Kaspersky Lab now Detects 200,000 new Malicious Programs Every Day

Kaspersky Lab released its annual Kaspersky Security Bulletin, which provides the overall malware and cyber-threat statistics for 2012. The data analyzed in the report was obtained using the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN), the cloud-based infrastructure used by Kaspersky Lab products to report telemetry and to deliver instant protection in the forms of blacklists and heuristic rules, which are designed to catch the newest threats.

The 2012 report revealed significant growth of Mac-specific malware and an explosive growth in the number of threats targeting the Android platform. Overall, Kaspersky Lab’s products detected and blocked more than 1.5 billion web-based attacks in 2012 and more than 3 billion infected files.

At the present time Kaspersky Lab detects and blocks more than 200,000 new malicious programs every day, a significant increase from the first half of 2012, when 125,000 malicious programs were detected and blocked each day on average.

“ IRIS PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN OUR SUCCESS “

“ IRIS PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN OUR SUCCESS “ SAYS LENOVO CHIEF AMAR BABU  

Iris Computers has played a “key role” in our success, said Amar Babu Head Lenovo,

India’s number one and world’s second largest PC vendor.Lenovo has 3 distributors for Commercial Distribution business in the country with Iris Computers having racked the No 1 position with an award for contributing significant share of Lenovo’s business in this area.

Posting growth figures of 34 per cent in the year 2011-12,

Iris, one of the largest domestic IT distribution companies in the country – achieved a turnover of Rs.1200 crore up from a turnover of  Rs. 823 crore in the previous year.

    Lenovo with a 17 percent market share in the country, an all time high, is already on the top and is not leaving the fast track soon. Lenovo grew more than five times faster than the industry as a whole. Amar Babu said,  “We would like to sustain our position of number one. We would like to invest further in our growth in the days to come. Our distributors have a crucial role to play in our growth and we believe they will support our growth with required investments at their end.”

Lenovo’s success in India has been led by a strong international brand, right set of products for the country, right distributors, channel partners, one thousand franchisees as retail investors.

  

“Iris Computers is our long and old partner”, Amar Babu says, and “we have grown together” with Iris playing a key role in our success both in the consumer side and enterprise side. “As their share of Lenovo has increased our share has increased in the market from 5 percent when we started to now 17 per cent.”

 “We leverage their strong capability in their distribution network and they use our products and brand name. Iris gave us our mindshare with distributors.”

  “The Iris team has good leadership and a good relationship with people at our end. The team is very stable and consistent. We know what they want and they know what we want. We understand each other and air our differences openly in a healthy atmosphere,” says Mr Babu.

Aggressive and innovative marketing strategies are the hall mark of Iris which does not leave any avenue to enhance its revenue like working for projects like -  Unique Identification Project (UID), supplying Lenovo hardware across numerous stations all over the country. Iris also facilitated Lenovo solutions including desktops and servers worth Rs. 35 crore to the nationwide  APDRP - Accelerated Power Development & Reform Program.

PANTUM Forays in to Indian Market

With a distinct focus on SOHO and SMB segments, printer manufacturer PANTUM has marked its entry to the India market. Part of the Chinese group Seine Technology Co. Ltd., PANTUM offers reliable, affordable and environmental friendly printing solutions and services.  The company will be focusing sharply on the northern market in the initial phase of its entry – including Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi and Punjab, with a parallel focus on the Eastern market.

When ITVAR News approached Jackson Wang, President, PANTUM International and enquired with him that why he specifically chose India, he said, “India is a big market and for printer market it is in top 5 markets especially laser printers. On being asked about the distribution tie-up, he informed that as a strategy partner, they have opted for Rashi Peripherals”. 

“Our success in international markets in a short time gives us a lot of confidence for the India market and North is one of the key markets for us. Our strength in product innovation and R&D provides us the edge to succeed in highly competitive markets. I am proud to announce that we have fully mastered the core technologies of laser printer R&D as well as manufacturing, and have become an international laser printers brand that covers a dozen models of mono laser printers and MFPs”, he added.

We also approached Alex Li, Vice President, PANTUM International and enquired with him about the product positioning, wherein he informed that as far as the product positioning is concerned, the products launched by the Company are robust, affordable, eco- friendly and reliable. We further asked about the core focus segment and we were informed by him that SOHO and SMBs are the core focus segment of the Company.

