Anti Program Spam

MessageLabs, a leading provider of integrated messaging and web security services to businesses worldwide, today announced the findings of its MessageLabs Intelligence Report for July 2007. Continuing last month's trend, spam sent as PDF attachments remained a preferred tactic for the bad guys, but MessageLabs saw increased adoption by more professional spammers who are now modifying the PDF files to bypass detection.

Approximately 20 percent of all image spam now involves PDFs. In some of the most recent examples, the PDF documents were created programmatically with document protection settings enabled -- features that make spam more likely to bypass detection by typical anti-spam scanners. MessageLabs also noted the PDFs still contained "Bayes Poison," which are long lists of randomly selected words that are unlikely to appear in a normal spam message, as an added cover to evade detection.

GCN Lab review | Antivirus programs seek and destroy malicious code waiting to pounce on remote systems

An antivirus program used to be like an insurance policy on your car: something that came in handy should you have an accident. But as the amount of malicious code has increased, antivirus has become more like oil in your engine. Your computer might run a little ways without it, but it won’t get far.

The core of any good security system is antivirus, though anti-spyware and anti-spam protection are also important. During the past few years, the GCN Lab has reviewed appliances that sit at the gateway to a network and zap all kinds of malicious code before it even hits an agency e-mail server. But what about traveling employees or teleworkers? Sure, they can connect to the office via a virtual private network or other secure link, but that might not always be available. Those mobile warriors need personal protection when away from their agency’s digital fortress.

Software provides anti-spy tools.

Available in 26 languages, GSA Cleandrive helps users get rid of most privacy violations on their PC. It deletes all Internet traces, recently opened files, and logs that show what program user has run recently. Program also erases tracks that could be used to steal user's identity. In addition to anti-spy tools, software helps optimize speed of computer by cleaning up unused files and temporary directories of applications.

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