ISACA’s EuroCACS Conference Demystifies the Cloud

Event for IT Professionals Will Take Place 20-23 March, Manchester

London, England, (8^th March 2011)—Global business and information technology (IT) leaders will meet at the European Computer Audit, Control and Security (EuroCACS) Conference in Manchester from 20-23 March to share the latest guidance on key IT security and governance issues facing enterprises today. Hosted by ISACA, a global association of 95,000 IT professionals, EuroCACS will examine topics such as virtualisation, outsourcing, governance, risk and compliance, social computing, social networking and human factors, and cloud computing.

EuroCACS will feature 12 sessions that help attendees demystify the cloud.

Urs Fischer, CISA, CRISC, owner of Urs Fischer IT GRC Consultancy, will examine the benefits that cloud computing can offer from the perspective of cutting costs—a key motivation for the migration from in-house services. Mike Small, information security management advisor, will outline the changes to identity and access management that will exist in the cloud environment, and Peter Wood, CEO, First Base Technologies LLP, will share how to improve information security in the cloud.

Robert Stroud, CGEIT, vice president, CA Technologies will be looking into his ‘crystal ball’ to discuss the impact of new technology and emerging trends, including the affect cloud-computing is likely to have on the future of IT.

Prof. John Walker, CISM, managing director of Secure-Bastion Ltd, will address the challenges and risks involved in implementing cloud-based solutions in his session titled ‘Cloud Computing and the Extended Perimeter: New Age Risk Management’. Walker is confident that cloud-based solutions can match, and even exceed, those in place in-house today, within the areas of operational ownership, reducing cost and increasing efficiency.

“Cloud computing provides opportunities of scale, with the ability to switch into and out of services as dictated by operational need,” said Walker. “With the appropriate governance structures in place, cloud computing can add substantial value to an enterprise by allowing for flexibility and potentially reducing costs substantially.” 

To learn more about the emerging opportunities and technologies that are available to drive the business, visit www.isaca.org/eurocacs. For a complimentary white paper titled Cloud Computing: Business Benefits With Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives, visit www.isaca.org/cloud.

About ISACA

With 95,000 constituents in 160 countries, ISACA^® (www.isaca.org) is a leading global provider of knowledge, certifications, community, advocacy and education on information systems (IS) assurance and security, enterprise governance and management of IT, and IT-related risk and compliance. Founded in 1969, the nonprofit, independent ISACA hosts international conferences, publishes the ISACA^® Journal, and develops international IS auditing and control standards, which help its constituents ensure trust in, and value from, information systems. It also advances and attests IT skills and knowledge through the globally respected Certified Information Systems Auditor^® (CISA^®), Certified Information Security Manager^® (CISM^®), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT^® (CGEIT^®) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control™ (CRISC™) designations.

ISACA continually updates COBIT^®, which helps IT professionals and enterprise leaders fulfill their IT governance and management responsibilities, particularly in the areas of assurance, security, risk and control, and deliver value to the business.

Follow ISACA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ISACANews

Metro Bank Provide Innovative Approach to Banking and Security with Trusteer

London, 8th March, 2011 – Metro Bank, the first new high street bank in the UK for 100 years, today announced it has enlisted the Trusteer Rapport secure browsing service to ensure its customers are protected and secure in their online transactions with the bank, from the start. Having experienced exponential growth since its launch in July, a key consideration in Metro Bank’s selection of Trusteer is that it is a proven security technology that can scale in a rapid growth environment moving from protecting a several thousand customers one day to millions the next.

Metro Bank brings a fresh approach to banking in the UK.

As a new entrant to the industry, Metro Bank has the perfect opportunity to benefit from the latest technology and business practice. One such area is online banking where it believes it is important not only to secure customers accessing their bank accounts online, but also when they spend online on other websites, with the mindset that providing adequate protection for all of its customers’ online financial transactions is paramount.

