried out by “Real-World” or “Dynamic”.

More detailed information on the results of the testing can be found at:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_retro_may2011.pdf

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Spammers regaining lost ground after botnet closures

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Spammers are gradually regaining their position following the closure of major botnets in the second half of last year according to Kaspersky Lab’s February report on global spam activity.

The latest figures show that India remained the leading source of spam in February, accounting for 8.83 percent of all global spam traffic. Almost half as much spam came from Russia which was the second biggest source compared to the previous month after a drop of 4.26 percentage points. Brazil rose to third place (+0.41 percentage points) and Indonesia moved up one place to fourth (-0.39 percentage points). Newcomer to the top five South Korea climbed six places to claim fifth place following a rise of 1.4 percentage points.

According to the report the USA ended the month as the eighth biggest source of spam, but it should be noted that there is a gradual increase in the amount of spam traffic coming from the country. After the closure of the Pushdo/?utwail botnet in August 2010, the volume of spam emanating from the USA fell considerably with record-low levels at the end of last year (approximately 1-1.5 percent from October to December). In February, that figure reached its highest level in four months – 4.27 percent – and it looks like it will continue to rise over the next few months.

“Spammers are gradually regaining their position following the closure of major botnets in the second half of last year, and we foresee a return to spam levels of 81-82 percent by April-May 2011,” said Maria Namestnikova, Senior Spam Analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

In February malicious files were found in 3.18 percent of all emails, a rise of 0.43 percentage points compared with the previous month. Most of the malicious programs in February’s rating can be split into two groups. The first group consists of mail worms whose primary function is to harvest email addresses to continue propagating. The second group of malware contains programs designed to steal confidential information, primarily of a financial nature. February’s rating also included a malicious program capable of disabling victim computers and demanding payment to restore access to them.

The full version of the spam report for February 2011 is available at: http://www.securelist.com

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What is the value of your leaked data?

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Modern cybercrime has grown and evolved so much that it is now comparable to other organized illegal activities such as drug and weapons trafficking in terms of monies gained and laundered. No matter how worthless users’ personal data or online accounts may seem, they are a potential goldmine for cybercriminals.

Kaspersky Lab’s experts have seen an unbelievably rapid growth in the cybercriminals’ interest in user data. From the close of 2009, the number of malicious programs designed to steal any type of users’ personal data has increased by more than 100%. The number of new banking Trojan signatures introduced into Kaspersky Lab’s databases exceeded 25,000 in 2010, which is more than five times higher than in 2006. Leaks of personal data stored on users’ computers were one of the main topics at the “Cyberthreat Landscape 2010-2011: Outcomes, Trends and Forecasts” press tour.

Dmitry Bestuzhev, Head of the Global Research and Analysis Team in Latin America, has analyzed supply and demand in the computer black market and found that a cybercriminal wanting to enter the business of stealing users’ personal data generally requires start-up capital of around US$6,000. The bulk of this sum is spent on hosting – the cybercriminals need to spend approximately US$3,600 a year to rent server resources; this also includes enough money to make sure the provider turns a blind eye to their illegal activities. Purchasing a set of malicious programs to exploit vulnerabilities in popular software costs the illegal business owner, on average, another US$1,300. Automatic modifiers of malicious programs (such as the notorious ZeuS or Spy-Eye) cost around US$750 and appreciably simplify the cybercriminals’ activities, as do multi-scanner services (US$480) which identify which security solutions can detect a specific malicious program.

The low cost and high returns of starting rackets such as this keep the cybercriminals’ interest focused on the data that users store on their computers. The more people that use a specific social network or online resource, the more attractive it is to fraudsters. Thus, PayPal, Amazon, Yandex and MasterCard were the most frequently attacked companies, while Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live and LiveJournal were the most frequently attacked social networks in 2010. Stolen Facebook accounts can cost up to several hundred dollars on the black market.

Even when the cybercriminals cannot directly profit from the stolen personal data, the situation is still dangerous for the user. “These days, it is increasingly common to see cooperation between regular criminals and their online compatriots. Regular criminals buy scanned images of stolen passports and driving licenses from cybercriminals in order to use them for their own illegal ends,” says Dmitry Besstuzhev.

As Stefan Tanase, Senior Security Researcher with the Global Research and Analysis Team pointed out in his presentation titled ‘Avoiding Your Personal WikiLeaks’: “Millions of computers out there, including office PCs, are infected every day and end up as part of botnet operations that send spam or launch DDoS attacks, with the cybercriminals having full access to these machines. It is therefore only a matter of time before the criminals search these infected computers for private information.”

