Encryption and online backup features will be shipping on SanDisk’s entire retail USB portfolio later in the first quarter of this year.

SanDisk SecureAccess Software

• Password-protected “vault” automatically secures files with 128-bit AES encryption, protecting against unauthorized access in case the drive is lost or stolen.
• Secure partition lets consumers determine which files remain private when sharing a USB drive with colleagues or friends.
• Additional protection against computer crashes and data loss is optionally available for users with up to 2GB of secure online backup from Dmailer. Remotely access online data anytime, anywhere, and easily share large files over the cloud.
• Easy to use drag and drop functionality; the vault’s capacity on the USB flash drive adjusts automatically as content is added or removed.
• Currently shipping on select SanDisk USB drives.

SanDisk is also expanding its USB product portfolio with two new drives to meet the needs of a broad set of customers. The SanDisk Ultra® USB flash drive features faster transfer rates and the SanDisk Cruzer® Edge™ USB drive offers easy portability.

SanDisk Ultra USB Flash Drive

The SanDisk Ultra USB flash drive features faster transfer speeds of up to 15 megabytes per second (MB/sec)3 and large storage capacities that help consumers conveniently manage libraries of multimedia content. The drive carries a five year limited warranty4 and comes in 8GB to 32GB capacities carrying suggested retail prices ranging from $44.99 to $109.99.

SanDisk Cruzer Edge USB Flash Drive

SD_WORM Featuring a compact slider design for easy portability, the SanDisk Cruzer Edge USB flash drive allows consumers to bring their photos, music and videos with them wherever they go. The drive carries a two year limited warranty5 and is available in 2GB to 16GB capacities carrying suggested retail prices ranging from $12.99 to $79.99.

Availability

The SanDisk Cruzer Edge USB flash drive is available to retailers worldwide now and will be available at www.sandisk.com later this month. The SanDisk Ultra USB flash drive will be available to retailers worldwide and at www.sandisk.com later this quarter.

Today’s announcement reinforces McAfee’s innovative approach to solving the toughest challenges in network security. Full Spectrum Network Defense is the first solution to integrate a network intrusion prevention system with behavioral analysis tools to provide additional visibility across the network, real-time threat protection technology, and enterprise risk assessment tools.

“Customers have come to rely on McAfee for the best network protection available, and our commitment to them is to continue to innovate and break the molds of traditional Network IPS and firewall capabilities,” said Dan Ryan, executive vice president and general manager of the Network Security business unit at McAfee. “With Full Spectrum Network Defense, we are reinforcing that commitment by integrating best-in-class security technologies into our network defense products. We will continue to deliver on customer demand by providing powerful new tools that extend visibility into the vast unprotected areas of the network.”

Industry-Leading Advancements in Network Security

Full Spectrum Network Defense identifies traffic, users, content and applications, and defends against any threats that may exist across the network. The solution is powered by McAfee® NetPrism technology, McAfee’s patented protocol analysis approach to network threat protection, and features enhanced interlock between network security, endpoint security, and global threat intelligence, to deliver the world’s most advanced threat protection. New features being announced in the Full Spectrum Network Defense Solution include the following benefits:

* Real-time malware protection – McAfee is the first and only vendor to offer day-zero malware protection, enabled by McAfee® Artemis technology, which is tightly integrated with IPS. Supported by threat sensors distributed around the globe and McAfee’s proprietary threat analysis, IPS is able to provide ‘pre-protection’ against zero day malware, in addition to our leading vulnerability-based network protections.
* Network Threat Behavior Analysis – McAfee is releasing a new set of threat analysis appliances, which provide a comprehensive way to inspect the entire network for threats and correlate network behaviours. Additionally, McAfee is the only vendor to provide Layer-7 flow export. This, when coupled with network flow data, empowers security analysts to ‘turn on the lights’ across the network with visibility into users, data, and applications.
* Integration with McAfee Risk Advisor – McAfee’s unique decision support tool empowers administrators to immediately identify which systems are vulnerable to an attack that is underway. By analyzing the vulnerability state of endpoints and the countermeasures currently deployed, this new feature will enable IPS administrators to rapidly deploy a signature to ensure protection of devices pre-patch.
* Network Security Management – The single Network-centric console manages all aspects of the solution, including real-time threat analysis and integration of global threat intelligence feeds. McAfee IPS and behavior analysis solutions are the only solutions that offer native integration with McAfee® ePolicy Orchestrator™ security management console.

Availability

McAfee Network Security Platform M-series appliances are available today, with Version 6.1 software available in December. Pricing for the Network Security Platform M-series starts at $10,995 US. Network Security Platform T-series is generally available in Q1 of 2010, with pricing starting at $26,995. Exact pricing depends on customer requirements, selected model and associated add-on modules.