Craig Donaldson, CEO, Metro Bank PLC, explains further, “When we launched in July, we wanted to differentiate our services from other high street banks.  We take the security of our customers very seriously and that means we have the best security components available.  By adding Trusteer to our armory and offering it as a complimentary service to our customers, we can ensure that not only do we provide an  unparalleled customer service experience, but also that our customers’ money is completely safe and secure”.

“By selecting Trusteer, Metro Bank has plugged into the biggest financial attack database on the internet and can immediately leverage the experience of the most attacked brands in the world to protect their customers against malware and phishing attacks,¨ said Mickey Boodaei CEO of Trusteer.  “When it comes to being able to detect, analyze, and remove financial threats from customers' computers trusteer has proven over and over again that it’s the fastest and most comprehensive technology in the market today.”

Security Begins At Home

Unfortunately, in today’s threat environment, traditional protection methods (firewalls and antivirus software) are inadequate as criminals are continually striving to find ways to circumnavigate them. Zeus is one such example with its ability to morph making it hard for traditional technology to detect. Providing additional security measures helps everyone bank safely online, even those who are not technically savvy, which helps keep costs down. The strength of Trusteer is that it protects customers at their own PC providing a trusted secure access point to the bank, meaning they can transact securely and provides confidence that everyone is protected – bank and customers.

Trusteer Secures Online Banking

When a Trusteer user browses to sensitive websites such as internet banking, Webmail, or online payment pages, the service immediately locks down the browser and creates a secure tunnel for safe communication with the web site. This prevents malware from injecting data and stealing information entered and presented in the browser. Trusteer also removes malicious financial malware it discovers on protected machines. The service is directly connected to the bank and to a 24x7 fraud analysis service. Attempts to steal money from customers are immediately detected by the bank and are blocked using various layers of protection.

Trusteer Secures Online Spending 

When a customer uses their bank card to make an online purchase from a computer protected by Trusteer, the Rapport service automatically detects the action and then prevents fraudsters from intercepting the card number and protects any other personal information entered by the user into the webpage.

About Metro Bank PLC

Metro Bank was co-founded by Vernon Hill and Anthony Thomson. It is based on the successful Commerce Bank model that was established by Vernon Hill in the US in 1973. A UK management team worked with Vernon Hill to help bring this model to the UK market.

Metro Bank operates retail hours, not banking hours. It will be open seven days a week (8am- 8pm Monday to Friday, 8am - 6pm Saturday, 11am - 4pm Sunday and bank holidays), every day of the year apart from Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Metro Bank PLC. Registered in England and Wales. Company number: 6419578. Registered office: One Southampton Row, London, WC1B 5HA. ‘Metrobank’ is the registered trade mark of Metro Bank PLC.

In relation to acceptance of deposits and provision of investment and insurance services, Metro Bank PLC is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority ('FSA'). In relation to consumer credit business, Metro Bank PLC is licensed and regulated by the Office of Fair Trading and not by the FSA. Most relevant deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.  For further information about the Scheme refer to the FSCS website www.fscs.org.uk. 

All Metro Bank products are subject to status and approval.

Metro Bank PLC is an independent UK bank - it is not affiliated with any other bank or organisation (including the METRO newspaper or its publishers) anywhere in the world. Please refer to Metro Bank using the full name.

Metro Bank is led by a talented team of UK Executives:

• Craig Donaldson, Chief Executive Officer, formerly Managing Director of Retail Banking at Royal Bank of Scotland
• Paul Marriott-Clarke, Managing Director, Retail Banking, formerly Managing Director, Network South, Retail, HBOS
• Darren Schindler, Managing Director, Commercial Banking, formerly CEO, Oak Capital Group
• Aisling Kane, Chief Operations Officer, formerly Director of UK Operations at Anglo Irish Bank
• Mike Brierley, Chief Financial Officer, formerly Director, Business Risk at Barclaycard
• Mike Hudson, Chief Risk Officer, formerly Group Head of Risk at Hitachi Capital

Its non-executive directors are:

