Microsoft gives away a security firewall with its latest operating system. Many high-speed Internet service providers offer free anti-virus protection for subscribers. And several Web sites distribute free toolbars to warn of Web scams. AOL even recently made a package of basic security tools — anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall programs — available for free to anyone, not just paying subscribers. Despite all the free protection, primarily for Windows computers, leading security vendors are moving forward with plans to start selling their annual slate of security products this fall.
NX short form for NoMachine's X protocol is a compression technology developed by NoMachine which allows one to run complete remote desktop sessions (be it Linux or Windows) even at dial up internet connection speeds. One of the advantages of using NX technology over VNC is that NX uses SSH on port 22 for connection between the client and the server. Which means all the communication takes place encrypted through industry standard SSL public key cryptography.
Mozilla Corp. has hired a former Microsoft security strategist to help secure its open-source software, particularly its Firefox browser.
Window Snyder, whose hiring was announced last week, takes the title of "Chief Security Something" -- that's a working title, and not all that unusual for a company headed by someone who once held the title of "Chief Lizard Wrangler" -- said she has big plans for the group's development efforts.
Mozilla on Sept. 14 reissued the popular open-source Firefox Web browser, and its email counterpart, Thunderbird, with new security and stability fixes. Each of the open-source apps rolls to version 1.5.0.7.
Firefox 1.5.0.7 comes with fixes for half-a-dozen minor security vulnerabilities. The first of these is a patch that will prevent possible attacks from opening a previously blocked popup that was using an XSS (cross-site scripting) attack.
Source: Network World - Posted by Vincenzo Ciaglia
Some organizations consider taking the plunge off of big iron PBX platforms into IP telephony as being pretty daring, but that's nothing compared to what Sam Houston State University (SHSU) is doing. The south Texas school is boldly moving thousands of users off a Cisco VoIP platform to an open-source VoIP network based on Asterisk.
Mozilla has hired a former Microsoft security strategist to help lock down its open-source products against online attacks. Window Snyder, whose hiring was announced Wednesday, worked on Microsoft's security driven Windows XP Service Pack 2 update. She also had a role in the development of Windows Server 2003.
IBM is to buy Internet Security Systems in a $1.3bn (£680m) deal in a move that the computer giant hopes will boost its ability to offer managed security services.
Internet Security Systems provides security software, appliances and services to businesses and governments and IBM believes the acquisition will complement its existing security portfolio.
"This acquisition will help IBM to provide companies with access to trained experts and leading-edge processes and technology to evaluate and protect against threats and enforce security policies," IBM Global Services general manager for infrastructure services, Val Rahmani, said.
Source: Security Focus - Posted by Efren J. Belizario
Many users of the increasingly popular Ubuntu Linux distribution found themselves on Tuesday thrown back to mid-1990s, when a botched update to the graphical X Window subsystem brought them face-to-face with the command-line terminal.
With its latest entry into the Linux desktop market, Novell plans to make Linux more secure and make that security easier to manage, company officials said at the LinuxWorld conference. The software maker decided against adopting security modifications to the Linux kernel developed by the National Security Agency, known as SE Linux, because of the system is extremely difficult to configure. Instead, the Waltham, Mass. firm developed a framework for restricting applications known as AppArmor, which it released as an open-source project in January.
... technology is available that would allow "laptop" and "security" to be spoken in the same breath without triggering gales of cynical laughter. Such systems generally depend on either Internet tracking, "kill switches," or encryption - or, more commonly, a combination of the
