Author: admini

According to Microsoft, Legal Intercept is designed to silently record communications on VoIP networks such as Skype.

“Data associated with a request to establish a communication is modified to cause the communication to be established via a path that includes a recording agent.” The data as modified is then passed to a protocol entity that uses the data to establish a communication session,” the description notes.

“With new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and other communication technology, the POTS model for recording communications does not work,” Microsoft noted in the patent application.

Michael Froomkin, a professor of law at the University Of Miami School Of Law, said that from the patent description it sounds as if the technology would allow Microsoft to do is make Skype CALEA capable. CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) requires telecommunications carriers and makers of communications equipment to enable their equipment so it can be used for surveillance purposes by federal law enforcement agencies. “First, making a communication technology FBI-friendly means also making it dictator-friendly, and in the long run this is not good for movements like the Arab Spring,” he said.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218002/Microsoft_patents_spy_tech_for_Skype?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2011-06-29

Many of the victims are in industries that are strategically important to China, and/or are engaged in business with China. But these charges can be hard to prove, and China has “plausible deniability” on its side.

The world’s corporations are under attack, and Mark says they need to take strict measures to protect their “crown jewels” of intellectual property. They need to take the same steps that the Pentagon takes to protect its secrets:

Mark says secrecy plays right into the hands of the attackers, and corporations need to speak out and become part of the solution to stopping these attacks.

http://www.kplu.org/post/cyber-attacks-are-escalating

“The combination of Astaro’s comprehensive portfolio of network security solutions alongside our endpoint, mobile, and email and web threat and data protection capabilities will enable us to continue to deliver on our vision of providing complete security without complexity wherever the user and company data resides,” stated Steve Munford, Chief Executive Officer, Sophos.

The market for multi-function security appliances has continued to grow because organizations of all sizes want better protection against security threats and need to support their users and distributed workplaces in a comprehensive, easy to use, efficient way.

…Astaro, with $56 million in billings and 30% year over year growth in 2010, is the fourth largest dedicated unified threat management (UTM) provider, leads the market and has sustained fast growth due to its strong track record of innovation and robust portfolio of feature rich network security solutions.

…“Demand for network security solutions with more comprehensive and high-quality protection is accelerating fast, and yet companies are struggling with the complexity of multiple security solutions to serve these needs,” stated Jan Hichert, Chief Executive Officer, Astaro. … Together, we will deliver to customers the ability to apply consistent security and web and application controls regardless of where the user is or where the network boundary may lie.”

…Solutions Fuelled by Best-in-Class Threat and Data Protection and Web and Application Control: Solutions will offer complete protection to meet complex threats and malware challenges, especially from the web, applications and social engineering vectors that require full visibility and coordination, supported by SophosLabs and renowned malware and threat expertise.

Enriched Channel Offerings: The combination of Sophos and Astaro will offer partners a complete and differentiated range of security solutions and services to meet customer needs not answered in the market today. Partners can deliver coordinated threat and data protection, and policy from any endpoint to any network boundary with solutions that can be deployed in any way: software, virtual, appliance, via a cloud services platform and backed by security updates from Sophos Live Protection for real-time, high-performance protection for end users no matter where they are.

http://blogs.csoonline.com/1498/sophos_acquires_astaro