Rajesh Goenka, Vice President, Rashi Peripherals was also present at the launch event. We approached him and asked about this partnership. Regarding this, he said, “Though we have a very strong product portfolio, but a product that was critically missing from our portfolio was printer and now with this partnership with PANTUM, we have added that product to our portfolio as well”.

“We will be very selective in choosing the partners for this new range of printers and we will be working very hard to make PANTUM achieve their aim of being among the top five printer brands in the country by 2015”, he added.

PANTUM has aggressive growth plans for India and aims to be among the top five printer brands in the country by 2015. PANTUM will cover 64 top cities in India by the end of this year and expects to cover over 100 cities by the end of 2013. The company plans to extensively use the IT channel to penetrate the market, beginning with 25 channel partners and about 1000 resellers. In keeping with the aggressive growth plans, the company expects to double these numbers in the next one year.

PANTUM has a refreshing approach to business with strong ties and commitment to product quality as well as affordable printer cartridges. The products are built to last 4-times longer than comparable printers, with fewer paper jams and much lower cost-per-page. The company’s pricing strategy is in-line with comparable printers; however with long-lasting printers, PANTUM products will offer cheaper costs per page over time than other printers. In fact, the company ranked fourth on a recent FORBES list of the 100 fastest growing companies in China.

Apple to acquire Color Labs

As per a recent update, the tech giant Apple is planning to acquire Color Labs, a photo-and-video-sharing social network labs.

Founded by Bill Nguyen, the California based Color Labs is a two-year-old startup that facilitate users in media sharing from smartphones.

As a matter of concern, it is found; initially, Color started off as an iPhone exclusive network for sharing their photo albums with other users in their vicinity. After that, it evolved into a media sharing network across different platforms including iOS and Google’s Android.

Presently, it enables users to live stream videos over Facebook. However, the Color Labs failed to live up to its initial hype.

Reliable insiders informed our team that the deal has already been finalized but yet to be inked.

None of the companies have disclosed the deal amount. But, it is expected that the price involved in the acquisition of startup is in the ‘high double digits’.

SanDisk announces Diwali Campaign Offering

SanDisk Corporation announced it is conducting a Diwali holiday campaign offering consumers across India the chance to win one of 35 digital cameras with the purchase of any SanDisk product. Consumers also can win one of 350 USB flash drives simply by registering online, no purchase necessary. The campaign1 will run from October 15 until November 18, 2012.

“SanDisk is the retail market leader in USB flash drives and flash memory cards in the Asia Pacific region, and we are focused on offering consumers in India reliable products that help them do more with their digital devices,” said Manisha Sood, India country manager and director, SanDisk. “Our Diwali campaign gives consumers the chance to win great prizes, and for added fun we’ve introduced a special USB flash drive exclusively for Diwali featuring festive packaging.”

With an array of solutions to capture and share cherished moments, SanDisk is demonstrating the need for reliable flash memory products while thanking its customers with hundreds of great prizes during the festive Diwali season. SanDisk offers a full lineup of retail products for people from all walks of life, including USB flash drives and flash memory cards for mobile phones and cameras.

SanDisk’s USB portfolio ranges from coin-sized drives and stylish devices to high-performance USB 3.0 solutions. The drives allow consumers to carry libraries of digital content with them wherever they go and are backed by SanDisk’s reputation for reliability. As an added benefit, virtually all SanDisk USB flash drives offer encryption and online backup features with SanDisk SecureAccess software. The software creates a password-protected private folder on the USB drive that allows consumers to share the files they want while keeping other data secure.

Indian Tablet Market to Grow at a CAGR of 40% over the next 5 Years

MAIT announced the findings of its first ever Tablet Study on the tablet revolution underway in the Indian market. The tablet market, pioneered by the launch of the iPad in  2010, has been growing rapidly and the study puts the growth rate at 40% over the next 5 years, compounded annually.

Commenting on this new opportunity, Dr. Alok Bhardwaj, President, MAIT, said:  “The tablet market is the new blue-eyed growth opportunity in India.  It is fast becoming one of the drivers of rapid growth in the IT content consumption and hardware sector in India. With the introduction of several national and international brands of tablet in India, the market is witnessing a revolution of sorts with these devices changing the way services are delivered in various other sectors such as education, healthcare and governance. Tablets will soon enable and empower even our rural areas with services bridging the last mile connectivity gap through these devices.  We expect the market to touch 1.6 million units in the current financial year and grow to touch 7.3 million units by 2015-16”.

“A key factor in the growth of tablets has been the encouragement from the government in adopting and developing low-cost options for use in our villages and other rural areas.