Stefan‘s recommendations on how users can protect their personal data are as follows:

• Use proprietary security solutions
• Use your computer or smartphone in a secure environment; try not to use public computers
• Enable encryption of data and transmission channels
• Regularly back up your data
• Do not share sensitive information over peer-to-peer networks
• Make sure your children are aware of online safety rules

For more information about the press tour, or to view the videos, presentations and photos from the event, please visit the Kaspersky Lab website at: http://www.kaspersky.com/cyberthreat-landscape-2010-2011.

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How to Fix Corefoundation. Dll Error

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Corefoundation.dll is a Dynamic Link Library file for Apple software products. It assists with rendering various data on your screen. core foundation dll is important to the operation of iTunes, MobleMe and many other Apple applications. It can be a cause of various errors, but that is not the focus of this article.Its works by providing fundamental data as well as services for Cocoa and Carbon environments on Mac OS X. The CoreFoundation defines a set of C - based programming interfaces from the framework of Cocoa

What is Corefoundation.dll?

This is a typical.dll file that belongs to Core Foundation Dynamic Link Library from Apple Computer, Inc. This is the main cause of This error. Besides, the frustrating This error also can be caused by invalid registry, damaged or incorrect version of corefoundation error file, invalid dynamic link files,.exe error, system32 error and malware intrusion.

The Apple Software company is responsible for creating and distributing the this file. The DLL file suffix is there to identify that the file is a dynamic link library file. Apple's itune application is the main core component that works in conjunction with the eror file. The corefoundation file is built to open the various types of multimedia files with the iTunes application. There are other Apple applications that use this corefoundation.dll file as well, but iTunes is the most predominant. If you have come across the " corefoundation.dll was not found or is missing" error, you can resolve it through these steps.

Steps to Fix the Corefoundation.dll is Missing Error

There are several errors that this error could cause, but they are all the same. The core issue is that the application cannot find the this file. If you still see the error after you have gone through step 2, you need run a virus/spyware check on your computer to make sure it is not affected.

Steps 1 - You can begin by uninstalling the Apple application that is causing the problem. If your iTunes application is giving you the corefoundation.dll error, you should remove it from your system. After the removal, you need to restart your computer. Now, download the latest version of the Apple application and run it on your computer. Make sure that the installation is done through the recommended option and not the custom option.

Step 2 - If the application now runs without the error, you should be fine. However, if you still see that this is missing, keep reading. You can retrieve the this file from the internet in order to replace the one you have now. You can corefoundation.dll download.Now Go to My Computer and in the address bar, enter C:\Windows\system32 and place the corefoundation.dll file in it. There will be a file with the same name in the folder, so you need to overwrite it.

Step 3 - Now, you need to go to the Start menu and select Run and input the command "cmd". The new command prompt will appear and here you enter "regsvr32 corefoundation.dll". Once this is done, it will configure your system accordingly. Reboot your machine and the this error will be gone.

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Remove BlasterWorm ?EUR" It Is Still Crawling

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The problem of blaster worm is considered to be settled. However, even the brief estimation of the traffic generated by requests of user for w32.Blaster.worm removal help, and removal of its variants, known as a group of B to F modifications, clearly shows that the problem is still topical.
This assumption that the worm ceased to exist as a worm circulated in the web became prevailing after detention of Jeffrey Lee Parson, a Minnesota's teenager who was made a fall guy in the case of the worm mass-propagation and attack on Microsoft which happened in 2003. It was said that the issue was solved as worm's detections were not being reported in large for several years. However, such a powerful infection could not be wiped away all at once as its traces would anyway remain.
Times by time, some of the worm variants are detected in worth considering quantities, and users again and again experience sudden system reboots and suffer other inconvenience.
The entire problem is based upon notorious Windows error. Microsoft keep relevant fix available at its website in the following releases of its bulletin: MS03-026 and later in MS03-039.
Please pay attention that these fixes do not remove W32.Blaster.Worm, as well as any of its B to F variant. On applying the fix you get rid of the errors due to which the worm managed to infiltrate into your computer system, while the worm itself is subject to another action, W32.Blaster.Worm removal.
The infection was programmed to arrange botnets and, as soon as a botnet is big enough, instruct it to attack targeted websites. For instance, the aforementioned Mr. Parson was accused and found guilty of intrusting botnet he had created by means of spreading the worm to attack one of the Microsoft's website that provided updates for installed versions of Windows.
However, currently people deal rather with the remaining worm copies, which are not coordinated from any remote machine - such case might happen though. Hence they are concerned with the worm's side effects. On the other hand, victims of the worm of all times were rather concerned with the side-effects rather with that they are engaged in some space-scale scam. That is quite understandable as the side-effects are forced reboots usually explained by Windows message referring to Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service terminated unexpectedly and other errors provoked by the worm. Also, a compromised PC might be unable to connect to a range of websites, its drives might become invisible, and software installed might fail to execute many of its functions.
Removal of W32.Blaster.Worm is still a matter of interests of many users as the infection is still circulated. Its samples might be extracted and improved by other criminals.
To get help in detection and extermination of viruses, as well as to get rid of W32.Blaster.Worm, follow the link below.
http://hands-oncorp.com/2010/02/25/w32-blaster-worm-removal-instructions/

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Laptop freezes at startup?