• Stuart Bernau, former Retail Director, Nationwide Building Society
• Keith Carby, Co-founder, J Rothschild Assurance
• Howard Flight, Founder, Guinness Flight Asset Management
• Ben Gunn, former Chief Executive of Friends Provident Life & Pensions
• Vernon Hill, Founder of Commerce Bank
• Eugene Lockhart, former CEO of Midland Bank and MasterCard International and former President, Global Retail Banking at Bank of America
• Graeme Hardie, Senior Adviser on Retail Markets to the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
• Anthony Thomson, Chairman, Financial Services Forum

About Trusteer

Trusteer is the world’s leading provider of Secure Web Access services. The company offers a range of services that detect, block and remove attacks launched directly against endpoints such as Man in the Browser, Man in the Middle and Phishing. Trusteer services are being used by leading financial organizations and enterprises in North America and Europe, and by tens of millions of their employees and customers to secure web access from mobile devices, tablets and computers to sensitive applications such as webmail, online payment, and online banking. HSBC, Santander, The Royal Bank of Scotland, SunTrust, Fifth Third, ING DIRECT, and BMO Financial Group are just a few of the companies using Trusteer’s technology. Trusteer is a privately held corporation led by former executives from RSA Security, Imperva, and Juniper. Follow us on www.Twitter.com/Trusteer. For more information about our services, please visit www.trusteer.com.

Source: Eskenzi PR

BitDefender warns Facebook scammers are targeting Twitter

Evidence suggests authors are looking to replicate their Facebook success

BitDefender^®, an award winning provider of innovative internet security solutions, offers evidence supporting the close connection between the Twitter scam reported by the Sophos naked security blog and a similar Facebook scam.

The BitDefender online threats team traced one of the URLs used to spread the #howlong Twitter attack and based on the advanced statistics provided by bit.ly managed to discover  that several Facebook scams such as ‘See your first status’, ‘See who viewed your profile’ and ‘Your top stalker’ had been disseminated from the same user account. This previously tested recipe turns out to be a success among microblogging fans, which confirms that scammers are not necessarily creative but highly profit oriented. Crucially, it also confirms that scams on Facebook are performed by the same people that send scams on Twitter.

Statistics illustrate the proportions of this phenomenon both in point of geographical distribution and click count. For example, two of the malicious URLs used in this scam gathered more than eight thousand clicks. While this may not be an impressive figure in itself, users should be aware that the most frequent scenario is for each Facebook scam wave to use more than two hundred URLs to spread.

George Petre, BitDefender Threat Intelligence Team Leader states, “The similarities between the two scams indicate that their authors did not go to too much trouble when creating them, but that they clearly had efficiency in mind. Considering that social networks are a common layer of all platforms, scam authors may have found the perfect medium in which to cleverly maximise impact and any revenue they may be able to make.”

For the full report please visit Malware City. For a full list of BitDefender 2011 features and benefits by product, please visit www.bitdefender.co.uk or follow BitDefender on Twitter for daily malware alerts.

About BitDefender®
BitDefender is the creator of one of the industry's fastest and most effective lines of internationally certified security software. Since its inception in 2001, BitDefender has continued to raise the bar and set new standards in proactive threat prevention. Every day, BitDefender protects tens of millions of home and corporate users across the globe - giving them the peace of mind of knowing that their digital experiences will be secure. BitDefender security solutions are distributed by a global network of value-added distribution and reseller partners in more than 100 countries worldwide. More information about BitDefender and its products are available at the company’s security solutions press room. Additionally, BitDefender’s www.malwarecity.com provides background and the latest updates on security threats helping users stay informed in the everyday battle against malware.

Analyst report outlines the importance of metadata to prevent data leaks

When it comes to securing and managing data,
It’s all about the metadata

New Analyst Report Outlines the Importance of Metadata Technology to Manage the Digital Information Explosion and Prevent Future Data Leaks

NEW YORK – March 7, 2011 - Varonis Systems Inc., the foremost provider of comprehensive data governance software, today announced the findings of a Technology Spotlight issued by analyst firm IDC, which outlines the emergence of metadata framework technology as a now critical component for managing and securing unstructured and semi-structured data within an organization.