Education and healthcare services are now being accessed by many more people with the help of low-cost tablet.  He further said, Tablets being one of the cheapest devices available in the Indian market, it is a potential device that can transform the entire country, as any content in any language can effectively work on this device”.

MAIT Vice President, Mr J V Ramamurthy said: “The tablet market is expected to grow at around 40% CAGR annually over the next 5 years. It is an evolving market and we expect to see the emergence of value based tablet devices as an important segment. Also the developing ecosystem for this device will ensure that tablets as a computing device will become an integral part of human lives. Apart from being a consumer lifestyle product I see a huge uptake of the tablet in the education segment and it is a device which has all the potential to revolutionize the education system”

Kaspersky Developing Its Own Security-Focused Operating System

Amid growing concerns around IT security and cyberconflict, combined with Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)’s increased emphasis on operating system security, Kaspersky Labs is in the process of developing an OS of its own.

At this point, there is very little detail on what the platform might one day entail. A Kaspersky spokesperson told CRN that "no interviews or Q&As" are currently being scheduled. But a company press release, as well as a blog post from CEO and Co-founder Eugene Kaspersky, confirmed that an OS development initiative is currently under way. "Since there has been some speculation regarding the company’s plans, we wanted to be sure to bring everyone up-to-speed by providing some clarity on what we are working on and why," he said via email.

In a keynote speech to the ITU Telecom World 2012 conference, Eugene Kaspersky outlined risks surrounding cyberterrorism and cyberwar and then called for increased international cooperation and the development of advanced technology to protect vulnerable industrial systems.

"In the long run, cyberwarfare is where all parties lose: attackers, victims and even uninvolved observers. Unlike traditional weapons, tools used in cyberwarfare are very easy to clone and reprogram by adversaries. The most important move to survive in this environment is the development and deployment of a new, advanced security paradigm for the most critical infrastructure."

With this statement as a backdrop, Kaspersky on Tuesday issued a blog post to "end the speculation" and confirm that his company is working on a security-enhanced OS.

"We're developing a secure operating system for protecting key information systems (industrial control systems (ICS)) used in industry/infrastructure," he wrote. "Quite a few rumors about this project have appeared already on the Internet, so I guess it's time to lift the curtain (a little) on our secret project and let you know (a bit) about what's really going on."

Fortinet Rolls Out New FortiOS 5.0 Operating System

Fortinet has rolled out the latest version of its security operating system, adding client reputation capabilities, OS-independent sandboxing, and enhanced device identification as part of 150 new features and capabilities.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company will begin deploying FortiOS 5.0 by the end of the month as an enhanced foundation for its FortiGate security platforms.

“This enables our channel partners to be a lot more consultative in their customer approach,” said senior product marketing manager Kevin Flynn. “It provides a lot more flexibility and granularity that can help partners defend against sophisticated threats, as well as produce the kind of validation and reports necessary to satisfy compliance requirements.”

Flynn identifies the new client reputation feature as one of the main aspects of the new revision. Through customizable values, channel partners and IT managers can use this tool to establish a cumulative security ranking for each device accessing the network, based on a range of user behaviors and supported by the vendor’s anti-malware detection system with an on-device behavior-based heuristic engine and cloud-based antivirus services that includes an OS-independent sandbox and botnet IP reputation database.

“This will dramatically upgrade security in BYOD environments,” he said. “Different policies can be put into place for different platforms, providing added granularity and control.”

The new system can also accommodate a series of role-based policies for users and guests based on location, data and application profile. “The rights can vary based on whether they are employees, partners, or other types of people who might be granted access to your network,” explained Flynn. “Not only can the administrator set security levels, they can also makes those network resources available for a pre-designated amount of time.”

Among the components included in the upgrade, FortiManager 5.0 can now manage physical and virtual security devices using a single Web-based GUI with drag and drop capabilities, policy object editing, and a new script UI facility.

FortiAnalyzer 5.0, the company’s reporting platform, can now consolidate reporting for all FortiOS-based devices and endpoints, providing data on bandwidth consumption, application usage and network utilization. It can manage both physical and virtual appliances, and synchronize multiple FortiAnalyzers for unified configuration and reporting.

FortiClient 5.0 continues to provide endpoint security for Windows and Macintosh OSes. The latest edition now includes enforcement of security policies in off-net situations when the device is not connected to the network.

“The protections and policies remain in place after I shut down my VPN connection, so I won’t be able to go to a phishing site, for example, Flynn added.

