Symantec updates security programs. At $40, a bargain for safety.

TheGeneral+ · Sep 9, 2003

TORONTO, Sept. 9 — Symantec Corp. has released the 2004 versions of several of its products.

Norton Internet Security 2004, an on-line security and privacy suite for home and small office PC users, now offers expanded protection against spyware and unwanted e-mail as well as its antivirus, firewall, intrusion detection, privacy protection, spam filtering, and content filtering features. The product will be available by mid-September.

Also introduced is Norton AntiSpam 2004, a new product designed to automatically filter out unwanted e-mail and block on-line advertisements. The filtering engine in Norton AntiSpam 2004 will be able to learn what is and isn't spam by analyzing the user's outgoing e-mail messages. It works in standard POP3 connections and marking spam as it comes into the user's in-box, and it will also filter spam from Hotmail and MSN Mail when messages are retrieved through Microsoft Outlook. It also integrates with the latest versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express and Eudora by automatically creating a spam folder and using it to collect all e-mail identified as spam.

Scheduled for mid-September, Norton AntiSpam 2004 includes 12 months of protection updates and will be available for pre-order at www.SymantecStore.com for an estimated retail price of $39.95 (U.S.)

Norton SystemWorks 2004, Symantec's productivity and problem-solving suite, will include a new secure password management component, called Norton Password

Manager. The feature can manage a large set of complex Internet and Windows application passwords, while protecting these passwords from falling into the wrong hands. It will also include the newest version of Norton AntiVirus, and include added protection from emerging non-virus threats, including spyware, adware and keystroke-logging programs. Norton SystemWorks 2004 will also include Norton Utilities and Norton CleanSweep, for system optimization, problem-solving and hardware maintenance, and also features the data recovery-capabilities of Norton GoBack

Personal Edition; Norton Web Tools, a mechanism for removing of Internet clutter and sustaining dial-up connections; and One Button Checkup for system scans that can be scheduled at regular intervals. Additionally, Norton SystemWorks 2004 will also now include a product activation component. Norton SystemWorks 2004 and Norton SystemWorks 2004 Professional are available now for pre-order at www.SymantecStore.com at an estimated retail price of $69.95 (U.S.) and $99.95, respectively. Included with each product is a one-year subscription to on-line virus definitions and product updates.

Norton AntiVirus 2004, the antivirus product, contains new technology that will offer protection from certain emerging non-virus threats such as spyware and keystroke logging programs. It will include scans for programs on the user's computer that can be used with malicious intent to compromise the security of a system, spy on the user's private data, or track users' on-line behaviour. Norton AntiVirus 2004 will also offer users of Windows 2000/XP added protection from viruses lurking in the type of files commonly exchanged with the use of services such as peer-to-peer networks or instant messaging. Additionally, Norton AntiVirus 2004 will also now include a product activation component. Norton AntiVirus 2004 will also be offered in a professional edition, which will include all of the capabilities of the standard version as well as both a data recovery component to restore files that were damaged or accidentally deleted as well as a data-cleaning tool that digitally shreds deliberately deleted files. In addition, to help protect households and home offices with more than one PC, Norton AntiVirus 2004 Professional will include a two-computer licence. Norton AntiVirus 2004 and Norton AntiVirus 2004 Professional will be available for an estimated retail price of $49.95 (U.S.) and $69.95 respectively. Prices include a one-year subscription to protection updates. Current users of Norton AntiVirus and competitive antivirus products will be able to upgrade to Norton AntiVirus 2004 and Norton AntiVirus 2004 Professional for an estimated retail price of $29.95 and $39.95 respectively. Norton AntiVirus 2004 Small Office Packs will be available for $199.95 for five users and $399.95 for 10 users.

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Jazz · Sep 9, 2003

Is ANYONE else sick to damn death of having to shell out annual subscription fees for virus software, caused mostly by security flaws in software designed by Microsoft, who also causes you to migrate to new versions of Windows every so often? F-U-C-K that, how about Microsoft take 5 years off and FIX their goddamn buggy software, patch all the security flaws, generally do everything to make it as air-tight as possible, THEN release that version?

How much money worldwide gets sucked into this whirlpool caused by asshole hackers and buggy MS software? Great for Norton and Semantic and MS, ****ing lousy for those of us who have to pay.

And no, I couldn't live without my computer, I made my living on mainframes, I'm simply expressing a frustration of paying annual anti-virus extortion money due to asshole hackers and ****ed up MS software. Tell you what - HANG the ****ing hackers when they're convicted instead of hiring these assholes, let's see if that would work - lol.

TheGeneral+ · Sep 10, 2003

Understood Jazz, but we will have to deal with it. Everytime a fix is made, someone makes a counter to the fix. Lots of money made both sides and we are in the middle.

Chadster · Sep 10, 2003

I got an original cd for norton system works professinal 2003 for $8.00 off of Ebay. It works great!!

http://search.ebay.com/ws/search/SaleSearch?sosortorder=1&basicsearch=&ht=1&sosortproperty=3&satitle=norton+2003&sasaleclass=2&from=R10

Jazz · Sep 10, 2003

Here - start hanging the smug fuc-kups with this hacker - I mentioned not hiring them, this little prick seems to have had that on his mind - see the bolded section

Hacker Turns Self in on Arrest Warrant

Tue Sep 9,11:16 PM ET

Picture above is of the sniveling little rat-bastard hacker

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A hacker who has acknowledged involvement in computer break-ins at The New York Times, Yahoo! and other large corporations surrendered Tuesday on a federal arrest warrant related to alterations of The Times' databases.