The report, titled “Leveraging Metadata Framework Technology to Take Control of the Information Explosion,” highlights how the widespread use of collaborative content technologies is fueling the aggressive growth of unstructured and semi-structured data. While collaboration produces highly valuable information, it also introduces significant risk due to increasingly complex and dynamic access control requirements.

“Digital integrity is a critical business differentiator for any organization. The high-profile data breaches in the last three years demonstrate that organizations who fail to protect sensitive data will incur serious regulatory and legal liabilities, along with revenue and market share declines,” said Vivian Tero, program director, Governance, Risk & Compliance Infrastructure at IDC. “Visibility, actionable intelligence and automation are critical to managing the explosion of unstructured and semi-structured content in distributed systems.”

Varonis^® Metadata Framework™ technology is designed to nonintrusively collect critical metadata about unstructured and semi-structured data. Varonis customers have the ability to completely standardize unstructured and semi-structured data protection and management for their file systems, NAS, SharePoint Sites and Exchange mailboxes and public folders with the Varonis Metadata Framework technology that forms the foundation of Varonis software. Organizations can effectively and automatically manage data access control, ownership, classification, entitlements and authorization processes on the platforms that host unstructured and semi-structured data. The Varonis Metadata Framework enables organizations to expand digital collaboration boundaries safely while at the same time significantly increase IT workforce productivity for daily data protection and management tasks.

“The findings of this technology spotlight underscore the need for organizations to have metadata framework technology in place that automates the process of answering the following questions: Who has access to data, who is using their access, who shouldn't have access, who owns the data, and what data is sensitive?’” said Yaki Faitelson, chief executive officer, president and co-founder of Varonis Systems. “With IT departments already stretched thin, the days of manually verifying data entitlements and remediating compliance violations are not only impractical and time consuming, but also detrimental to a company’s bottom line.”

IDC forecasts that the total digital universe volume will increase by a factor of 44 in 2020. According to the report, unstructured data and metadata have an average annual growth rate of 62 percent. More importantly, high-value information is also skyrocketing. In 2008, IDC found that 22 to 33 percent of the digital universe was high-value information (data and content that are governed by security, compliance and preservation obligations). Today, IDC forecasts that high-value information will comprise close to 50 percent of the digital universe by the end of 2020. 

Drivers for a metadata framework include:

· Data loss is rising: IDC research notes that organizations average 14.4 unintentional data losses a year, mostly through employee negligence. Organizations need to ensure that controls are in place to mitigate the risks of data leakage, theft, loss and integrity arising from excessive access rights and permissions and non-existent audit trails. Excessive and/or out of date privilege and access rights were considered as having the most financial impact on the organization.

· IT is drowning in the data deluge: IT budgets are, on average, growing at less than one-fifth the forecasted annual growth rates of digital information, according to IDC. At the same time, manual approaches to managing and protecting information have become unwieldy, error-prone and ineffective. IT needs automated analysis of the permissions structure to determine which containers require ownership, and analysis of actual access activity to identify likely data owners.

· Stale data impacts the bottom line: Inactive and orphaned folders can be as high as 70 to 85 percent of the data in distributed systems. The majority of organizations have no process to identify the owner of files, and many are unable to determine which individuals and roles are authorized to access the data.

· Impact on the cloud: Without adequate information on the security and compliance profile of the data – including data ownership, access controls, audits and classification – cloud computing initiatives are amorphous and imprecise. CFOs and CIOs will be hesitant to move critical data and processes into the cloud without visibility on access and ownership, traceability and data segregation.

· Automation is key to success: Too often, users have access to significant amounts of data that isn’t relevant to them. Organizations therefore need to ensure that users and roles are aligned to correct groups, and that these groups enable access to the appropriate data containers.