FortiOS is provides as a free upgrade. FortiClient is an agent with prices based on volume.

CommScope expands access to top network infrastructure solutions via new global partner program

Highly skilled expertise and support for network deployments around the world have been vastly expanded through the unveiling of the new CommScope PartnerPRO Network. It is one of the world’s most comprehensive networks of certified partners supporting cable television, business enterprise, wireline and wireless customers.

The CommScope PartnerPRO Network consists of consultants, integrators, installers, distributors and alliance partners who are trained and certified by CommScope to deliver the company’s broad range of network solutions. CommScope is uniquely positioned to support certified partners across cable TV, enterprise, wireline and wireless markets.

Stephen Kowal, vice president, Global Partners, CommScope explained that through the PartnerPRO Network, CommScope is building an extensive network of skilled professionals focused on solving their customers most complex technological problems. CommScope partners are closely aligned with them in selecting, supplying and/or implementing world-class communications solutions for cable plants, data centers, wireless systems and other networks.

Network technology complexity and subscriber expectations are increasing. When a rural cable operator wants to add fiber to the network, an IT manager needs to upgrade the data center, or a facility manager receives complaints about slow in-building wireless service, the CommScope PartnerPRO Network can help. PartnerPRO links the right people with the right solutions so customers can make the right choices when implementing CommScope solutions. With PartnerPRO, customers can get the answers they need for their most pressing network issues and decisions plus:

• State-of-the-art technology solutions with upgrade paths that can decrease capital and operating expenses

• Warranty protection on CommScope certified solutions

• Consistent installation services globally

• Peace of mind from working with expert industry professionals

CommScope’s PartnerPRO Network also benefits its partners. Becoming a CommScope certified partner helps consultants, integrators, installers and distributors differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. Partners also receive:

• Training and certification supported by the market leading CommScope Infrastructure

• Ability to offer CommScope warranty programs

• Increased access to CommScope’s global customer base

• Increased recognition in the marketplace

• Potential early access to new technology

• Ongoing training

He added that CommScope has successfully operated a BusinessPartner program for years, which PartnerPRO expands upon and replaces. Partners and customers have consistently verified the benefits of participating in a CommScope partner program, and they’re confident that this new One CommScope partner program raises the bar even further.

In addition to consultation, installation and commissioning services, CommScope Partners will be able to offer and support the company’s brands, including:

• Andrew  solutions for wireless networks, especially challenging coverage and capacity applications

• SYSTIMAX solutions for data centers and intelligent buildings

• BOS (BrightPath Optical Solutions) for “fiber to the x” broadband

• Uniprise solutions for structured cabling needs

Microsoft to acquire Cloud-integrated storage provider StorSimple

In a bid to further expand its cloud offerings, the Redmond giant Microsoft has announced that it is all set to acquire cloud storage vendor StorSimple.

Opened three and a half years ago, StorSimple is among a relatively new breed of companies which offers appliances that stores data onsite. Along with storing data onsite, it also replicates data to an offsite, public cloud storage provider using encryption. StorSimple basically offers cloud-integrated storage (CiS) solutions.

It is noteworthy that CiS is an emerging category of storage solutions that reduces cost of backup and disaster recovery by consolidating data management between on-premise and cloud environments.

It is reportedly said that the latest move by Microsoft will further improve its Cloud OS vision and facilitate customers to leverage its hybrid cloud computing services, in a better way.

According to Ursheet Parikh, co-founder and CEO of StorSimple, the company is excited to continue to work with Microsoft and bring the combined benefits of StorSimple and Windows Azure to customers around the world.

StorSimple has also technology partnerships with other major and emerging cloud service providers including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, HP Cloud Services and Rackspace.

The terms of Microsoft’s latest purchase have not been disclosed.

IBM to acquire Israel mobile software firm Red Bend

According to a recent update, IBM Corp is in advanced talks to buy 71 percent market share of Israel-based Red Bend Software. If reports are to be believed, the latest deal between IBM and red Bend will close for $200 to $250 million.

Founded in 1999 by Yoram Salinger, the Red Bend is a software company which offers mobile software and mobile virtualization technologies to mobile phone manufacturers and operators. It enables multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on a mobile phone. Also, it facilitates cellular phone manufacturers to speed up new embedded services and respond swiftly to faults. This way, operators can reduce support costs via remote updates using the web.

It is worth noticing, the latest deal would be IBM's 12th acquisition in Israel and the second in the mobile sector.