Are you currently looking for an approach to correct the error that causes your laptop to freeze at startup? Portable gel can be a quite insoluble question which is often triggered by several factors. It is incredibly difficult to tell the main causes of the freezing of your laptop. To remedy the situation, you would carefully follow the steps below.

1 Check the temperature of your notebook.

First, you should check the temperature of your notebook. It develops in law incredibly hot after it begins to? If so, you'll want to take a PC technician or maybe a maintenance workshop. It is likely that 1 or two of your fans do not function properly or coolant on your CPU or the GPU is already INAT. Therefore, your laptop will be frozen and close quickly to stay away from any damage to your laptop parts.

two. Check your software and programs.

Your laptop has a load of programs to run when it starts? It is really necessary to run certain programs when Windows starts, including the Centre for security, antivirus and so on. But, apart from this kind of security applications, where you allow dozens of programs to run, is no wonder that your laptop blocks.

Your processor, RAM, GPU and other resources of the device are limited. They are able to address only certain amount of data and information and the time specific facts. The more programs you run, the other time your laptop to start needs. And when your devices reach their limits of computers, they quit responding. Therefore, your laptop will simply freeze because of the shortage of resources.

You must stop a few unnecessary programs start with Windows.

3. The Major disruptive - registry.

Registry is linked to more than 80% Windows freeze problems. Never underestimate this component little in your program. It stores all important data and info for your driver, programs and program applications. Only when data and information in the registry are properly accessible, can your system and programs to run stably.

But the registry is quickly damaged. Should you do not have to support in an appropriate manner, it will soon be full of errors. You will be able to image which will take place when your system and programs running under the registry incorrect instructions. Your portable computer only stop it respond but will also against the critical challenges such as blue screen, crash and so forth.

To resolve the problem of freezing of portable, you need to clean your registry often and correctly. But you should be aware of what you will discover thousands of registry cleaners on the net, 90% of them can activate not analyze you and correct the errors of deep registry. Should you use this type of registry cleaning, several deep errors registry fixed at all.

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AwareBear Computers Pittsford NY September 11th NYC World Trade Center Attacks

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

AwareBear Computers Pittsford NY September 11th NYC World Trade Center Attacks
AwareBear Computers in Pittsford NY (Rochester NY) will talk this week about how information technology and computers are helping U.S citizens to stay safe. AwareBear Computers want to congratulate the men and women in uniform for their outstanding jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan. AwareBear Computers also wants to remind law enforcement and military personal about the 10% discount on any service performed at AwareBear Computers in Pittsford NY.
Ten years after the terrorist attacks in New York City, AwareBear Computers in Pittsford NY will talk about how computers today help make America a safer place. Back in 2001 when the New York City attacks happened (World Trade Center aka Twin Towers) no one could ever imagine that 10 years later computers would play a major role in fighting terrorism mentions Andre Leite Alves from Rochester NY.
After the 911 attacks in New York City, 2 new agencies were created in order to fight terrorism. The first agency is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the second one is the Homeland Security. Anyone that travelled after 911 should be pretty familiar with these two agencies. We have both of them here at the Rochester NY International Airport mentions Andre Alves.
The Microsoft Corporation, The Environmental Systems Research Institute and other software developing companies have developed new software in order to help Homeland Security, The United States Department of Defense and Public Safety officers fight drug dealers, organized crime, smugglers and terrorist activity. Information Technology professionals keep a major role when it comes to keeping Americans safe.

As civilians we need to make sure we are doing our part in order to keep our country safe mentions AwareBear Computers Pittsford NY founder Andre Leite Alves from Rochester NY. Would you leave your front door open and unlocked so people can come in and wonder around your home? Anyone in their right mind would say NO!

If that is the case why there are so many open and unsecured wirelesses networks around Rochester NY? AwareBear Computers in Pittsford NY specializes in wireless setup and security. We can make sure your wireless network is configured properly and has the proper security in order to keep unwanted people away from your personal files, mentions Andre Leite Alves from Rochester NY.

