avast! Releases Free Mobile Security
Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 04:49 Written by Alan Sunday, 15 January 2012 07:00
There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks and months about mobile security, especially surrounding the Android operating system made by Google. Much of the hype, which comes largely from the sellers of security products, is unfounded, playing off of the fears of mobile users to sell their wares. Avast!, who make free anti-virus software for computers, are now doing the same for mobile.
While malware in the mobile arena still is a rarity, it’s always best to play it safe. Since avast!, by issuing free security software, isn’t just taking advantage of scared users of mobile devices, and the growing market of mobile devices is creating an ever-growing target, it’s probably a safe bet that security is something worth looking at for your mobile handset or tablet.
avast! for mobile is currently available only for Android, but it will likely be bringing its security wares to other mobile platforms in the future. It’s a lightweight app that won’t hog up your mobile device and a little security never hurt anyone, so it may be worth a look for anyone carrying around an Android, and for those on other mobile operating systems, you may want to keep an eye on your app app store. After all, security, no matter what you are doing, is worth having.
To install avast! head over to the Android Market. For a full review, I recommend visiting AndroidAndMe who did a great job breaking everything down. You can watch a video below that also gives you an overview of the app.
Anti-Virus Finally Available for Windows Home Server 2011
Last Updated on Sunday, 8 January 2012 07:28 Written by Alan Sunday, 8 January 2012 07:28
One thing that has been lacking from the latest version of Windows Home Server is anti-virus protection. The first version of the Windows Home Server operating system from Microsoft has several anti-virus apps available from different security firms, but the 2011 OS has had nothing so far. That has been a source of some frustration from the enthusiast community who were anxious for the latest version of the server OS.
Now, finally, a company has stepped up to create the first, and only, anti-virus, software for the latest Windows Home Server version. Security firm G Data has entered the picture with their G Data IS for Home Server, which is available now for $99. Anti-virus was one of the first apps requested by Windows Homer Server users after the 2011 version was released.
It’s funny, but none of the vendors who released anti-virus apps for the original Windows Home Server have issued updates to support the latest version of the server operating system. That’s a shame, but thankfully G Data has come up big for all of us. The price is a bit steep, but when you own the market, as G Data currently does, you can name your price. However, before you fret over the cost, the $99 buys you anti-virus protection for not just your Windows Home Server, but also up to five computers on your network. You can check them out at G Data Software. Perhaps soon Microsoft will step up with a version of their Microsoft Security Essentials for the Windows Home Server.
Microsoft Releases Emergency Patch for .NET Hole
Last Updated on Thursday, 29 December 2011 06:31 Written by Alan Thursday, 29 December 2011 06:31
Although 100 is a nice round number, that’s probably not the reason Microsoft pushed out a patch for Windows right in the middle of a holiday week. When a fix suddenly appears, and it’s not “Patch Tuesday”, it usually means something very bad has been found somewhere in Windows, and in this case it’s in the .NET Framework. A hole was discovered within .NET that has been rated as “Critical” because of a Denial of Service vulnerability.
The patch, MS11-100, also address 3 other security holes that had been found in the software. The release of the patch was announced last night via a post at the Microsoft security blog. The announcement reads, in part:
“Yesterday evening, we published an Advanced Notification alerting customers to a new out-of-band security update planned to be released today. The notification listed the update as addressing a Critical Elevation-of-Privilege vulnerability, leading to several questions from customers who expected the bulletin addressing a Denial-of-Service vulnerability to be rated Important.
Before hearing about this vulnerability, we had planned to release a .NET security update addressing three vulnerabilities, one of which was a Critical elevation-of-privilege vulnerability. When this vulnerability notification arrived a few weeks ago, the ASP.NET team included the fix into the update already being developed and tested. So the bulletin today addresses four vulnerabilities, one of which is the ASP.NET Denial-of-Service vulnerability presented yesterday. You can read more about the other vulnerabilities in the Security Bulletin and we also invite you to join us for a webcast at 1:00 p.m. PST today (Dec 29) where we will describe the vulnerabilities and answer your questions live “on the air.” You can sign up for the webcast here.”
The update was was pushed out today to all machines with Windows update enabled. The fix is for virtually all active versions of Windows, which consists of Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2.