About the Varonis® Metadata Framework™

Four types of metadata are critical for data governance:

• User and Group Information – from Active Directory, LDAP, NIS, SharePoint, etc.
• Permissions Information – knowing who can access what data in which containers
• Access Activity – knowing which users do access what data, when, and how
• Sensitive Content Indicators – knowing which files contain items of sensitivity and importance,

and where they reside

The Varonis Metadata Framework non-intrusively collects this critical metadata, generates metadata where existing metadata is lacking (e.g. its file system filters and content inspection technologies), pre-processes it, normalizes it, analyzes it, stores it, and presents it to IT administrators in an interactive, dynamic interface.

The Technology Spotlight paper is adapted from "IDC Worldwide Governance, Risk, & Compliance Infrastructure 2010-2014 Forecast: Increased Regulatory Oversight, Privacy, Cloud Computing and Smart Cities Drive Emerging GRC Obligations 2010" by Vivian Tero; IDC doc #222214. The paper is available online at varonis.com/metadata.

Free 30-day Trial Aids with Data Leak Prevention

Enterprises can receive a free, 30-day trial of Varonis DatAdvantage to help them with their data governance assessments by visiting go.varonis.com/go/17982 Within hours of installation, customers can conduct an automated permissions audit, generate reports, and see which users are accessing the data and how.

About Varonis Systems
Varonis is the leader in unstructured and semi-structured data governance for file systems, SharePoint and NAS devices, and Exchange servers. The company was named "Cool Vendor" in Risk Management and Compliance by Gartner, and voted one of the "Fast 50 Reader Favorites" on FastCompany.com. Varonis has over 3,000 installations worldwide. Based on patented technology and a highly accurate analytics engine, Varonis' solutions give organizations total visibility and control over their data, ensuring that only the right users have access to the right data at all times. Varonis is headquartered in New York, with regional offices in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and research and development offices in Hertzliya, Israel.

Varonis, the Varonis logo, DatAdvantage and DataPrivilege are registered trademarks of Varonis Systems in the United States and/or other countries and Data Classification Framework and Metadata Framework are under a registration process in the United States and/or other countries. All other product and company names and marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.

Source: Eskenzi PR Ltd. for Varonis Systems

DES Launches New DESlock+ Enterprise Server

· DES revolutionises key and policy encryption management by moving deployment into the cloud

Taunton, UK, 4^th March 2011 – Data Encryption Systems Limited (DES), the UK-based leader in software copyright protection, data encryption and winner of Computing Security's Encryption Product of the Year 2010, has today announced the release of its new DESlock+ Enterprise Server.

The new DESlock+ Enterprise Server brings cloud-based management to endpoint encryption, allowing centralised control of encryption keys and policy beyond the perimeter of corporate networks. Companies will be able to extend encryption security policy to include home and mobile networks by allowing users to send updates on key management through the cloud, meaning data can be updated and accessed from anywhere. David Tomlinson, Managing Director for DES, comments:

“End-point encryption is mostly targeted at mobile workers using laptops and USB flash drives, as it allows users to protect their data even from remote locations, ensuring they are meeting data protection and compliance requirements at all times. However end-point encryption still often relies on users connecting to a corporate network to manage their encryption keys and software policy, which can cause an issue for users who are seldom in the office.

Previously DESlock+ Enterprise Server has allowed for management of endpoints via the internet, however setup and configuration through this method is complex, slow and expensive. By moving the deployment component into the cloud all connections from client and server become outgoing, making it easy and cost effective for any organisation to remotely manage endpoint encryption, meeting regulatory conditions and completing security audits along the way.”

