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Symantec protects smartphones

Security software company Symantec has launched its new security product for mobile devices.

Dubbed Norton Smartphone Security, the product provides protection for devices which use both Windows Mobile and Symbian OS. As well as Norton Antivirus, the new product also has a firewall and antispam for text messaging. Rowan Trollope, senior vice president, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec, said: "Smartphones are expanding consumer freedom to communicate and access important information anytime, anywhere.

"However, unsecure public Wi-Fi or network connections can put users at risk. In addition, web and email viruses can directly infect smartphones, enabling hackers to remotely control the device, access sensitive information or disable applications." Mr Trollope added that Smartphone Security "runs discreetly in the background" and provides users the knowledge that they are safe to email, browse the internet or even bank online from a mobile device. Meanwhile, it has been reported that businesses in the Asia-Pacific region are to spend at least $2.8 billion on IT security a study from Access Markets International found.

Internet 'a weapon'

The newly-appointed UN counter-terrorism chief has warned that the internet is effectively being used as a weapon by terrorists, reports Reuters.

Mike Smith said that terrorists around the world can use the internet as a place to organize and communicate. For this reason the internet must be much more closely monitored by the UN and individual nations' security outfits, he added.

Mr Smith told the news service: "The internet is a real worry and I don't think we've found the answer yet. "In the old days extremists used to have to cross borders to plan and attack sites. Nowadays a lot of that stuff can happen on the internet, they can give instructions, they can coordinate, they can recruit through these jihadi websites."

An international campaign against using the internet for militant purposes must be initiated by the UN, Mr Smith added. Meanwhile, the list of terrorism suspects that the UN and the EU keeps includes the names of people who are entirely innocent, the Council of Europe's legal committee has said.

Hacker hits eBay

The popular internet auction site eBay has been broken into by a hacker who has locked some members out of the site.

Only a "very small" number of members were affected by the break-in, eBay has insisted. The news site AuctionBytes was the first to report the incident. Last month a hacker broke into the site and stole personal information about eBay users and posted it on a forum. Of this most recent incident, Nichola Sharpe, a spokeswoman for eBay, was quoted by PC World as saying: "We were able to block the fraudster quickly before any permanent damage had been done.

"At no point did the fraudster get any access to financial information or other sensitive information." She maintained that rather than hacking into the eBay website itself, the hacker responsible broke into "externally visible servers".

The site is involved in an "ongoing battle" against those trying to compromise its security, Ms Sharpe continued.

Facebook Users 'Vulnerable'

Many users of the popular social networking site Facebook expose their personal information to anybody who wishes to see it, Sophos has warned.

The security software company stated that in making their personal details public information Facebook users are making themselves vulnerable to cyber criminals. In the London network on Facebook, the largest network on the site, a full 75 percent of users allow anybody to see their profile, whether they have been accepted as a "friend" or not.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said: "I was flabbergasted when I joined a network on Facebook using a profile which I thought was secure, only to find Facebook had changed a number of settings and was opening me up to millions of strangers." "Who was to say that cyber criminals weren't in that network too? Is it right that Facebook works this way?" Currently Facebook has approximately 34 million members worldwide.

Microsoft to release four patches

In its monthly security update, Microsoft is to release four patches later today, the company has announced.

Only one of the patches has been labeled "critical", the highest security rating for a Microsoft patch. Three other patches have been deemed "important" by Microsoft. One of these is designed to remedy a privilege escalation bug for Unix applications.

The other two patches are for Visual Studio and MSN Messenger, to fix weaknesses that could possibly allow remote code execution. Microsoft has not been specific about what the fourth, critical patch pertains to, though it is a part of Windows 2000 SP 4. Neither Windows or Vista are affected however, Microsoft has claimed. The company was to have released five patches today, but will now only release four.

Eric Schultze, a security architect at Shavlik, told SCMagazineUS.com: "[The revision] means it hasn't passed their testing. There is a beta patch test group that will do all of the testing of the security patches about five weeks before they're to be released." September's release will contain the fewest patches of those in the last several months.

Internet Crime Committed Every Ten Seconds

Last year in excess of three million internet crimes were committed, according to recent research performed by the online identity company Garlik.

This means that someone became a victim of an internet crime approximately every ten seconds. And in approximately 75 percent of the cases the victim was a private citizen rather than a business or government organization.

Garlik chief executive Tom Ilube commented: "Our study is the first step in measuring the impact of cybercrime. "It demonstrates how real and widespread a problem it is, covering illegal activities from computer hacking, stalking or bullying via the internet, financial scams and identity theft." There is more personal information on the internet than ever, making it crucial that users be alert about protecting their personal details, added Mr Ilube. A full 90 percent of internet crimes are not reported by the victims, as they believe that the authorities will be helpless to prosecute, the survey found.

Meanwhile, it has been 25 years since the first computer virus, Elk Cloner, was created.