Installation

We chose a fairly new Lenovo laptop (Y330) running Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) with 2GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive and the latest updates to most drivers and programs.

We aren’t yet entirely sure if 35 minutes of installation time is normal for a fresh install, but to be fair, the longer duration of this was spent downloading latest definitions. We will concede that this could have been a result of our Internet connection (normally very reliable; 2Mb/s line).

Once installed, there is the step to register the product and this was fairly simple. Norton will start working as soon as it has installed and will run a scan of the computer in the background. Good start!

Interface

Having not used Norton previously, we were used to McAfee’s (comparatively) rather clunky UI and the new look Norton UI came as a pleasant surprise.

With plenty of options to choose from, it can be a bit daunting for first-time users and even some seasoned users! But a once-over and we were sure of what Norton was doing. It was indeed good to know that SPAM protection is enabled by default.

Features

As a user, you would normally like for your anti-virus to keep running in the background and do its job quietly. For the most part, Norton does just this. Most average users won’t bother with what’s under the hood, but we recommend a quick look at at a new technology that lets you leverage the Norton community.

This new technology rates files on your computer based on the information (of malicious code etc) received from the Norton Community. It is also recommended that you become part of this community. Changes to a file will change its rating and safety status. While none of this affects you as you work, it is a quiet job that will ensure that your files are safe for exchange and files you receive are checked for their harmlessness!

Tech info

Anti-virus programs are known to slow down your computer as the continuously monitor the health of your computer. But in case of NIS2010, this footprint is a measly one that we found to usually hover around the 18-20MB memory usage mark. Hardly anything. What this also means is that you don’t necessarily need to have a monster machine to install and run NIS2010. Even slightly older computers running about 1GB RAM can run this effectively.

Norton’s recommended configuration says 256MB RAM, but that’s being optimistic. We would really like to see how the UI works on such a computer…  if it works!

Conclusion

The usual choices for computer users range from Quick Heal, McAfee, Norton to some free options (Avast, AVG etc). You really need to look at your budget when choosing but moreover, weigh the features and decide if a few hundred rupees more is worth the payoff.

NIS 2010 costs Rs 1,420 online for a 1user 1machine license. Comparatively cheaper and definitely worth the price.

Rating: 4/5

The DNS-722-4 and DNS-726-4 are based on D-Link’s proven 2-bay network attached storage (NAS) device technology. The DNS-726-4 NVR Pro version works with D-Link as well as third party network cameras.

Both are standalone serial ATA RAID NVRs that feature a security lock, 24/7 recording with a PC, friendly graphical user interface (GUI) for multiple camera management and direct access for viewing live video or playing back recorded data through the Internet from anywhere at anytime.

One of the most powerful features of the cameras is flexible event management. The NVRs can monitor all camera "triggers" from motion detection or digital input interface. The DNS-726-4 can centrally control the digital output, email and recording of all networked cameras. For example, if camera 1 detects motion, the NVR can trigger camera 2 to record, camera 3 to emit light, and camera 4 to turn to the preset position.

An event log keeps track of log pages by date for easy look up, and multiple contact lists can be created for event notification.

Both new D-Link NVRs boast Intelligent Playback features, such as:

· Smart Search – users can save time searching through recorded data. The NVR’s intelligent search function quickly retrieves data by finding a selected area on the video and setting the search criteria (motion detected, object missing, focus lost, camera occlusion, etc.). The DNS-726-4 will display the list and play from the event timeframe.

· Multiple channel playbacks – After selecting the desired video period, the DNS-726-4 will begin playback and display up to four simultaneous channels. The DNS-722-4 supports one channel.

· Playback speed control – Both NVRs can playback at up to 16x speeds in fast forward or fast backward modes.

· Step playback – The NVRs can playback video one frame at a time.

· Video enhancement – Users can adjust the recorded video to get enhanced output for brightness, sharpness, etc. for either playback viewing, snapshots or prints.

Other key features include:

· Camera status display – Both NVRs will produce a status page to show connection, recording, frame and bit rate information for each camera. Users also can check the display to see how much recording time remain, and for easy identification, each camera’s name is shown on all video channels.

· "Always" or "Event" recording status – Users can avoid unintentional recording interruptions by checking their PC or laptop screen displays to find which recording mode activity.

Comparatively, the D-Link NVRs are the only IP surveillance recording and playback management systems that offer Power over Ethernet (PPPoE), unlimited schedule recording, dynamic DNS, four-channel support, two 3.5-inch SATA bays, four different RAID levels for backup and up to 120 frame speed performance for under $700.