Cloud-based management is a game-changing technology for software products with complex and variable configurations, anti-virus being an ideal example. Encryption, however, poses a different set of problems; most importantly not wanting to store encryption keys on an internet web-server. DES’s new patent-pending solution splits part of the Enterprise Server off, moving the deployment component into the cloud to create a Proxy Server. This Enterprise Proxy behaves in a similar way to an email server, with client updates synched out for collection by the end-user, and status responses synched back for collection by the Enterprise Server. With communications protected by SSL encryption, the data posted through the Enterprise Proxy is protected with 1024 bit RSA and 256 AES.  Tomlinson explains:

“Our technology is genuinely revolutionary, and our patent pending status confirms this. No one else is doing this at the moment and it can transform the way key management is handled for remote workers.  The Enterprise Proxy is hosted in a 3 tier data centre in London, but for anyone not wishing to use this service, it may be hosted on their own web-server, with their own ISP or even run on the same computer as the Enterprise Server. Our Enterprise Server and its Proxy component can therefore offer users the convenience and cost-benefits of a cloud-based management service, without the risks created by moving encryption keys and databases off-site. The DESlock+ Enterprise Server offers customers the ability to maintain control of remote stations and staff, as well as the advantage of simplistic deployment. Our new system changes the rules for managing endpoint encryption.”

To compliment DES’s new feature enhancements, the Enterprise Server management console has been significantly improved. Now browser-based and available to multiple users, it may be used by Administrators with full access to Encryption policy settings and encryption keys or help-desk users who are limited to user recovery and remotely resetting passwords, which allows more flexibility with day-to-day management. Other key features include:

· Web-Based User Interface – A multi-user interface available from most web browsers from any point on the network

· Internet Connection – Client updates and status responses are encrypted and transmitted over the web

· Licence Management – Multiple organisational units and group licences can be managed from a single interface

· Encryption Key Management – Keys may be added, removed or erased remotely, with updates targeting users and/or workstations

· Encryption Policy Management – The product facilitates the full remote control of software features and endpoint encryption policy

· Assured Security – DESlock+ is CESG CCTM accredited and FIPS 140-2 level 1 validated

This update coincides with DES’s move to a per-user licensing structure, which extends to users’ home PC’s at no extra cost.  This means that staff using home computers for work may be supplied with a corporate install to be managed centrally as part of an enterprise-wide data security program. Tomlinson concludes:

“We have launched the Enterprise Server in response to the recent remote working phenomenon and are delighted that it provides a complete data protection solution that goes beyond the traditional corporate network. This is just part of an overall drive that DES has undertaken to move with business and provide solutions that meet the needs of mobile workers. We have also recently added 2 new features for the DESlock+ Standard Edition, including removable media encryption and portable encryption, as well as moving to a per user licensing structure, giving more flexibility to mobile workers at an unbeatable price. I believe it is with innovation such as this that DES will continue to lead the market for data protection and security.”

To find out more, please visit www.des.co.uk.

About Data Encryption Systems (DES)

Since 1985, Data Encryption Systems has been the UK’s most successful manufacturer of software protection dongles, software copyright protection systems, and secure handset reprogramming accessories. Data Encryption Systems markets and supports products used by tens of thousands of businesses worldwide to protect applications, copyrighted materials, medical records, government files and other confidential and personal information. The company’s flagship product, DESlock+, has been awarded SC Magazine’s Best Buy for three successive years and was also the winner of Computing Security's Encryption Product of the Year 2010.

Malware on the Decline? Or Is Evasion on the Rise?

PandaLab’s recent malware findings report indicates that the number of infected clients has decreased in February in relation to January. The data for this research was gathered from their antivirus tool. On the face of it this is a surprising fact as security researchers are continuously discussing an epidemic of client-side threats where there is a consistent increase in malware and their variants. However, looking closely at malware we see that hackers are investing in evasion techniques to bypass security controls, such as anti-virus. More so, as hackers are releasing new variants of client-side threats at such a rapid rate, anti-malware detection tools are faced with the nearly impossible task of keeping up-to-date with all new - and old- variants.

