High unemployment levels due to the global recession are fuelling cyber crime, and increasing competition among criminal syndicates, resulting in threats aimed at financial exploitation becoming more prevalent.
With this in mind, Kaspersky Lab has unveiled its latest security applications, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 and Kaspersky Internet Security 2010. According to the company, these feature improved technology and performance to protect users from evolving cyber threats.
Garry Kondakov, MD of Kaspersky EEMEA region, says online theft costs $100 billion a year, and while organised cyber crime is growing exponentially, there are lots of people who don't know how to protect themselves.
According to Kondakov, the products feature complex new security features. “The 2010 products incorporate the advantages of advanced Host-based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) technology in the application control module. This assigns a security rating to previously unknown malware.”
Another feature, Sandbox technology, acts as a virtual quarantine zone, which provides a dedicated secure runtime environment.
Real-time
The 2010 products also include Kaspersky Security Network (KSN), which uses information from millions of users to dramatically reduce response times to new threats and replenish reputation databases with the most up-to-date information about clean and infected files.
Kondakov says the products give consumers real-time, automated protection from a range of online threats, and contain anti-rootkit technologies which detect rootkits and obtain information about the file to delete it from the system.
“Additionally, links to malicious Web sites are disabled and unsafe Web sites are colour-coded for easy reference and protection,” he explains.
According to him, the products provide advanced identity theft protection, two-way personal firewall protection, and defences against software vulnerabilities.
He adds that the improved HIPS ensures customers enjoy real-time protection without the unnecessary stream of constant downloads and all unknown applications are subject to multiple factor analysis to ensure safety.
The KSN online reputation service, which started providing input for the HIPS module in the previous version of Kaspersky Internet Security, has also undergone improvements. “KSN is designed to reduce the amount of time required to detect and block new types of threats,” says Kaspersky.
In some instances, notes Kondakov, it can take less than 40 seconds from the appearance of a previously unknown malicious program for complete protection against it to become available for users of Kaspersky Lab products.
Strictly confidential
Kondakov says the products feature an extended set of tools to protect confidential data. As an example, he cites the new solutions' ability to automatically block an unwary user's access to known phishing sites, and block spyware intended to steal a user's passwords and access codes.
He says Internet Security 2010 features a virtual keyboard that enables the user to enter usernames and passwords securely. This protects confidential data from being stolen by spyware and prevents screenshots from being taken from the virtual keyboard window, so users can bank online or use any other confidential information with complete security.
As security threats grow and change, users are looking for solutions to meet their security needs, explains Kondakov. “In internal performance tests, both Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 and Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 delivered significant performance enhancements in the areas of memory usage, boot time and scan protection speed.”
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