Adrian Lamo (news - web sites), 22, turned himself in to marshals at the federal courthouse in Sacramento, said FBI (news - web sites) spokeswoman Karen Twomey Ernst.

He is charged with altering The Times' databases between February and April 2002, causing The New York Times Co. damages exceeding $25,000.

An FBI affidavit says Lamo added his name, cell phone number and e-mail address to The Times' op-ed contributor list and its administrative database, listing his area of expertise as "computer hacking, national security, communications intelligence."

The complaint also says Lamo obtained more than $300,000 worth of services from the LexisNexis electronic information service during the same period by accessing The Times' LexisNexis account.

Lamo kept using LexisNexis to, among other things, search for mentions of his own name and exploits, according to an affidavit.

After an afternoon court appearance, Lamo was released into his parents' custody on $250,000 bail and ordered to report to the FBI's New York office Thursday.

A federal defender who represented him during the brief appearance had no comment.

Lamo has acknowledged involvement in some dramatic computer break-ins over the past several years at large corporations such as Worldcom and ExciteAtHome. He also acknowledged changing the text of at least one news story on Yahoo's Web site in September 2001.

The New York investigation became public a year ago, when a federal prosecutor tried unsuccessfully to subpoena an MSNBC reporter's notes, e-mails and other information about conversations with Lamo.

Lamo frequently uses public computers at copy stores for his hacking activities as he travels the nation. He has offered to work for free with his hacking victims after each break-in to improve the security of their networks.

Chadster · Sep 10, 2003

Jazz · Sep 10, 2003

Another very timely news article to prove my point - and now i'll leave this topic alone

Microsoft Acknowledges New Windows Vulnerability

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

WASHINGTON — Moments before a top Microsoft (search) executive told Congress about efforts to improve security, the company warned on Wednesday of new flaws that leave its flagship Windows software vulnerable to Internet attacks similar to the Blaster virus that infected hundreds of thousands of computers last month.

Microsoft urged customers to immediately apply a free repairing patch from its Web site, www.microsoft.com.
The company cautioned that hackers could seize control over a victim's computer by attacking these flaws, which affect Windows technology that allows computers to communicate with others across a network.

"We definitely want people to apply this one," said Jeff Jones, Microsoft's senior director for trustworthy computing. Outside researchers and Microsoft's own internal reviews discovered the new flaws after the Blaster infection, he said.

Outside experts said some flaws were nearly identical to problems exploited by the Blaster worm, which spread last month with devastating damage. Computer users who applied an earlier patch in July to protect themselves still must install the new patch from Microsoft.

"They're as close as you can be without being the same," said Marc Maiffret, an executive at eEye Digital Security Inc. of Aliso Viejo, Calif., one of three research groups credited with discovering some of the new problems. "It's definitely a big oversight on Microsoft's part that they missed these."

Maiffret speculated that because of the similarities, hackers could launch attacks against unprotected systems as early as day's end. "It's going to be trivial," he said. "This is an instant replay of a few weeks ago."

A vice president at Network Associates Inc. (search), Robin Matlock, agreed that corporations, government agencies and home users will race the clock before the next attack. "Without a doubt, this is a nasty vulnerability. It could easily be exploited," she said. "Administrators are under more pressure here to move quickly."

The disclosure by Microsoft came just moments before its senior security strategist, Phil Reitinger, told lawmakers on the House Government Reform technology subcommittee about the company's efforts to help consumers defend themselves against viruses and other Internet attacks.

"Microsoft is committed to continuing to strengthen our software to make it less vulnerable to attack," said Reitinger, a former deputy chief in the Justice Department's cybercrime division. Still, he acknowledged, "There is no such thing as completely secure software."

Reitinger told lawmakers about the new flaws and said that Microsoft is considering changing Windows to install software repairs automatically; currently, computer users are notified when updates are available and reminded to manually click to install them.

Microsoft said Windows users who follow the company's new security guidelines it published on its Web site at www.microsoft.com/protect should be safe until they install the latest patch. The company plans a Webcast on Friday to discuss the latest threat.

The July announcement from Microsoft about the earlier software flaw in the same Windows technology was deemed so serious it led to separate warnings from the FBI and Homeland Security Department. About three weeks later, unidentified hackers unleashed the earliest version of the Blaster infection.

"The damage done was real," said Rep. William Lacy Clay (search), D-Mo., adding that the attacks disrupted computers at the Federal Reserve in Atlanta, Maryland's motor vehicle agency and the Minnesota transportation department.

Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., said the attacks in August nearly crippled the House of Representatives' e-mail system and "likely inhibited our nation's ability to adequately respond to the vast power outage" this summer.

Also during Wednesday's hearing, a deputy assistant U.S. attorney general bristled over suggestions by Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., that the government's lackluster record making arrests after major Internet attacks indicates it does not consider them serious threats.

Such investigations are enormously complicated and frequently point overseas at sophisticated hackers skilled at covering their digital footprints, John Malcolm said.