Reliable insiders informed our team that Red Bend has over 80 customers, including Intel, LG Electronics, Motorola, China Mobile, Qualcomm,Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Sharp.

However, it is difficult to say anything how IBM will get benefitted from its upcoming deal as officials at Red Bend were not immediately available for comment. On the other hand, a spokeswoman at IBM   declined to comment.

Cisco and NetApp Expand Data Center Infrastructure Solutions

Cisco and NetApp introduced ExpressPod, a prepackaged and tested solution for growing small and medium-sized organizations; the addition of new storage clustering capabilities to the FlexPod data center platform, and the release of a validated VMware solution for Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) on FlexPod.

Cisco and NetAppinfrastructure solutions are on display this week at VMworld Europe at Cisco booth D200 and NetApp booth D206. For growing small and medium-sized organizations that are beginning to virtualize their networking, storage, and computing environments, ExpressPod offers prepackaged and tested solution bundles. Integrated and delivered by joint channel partners, ExpressPod integrates Cisco UCS C-Series servers, NetApp FAS2220 or FAS2240 storage, and Cisco Nexus 3048 switches with infrastructure management, into an affordable, easy-to-deploy infrastructure solution. ExpressPod supports an open ecosystem of management and hypervisor solutions.

Servicing the needs of large enterprise data centers, FlexPod now features support and validation for VMware vSphere on NetApp Data ONTAP 8 operating in Cluster-Mode. Now, organizations can drive growth by adding nodes to their storage cluster creating large storage pools that span storage devices and can scale almost infinitely. The storage pool resources can be dynamically allocated and securely isolated to support multi-tenancy. NetApp storage clustering also enables nondisruptive data migration of hundreds of virtual machines at a time to facilitate load balancing, system maintenance and device upgrades without interrupting the running applications.

Additionally, for companies that are virtualizing Oracle RAC databases with VMware vSphere and vCenter, Cisco and NetApp offer validated design support, including documented deployment best practices. The Oracle RAC on FlexPod solution, validated with VMware, features secure multi-tenancy, application and data mobility, integrated data protection, and automated provisioning. These features provide organizations with a prevalidated, virtualized production solution to manage more databases in less time and space.

 “Our agency was managing and maintaining three separate data center infrastructures,” said Rich Oldfield, chief technology officer, Ignition Creative. “We are working with Cisco and NetApp to converge our infrastructure onto the FlexPod data center platform and massively simplify operations. By deploying FlexPod, we’re confident we’ll be able to scale our infrastructure without limit, and without disruption to our business, as our needs grow.”

ESET Releases ESET USSD Control on Google Play to Prevent Dangerous Android USSD Vulnerability

ESET released a special free app, ESET USSD Control, mitigating a potentially very dangerous vulnerability flaw in certain Android-based smartphones. Smartphone and tablets powered by Android OS having 68.1% market share in India, according to IDC report for Q2 2012, are prone to dangerous USSD vulnerability. This allows malicious software to reset Android devices to its factory default settings and permanently delete users’ data.

The purpose of USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) codes (a code starting with asterisk *, continuing with hashtags # or digits, which represent commands or data, and ending with a hashtag) is that telecom operators can provide distance support for phone devices. By entering these codes on your phone you can, for example, by entering *#06# you can see your device’s IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity). Other codes reveal different information from your balance information or weather forecast or carry out actions, like a device reset.

The Android OS USSD Vulnerability allows the cyber-criminals to wipe the phone data remotely by making users to visit a URL, either directly or through a single text message, or a QR code. This attack was described by Ravishankar Borgaonkar, a research assistant in the Telecommunications Security department at the Technical University of Berlin, who demonstrated the remote data wiping attack during the Ekoparty security conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ESET is one of the first major antivirus vendors to provide the fix in the form of a free stand-alone app on Google Play. After installing the app, user should check whether their smartphone is open to such attack by using ESET’s USSD test.

 “ESET USSD Control is an application that allows the user to check potentially malicious phone numbers (USSD codes) before they are dialed (executed) by the default phone dialer. It will block malicious websites as well. Checking for malicious codes before they are executed, ESET USSD Control makes sure all data on Android phone stay safe,” says Tibor Novosad, Head of Mobile Applications Section at ESET.

The app displays a warning window each time when a malicious USSD code is found, blocking the execution of the command. In order to protect smartphone from USSD attacks, user has to make sure that ESET USSD Control is set as a default dialer. Keeping users’ privacy as a first priority, ESET scans only USSD codes and is not storing dialed numbers.