Pricing and availability: –

D-Link DNS-722-4 and DNS-726-4 are available at an estimated street price of Rs. 32,000/- and Rs. 55,000/- respectively. Both these products are sold through D-Link’s vast network of value-added resellers, solution providers and distributors present all across India.

“Total Protection Service is a key component of the McAfee Security-as-a-Service strategy,” said Marc Olesen, senior vice president and general manager, McAfee Software-as-a-Service. “With this release, we’re broadening our SaaS offerings to enterprise customers. While small and mid-size businesses are very familiar with Total Protection Service, larger companies are realizing the benefits of SaaS in helping them reduce operating costs while strengthening their security controls.”

Total Protection Service, like the entire McAfee SaaS portfolio, is powered by real-time Global Threat Intelligence gathered by McAfee Avert Labs, utilizing the McAfee Artemis and TrustedSource™ cloud-based technologies. These technologies allow McAfee SaaS solutions to update as new threats occur, eliminating the need for onsite administration.

New SaaS solutions continue to strengthen business security without additional costs

Peter Herschel, Director of IT at Gemino Healthcare, states McAfee Total Protection Service helps his users stay always protected—with minimal maintenance and simplified management. “I really need to focus on other areas of IT, so as a SaaS solution, Total Protection Service significantly reduced the deployment and administration time compared to traditional security. The advanced Web security keeps my users from visiting sites that could potentially cause more work to correct.”

McAfee currently has more than five million users using its Total Protection Service. Unlike other security vendors, which only offer point solutions, McAfee offers the broadest range of threat protection available in a SaaS deployment, covering major threat vectors and scanning for Web application and network perimeter vulnerabilities. McAfee Total Protection Service includes integrated endpoint protection (anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall), McAfee SiteAdvisor® Web security, Web filtering and vulnerability scanning features. The new version will be available in August 2009. Access to the updated SecurityCenter management console allows administrators to improve their visibility and management flexibility with customized dashboards of their security environment.

SaaS solutions allow partners to become a Managed Security Service Provider

Value-added partners look to McAfee to provide easy-to-deploy SaaS solutions to extend their security portfolio to include services and to generate additional revenue opportunities. The McAfee Partner Security Service program, along with the web-based Partner SecurityDashboard, provides the necessary applications to ensure the order administration and remote management of Total Protection Service is easy to use. The Partner SecurityDashboard allows partners easy license management and remote visibility of their managed customers.

Many people find it a challenge to manage large quantities of photos, videos, music tracks and documents, and feel concerned about privacy when it comes to share personal, valuable files. Although they can centralize all of these files on a PC, they often lack an easy-to-use and cost effective way to carry, share and back up them. In addition, storing large personal files on an ordinary flash drive is convenient but lacks security.

YuuWaa meets this demand by combining high-capacity online and local storage, and complementing it with easy sharing, encrypted data transmission and automatic backup in just a few clicks. For example, with just a simple drag and drop YuuWaa users can share their data to friends with a secure link to a file so that they can conveniently access it even if it is too large to be emailed.

YuuWaa creates a trusted environment where safety and data confidentiality are protected. Users quickly move files between their online and USB drive spaces, and create their own seamless “Digital Data Universe”.

“By bundling local and online storage, portability and security, YuuWaa provides an innovative and cost-effective way for people to keep and share their Digital Data safely,” said Juana-Catalina Rodriguez, YuuWaa sales and marketing director at Gemalto. “We’ve ensured that the YuuWaa interface is intuitive enough for experienced and inexperienced users alike.”

Following the recent and successful launch of Justaskgemalto.com, a portal addressing consumer questions on digital security and gathering their unfulfilled needs, this is the first Gemalto product proposed to consumers to concretely address their daily concerns on digital data protection.

Typical YuuWaa users include:

* Y-Generation: For frequent users of the web and social networks, YuuWaa makes it easy to store and share favorite movies, music and photos. Users can share their data with their friends with a secure link to a file so that they can access it even if it is too large to be emailed.
* Y-Travelers: For people on the move, YuuWaa is a quick and easy way to share files with colleagues and friends and ensure that files are backed up securely. They can choose manual or automatic backup to copy all the files on the flash drive to the YuuWaa secure server.
* Y-Workers: Professionals can use YuuWaa to store business documents and share them at the click of a mouse. YuuWaa also offers additional protection with 128-bit SSL encryption of all data during transmission between the user’s computer and the YuuWaa secure server.
* Y-Learners: Inexperienced users of PCs and other devices will find storing and sharing family photos and videos quick and convenient with YuuWaa. They can easily create their own Digital Data Universe without any technical knowledge.

