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.

Microsoft Releases Important Bundle Of Patches

A set of nine patches aimed at securing 14 bugs has been released by the software giant Microsoft.

The company has stated that six of the patches fix weaknesses that are "critical" and could be used by a cyber criminal. Windows Vista was the target of two of these patches. None of the bugs that have been patched have been acknowledged by Microsoft in the past. Don Leatham, director of solutions and strategy with PatchLink Corp, told IDG News: "People should definitely cancel their dinner plans and make sure they take this one seriously because both the breadth and impact of these are important.

"This is an intense month." The patch release is the second largest by Microsoft so far this year. Experts have said that the most critical flaw that was patched was the one in the graphics rendering engine. This flaw could potentially result in hackers fooling users into opening an email containing malware.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced that it has bought the ad company aQuantive for the sum of $6 billion.