Viruses and Spyware can cause identity theft, reminds Andre Leite Alves from AwareBear Computers in Rochester NY. Many people wait till the last minute in order to bring their computers to be cleaned. AwareBear Computers Pittsford NY reminds everyone in Rochester NY that viruses and spyware can lock up your desktop or laptop computer in Rochester NY. The Bin Laden Virus caused a lot of damage for many Facebook users.

If you own a smart phone be prepared, studies show new viruses will be out in order to get access to your financial information. A few weeks ago I was at a watch in Washington D.C having my watch cleaned and a few days later I got an email asking me how my experience at their store was. The funny thing I don't remember giving out a card or my email address. It could be the serial on my watch that has my personal information linked to it mentions Andre Leite Alves from Rochester NY (AwareBear Computers in Pittsford NY). Prevention is always the best remedy. For more information please visit our site: http://aacomputersusa.com
©2011 AWAREBEAR, INC AND ANDRE LEITE ALVES ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Tips for Choosing the Best Spyware Remover Available

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

There are many removers available to choose from. How do you know which one is best? When the internet was still new, there were only a few spyware removal programs to choose from. As time goes by, there are more programs that call themselves spyware removers. Most of these options are, unfortunately, scams. They are made out of Trojan horses that will gain access to your system. You won't find only scams online, though.

Some of the programs available are great. The following are some things you should keep in mind when deciding on the best spyware removal program.

It's important that your spyware remover backs up your system before running its scans and repairs. It would be terrible if you used a program that accidentally rendered your system useless when you were trying to fix it! Avoiding this problem is as simple as choosing a spyware remover that does a back up first. If your spyware remover is a good one it will automatically load your backup when it locates a problem. Any spyware removal program you download must be do system backups because it is extremely important.

Look for a combo program that does scanning, back ups, and repairs in one. Each step can be done separately; the programs are available independently. Downloading separate programs not only eats up hard drive space, though, it can create additional problems if one of the programs malfunctions. It makes more sense to go with a single program that does everything. If you use separate programs and there's a problem, your computer turns into a large paperweight. So be cautious and use software that does all these things so you don't have to try to figure out how to work around one programs failure.

Look for a program offered by a company with good customer service. It is important to be sure you can talk to a real person if you run into any problems. Don't download a program from a company that isn't willing to provide a live person to help you with any problems. A company is mostly likely running a scam if they won't provide you with a physical address or phone number.

Any company that offers no personal attention is usually up to something shady. The more work you put into locating a quality spyware remover, the more luck you will have in finding something that does what you need it to do. It could be a bad thing to just download the first one you happen upon. Not only should you research the program but the company that makes it as well. It would be a nightmare to actually download a program that made your system worse. Use the tips outlined in this article to help you figure out how to choose spyware removers that are good and which are not.

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Laptop freezes at startup?

Are you currently looking for an approach to correct the error that causes your laptop to freeze at startup? Portable gel can be a quite insoluble question which is often triggered by several factors. It is incredibly difficult to tell the main causes of the freezing of your laptop. To remedy the situation, you would carefully follow the steps below.

1 Check the temperature of your notebook.

First, you should check the temperature of your notebook. It develops in law incredibly hot after it begins to? If so, you'll want to take a PC technician or maybe a maintenance workshop. It is likely that 1 or two of your fans do not function properly or coolant on your CPU or the GPU is already INAT. Therefore, your laptop will be frozen and close quickly to stay away from any damage to your laptop parts.

two. Check your software and programs.

Your laptop has a load of programs to run when it starts? It is really necessary to run certain programs when Windows starts, including the Centre for security, antivirus and so on. But, apart from this kind of security applications, where you allow dozens of programs to run, is no wonder that your laptop blocks.

Your processor, RAM, GPU and other resources of the device are limited. They are able to address only certain amount of data and information and the time specific facts. The more programs you run, the other time your laptop to start needs. And when your devices reach their limits of computers, they quit responding. Therefore, your laptop will simply freeze because of the shortage of resources.

You must stop a few unnecessary programs start with Windows.

3. The Major disruptive - registry.

Registry is linked to more than 80% Windows freeze problems. Never underestimate this component little in your program. It stores all important data and info for your driver, programs and program applications. Only when data and information in the registry are properly accessible, can your system and programs to run stably.

But the registry is quickly damaged. Should you do not have to support in an appropriate manner, it will soon be full of errors. You will be able to image which will take place when your system and programs running under the registry incorrect instructions. Your portable computer only stop it respond but will also against the critical challenges such as blue screen, crash and so forth.

To resolve the problem of freezing of portable, you need to clean your registry often and correctly. But you should be aware of what you will discover thousands of registry cleaners on the net, 90% of them can activate not analyze you and correct the errors of deep registry. Should you use this type of registry cleaning, several deep errors registry fixed at all.

More about → Laptop freezes at startup?