For additional information on retailers, features, pricing and services, please visit www.yuuwaa.com.

Organizations today are also challenged with proving compliance and meeting other corporate governance requirements. The associated risks in not being able to do so include financial impact, audits, customer turnover, and lost productivity.

“Seagate’s collaboration with Mobile Armor gives organizations an easy-to-deploy full disk encryption (FDE) solution that automatically encrypts data and manages multiple policies and controls to greatly simplify laptop security for IT administrators and end users,” said Joan Motsinger, Seagate(R) vice president, Personal Systems Marketing and Strategy. “Our joint mission enables fast, cost-effective deployment of powerful plug-and-play data security, making it easier for enterprises and government agencies to protect digital assets from theft and loss.”

The Momentus FDE (full-disk encryption) notebook hard drives, 5400- and 7200-rpm models with capacities of up to a half-terabyte, helps protect against unauthorized access to information on lost or stolen notebook computers. Part of the Seagate(R) Secure(TM) family of self-encrypting drives, the Momentus FDE drives feature government-grade encryption that delivers powerful security for confidential customer or corporate information on executive notebook computers, critical customer data on field sales and customer support notebook PCs, and sensitive information on personal notebooks.

Seagate Secure technology is a security platform that couples strong, fully automated hardware-based full-disk encryption with leading security-based software applications to deliver centralized encryption key management, multi-factor user authentication and other capabilities that help lock down personal computer and data center storage. Seagate Secure technology uses AES to encrypt all hard drive information transparently and automatically at full interface speed to prevent performance drags common among traditional software encryption products, giving organizations an easy, cost-effective tool for complying with the growing number of data privacy laws calling for the protection of consumer information using government-grade encryption. The data security platform also makes it easy to repurpose and retire computers and hard drives without compromising sensitive information; all data stored on the drive is rendered unreadable by simply deleting the encryption key.

“Mobile Armor is pleased to augment our security platform previously validated by our largest-in-the-world implementation of centrally-managed encryption and enterprise key management with the Seagate(R) hardware security solutions,” said Mobile Armor Chairman and CEO, Chand Vyas. “This collaboration marks a new generation of integrated solutions, where enterprises and government agencies can now manage and audit all their security from a single unified policy and management console which is device and platform agnostic.”

Secure Computing delivers a comprehensive set of solutions that help customers protect their critical Web, email and network assets. With the pending addition of Secure Computing’s products and services, McAfee expects to be able to deliver the industry’s most complete network security portfolio (covering intrusion prevention, firewall, Web security, email security and data protection, network access control), from small and mid to the world’s largest organizations.

“Today’s announcement of this pending acquisition is a natural extension of McAfee’s security-only focus,” said Dave DeWalt, chief executive officer and president of McAfee. “We expect the pending combination of McAfee and Secure Computing will create an annual projected combined revenue of just under $500 million in the network security segment of our SRM portfolio. We believe that this pending acquisition will allow us to immediately establish a leading and highly competitive position in the network security space.”

The rationale for the proposed acquisition is as follows:

•    With Secure Computing, McAfee expects to become one of the largest network security players, delivering the industry’s most complete network security solution to businesses of all sizes, extending the success of its total protection strategy through best of breed technology suites

•    Secure Computing TrustedSource technology will extend McAfee’s “in-the-cloud” security as a service offering

•    With Secure Computing, McAfee expects to be able to deliver the complete content and data lifecycle management at the network, spanning detection, filtering, encryption, blocking, archiving, reporting and compliance

•    Secure Computing has more than 22,000 customers in 106 countries that will be able to rely upon McAfee as a single source for complete security portfolio-spanning endpoint, network, data and risk and compliance

“I believe the combination of the two companies will allow us to reap the benefits of a worldwide dedicated sales team three times our size, best-in-class security research, greater partner distribution and enhanced cross-selling opportunities,” said Dan Ryan, president and chief executive officer, Secure Computing. “Combined, we believe we will become a leader in the network security space.”

The proposed acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and Secure Computing stockholder approval, and is expected to close in the latter part of the fourth quarter of 2008. McAfee anticipates that following the closing, Secure Computing’s technologies will be incorporated under McAfee’s Network Security product business unit, headed by Dan Ryan.

For additional information, please reference http://www.mcafee.com.

The technology, called McAfee® Artemis Technology, uses a new Internet-based service hosted by McAfee Avert® Labs to provide active protection on the fly when a computer gets hit by malicious computer code. Artemis is the industry’s first technology to shield computer users against attacks as they happen without requiring a traditional, scheduled update of threat signatures to be installed on the machine.