For instance, in our labs we have witnessed quite a few Trojans which were not detected by some common AVs for over a week. Other types of malware are used to sting victims very quickly so even if an AV detects the threat, it is already too late. Take for example the re-emergence of - what Imperva has dubbed - the "Boy in the Browser" (BitB) Trojan. This Trojan, once executed on the victim's machine, re-routes the victim's traffic to pass through an attacker controlled server. The BitB does this by tampering with the mapping of hostname to network address mechanism. Once this persistent change to the configuration file is performed, the exploit code is then removed from victim's machines. As a consequence, even if that user updated their latest AV content the next time they switched on their computer, no AV mechanism would detect this modification as the malware is not even installed on the machine.

We believe that although these results show a drop in malware, in reality, client-side malware will just continue to increase making the task of ensuring security on the client's machine all the more implausible. Ultimately, consumer infection has become a business problem. This means that businesses need to start dealing with this growing threat. While providers should urge consumers to be prudent, they must learn how to interact with infected consumers and create a safe business environment for them regardless of the general threat. These solutions include identifying account takeover, defeating phishing campaigns, detecting infected clients, interacting with infected clients and even sandboxing client sessions

For more information see the Imperva Blog http://blog.imperva.com/

Fraudsters Use Bogus Support Calls to Try and Hijack Peoples PCs

Submitted by Mickey Boodaei, Trusteer CEO

With nearly 100 banks that offer Trusteer’s Rapport for secure web access we are now reaching 20 million installations.  Our large install base and the level of trust people have developed in our brand provide us with a unique view of new types of fraud as users contact our free 24x7 support center to get advice. One of these recent interesting incidents described here remind us that fraud can take many shapes and forms

We recently received a report from a concerned Rapport user who said she had a phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Windows Solutions saying that, because of error messages from her computer, he was tasked to help fix any problems she had.  In fact he was not from Microsoft and tricked her into letting him connect to her PC and then tried to con her into buying bogus security products.

The recipient of the call initially thought the call was genuine and allowed the caller to remote access her computer - and show her the "viruses which had infected my system."

"When he tried to sell me some software I ended the call and did not give him any personal details, credit card or otherwise. Nevertheless, I'm worried that my computer may be vulnerable to future attack", she told our help desk, asking for assistance.

According to our Rapport user, the telephone caller led her to a Web site that allowed her to download a free remote access application that allowed him to access her computer.

"He then showed me a long list of files - all viruses, he said, and some very dangerous. I told him that I had good security on my computer", she said, adding I could not understand how that could happen.

"He said he was transferring me to his supervisor who would solve these problems. The supervisor showed me yet more virus files, which he said were located in a hidden part of the computer and he couldn't therefore clean it up without Windows 7 being installed (I run Vista) and some new security software," she said.

Whilst it does not appear the scam artists behind this call infected our Rapport user, they then tried to sell her a £300 security application, which they could offer her much more cheaply.

"As he rang off, he warned me that my computer was in very bad shape and would crash any day. The call lasted around 20 minutes and I feel like such an idiot to have been taken in for that length of time, and very nervous that they had all the time in the world to infect my computer," the Rapport user told our researchers. 

Well, the good news is that our support team was able to work with this lady and ensure that her machine was not infected. 

We searched our support database for similar incidents and indeed we do see users coming in with similar reports from time to time. From that we can conclude that this is indeed a common method of fraud that users should be aware of and avoid. It’s easy to think that you’d never fall for this type of fraud. But keep in mind that these fraudsters are very experienced and good in what they do. If it’s not you than it could be your friend, your parents, or your spouse who may be taken in by this sort of plausible-sounding `security support calls. 

We’ve recently added an awareness center to our Rapport secure web access software. The awareness center gives you information about recent scams and security alerts that you should be aware of. It’s incorporated into the Rapport console and you can choose whether to visit it yourself or set it to pop up an alert when a new report is available. We believe this tool could be useful in keeping you in the know and providing you with tips on how to avoid new types of threats.

Every little bit helps. As the popular supermarket slogan says, and this is no less true in the IT security space. 

Say safe when using the Internet.

For more information see http://www.trusteer.com/blog