“McAfee Avert Labs projects a true malware onslaught this year with 300 percent more malicious programs in 2008 compared to 2007,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Avert Labs. “Clearly today’s threat landscape requires a different approach to malware detection. Artemis is the first protection mechanism that works in Internet time, providing unprecedented protection.”

Malware writers are becoming more sophisticated in their techniques. Financially motivated attacks have doubled with eight out of ten attacks designed to make cybercriminals money. Attacks primarily arrive via the Web or e-mail and the vast majority of today’s malware programmed to quietly steal a victim’s sensitive information.

The FBI has estimated that the average cost to a business per attack is $1,200 for consumers and more than $350,000 for enterprises. Additionally, organizations face data loss, disruption to business, loss in productivity and non-compliance with regulatory requirements while consumers face the perils of identity fraud.

McAfee Artemis Technology provides an important new weapon in the fight against cybercrime, allowing McAfee’s security products to provide protection from known and emerging threats.

Closing the Protection Gap

Traditionally malware detection has relied on databases with threat signatures on the user’s computer. This approach requires that the threat databases on each computer are updated with signatures for each new threat to provide the latest detection. As a result there is an inherent delay from when the threat is first identified to when protection is available at all computers.

“The traditional signature-based approach to detecting malware is no longer enough,” said Charles Kolodgy, research director for IDC’s Security Products service. “While user behavior has changed and the threat landscape has evolved, malware detection technology generally hasn’t kept pace. McAfee’s program represents a major shift in how the massive increase in malware should be dealt with. This approach returns the innovation initiative to the defense, one-upping malware writers.”

Artemis is the first technology to virtually eliminate the protection gap by providing rapid reaction to threats for which signature files have yet to be released. When a suspicious file is detected on a computer protected by a McAfee product containing Artemis, the Artemis technology connects to McAfee servers in real time to determine whether the file is malicious or not. This check happens in seconds without any material impact on the user’s experience.

The Artemis service in the cloud is unlike any previous system for classifying and identifying malicious software. It is powered by McAfee’s Community Threat Intelligence, which includes security know-how from McAfee’s researchers, threat honey pots and real-time input from tens of millions of systems protected by McAfee to make computer security on every computer protected by McAfee smarter and safer.

Key benefits of Artemis include:

-          Reducing the protection gap from hours or days to mere seconds
-          Combining the best of blacklisting and white listing models
-          Dynamic, in the cloud service that offers protection in real time
-          Easy installation
-               No cost to customers

Availability

Artemis is available today as part of McAfee Total Protection Service for small and medium-sized businesses and will be available later this month for McAfee VirusScan® Enterprise and McAfee’s consumer products. There is no charge for Artemis, which will be called “Active Protection” in the consumer products.

Mobile Internet Devices are becoming popular in the industry as they enable the rich PC Internet experience in pocketable devices while running light weight operating systems such as Moblin Linux. Service providers see Moblin-based MIDs as a new way to deliver content and services to subscribers.

As MIDs rely on the open Internet to bring applications and services to people, they will be susceptible to similar security challenges as the PC. McAfee’s security solutions will help protect service providers and their subscribers from external threats.

“In today’s highly connected world, Intel takes mobile device security very seriously,” said Pankaj Kedia, director of Global Ecosystem Programs in Intel Corporation’s Ultra Mobility Group. “Intel’s low power technologies, in combination with McAfee’s experience in security solutions, should enable a more robust and secure solution for our customers.”

Protecting Data at Rest

High profile data breaches continue to make headlines, impacting corporate reputation and the bottom line.  Data loss prevention solutions monitor, document, and prevent sensitive information from leaving an organization. Data encryption protects an organization if a laptop is lost or stolen. McAfee’s suite of mobile data protection solutions protects data, devices and networks against the risks associated with loss, theft, and unauthorized access, anytime and anywhere. McAfee’s centralized management capabilities provide organizations with operational efficiency and ensure low total cost of ownership.

This latest security initiative will place McAfee data encryption on the Intel VPro hardware leveraging Intel’s Anti-Theft Technology to disable laptops booted without authorization.  If a laptop is lost or stolen the device will automatically shut down when the unauthorized user tries to access the data.

“McAfee provides enterprise-class, powerful encryption and strong access control technologies that seamlessly integrate with existing systems,” said Gerhard Watzinger, senior vice president and general manager of McAfee’s Data Protection Business Unit.  “By teaming with Intel to provide encryption for laptops we are extending protection to customers anywhere anytime.”