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Under the agreement, the Tokyo-based anti-virus and security software company will provide Hotmail’s 187 million users with protection whenever they send and receive e-mail attachments. The software will scan in real-time for the latest viruses, Trojans and worms, according to Punit Minocha, senior director of business development at Trend Micro.

The move by Redmond was seen in some corners as a blow to Santa Clara-based security firm McAfee (Quote, Chart), a Trend Micro competitor, who had provided the bulk of virus security to Hotmail users since 2000.

The move has had nearly polar effects on both software security vendors’ stock prices.

http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3450321

The deal is expected to close by Jan. 29, the end of Cisco’s fiscal 2005 second quarter.

Cisco has focused on adding security capabilities to its product line for more than a year now. Last year, the company unveiled its Network Admission Control (NAC) program, a security architecture that combines virus scanning with network policing to keep attacks from entering the network in the first place.

From the beginning, Cisco has relied on acquisitions to assemble the pieces necessary to make the architecture a reality. In fact, the critical “trust agent” software in the NAC architecture that sits on users’ PCs and communicates with the Cisco policy server came from its acquisition in 2003 of Okena. Cisco is still pulling together the necessary pieces.

In October, the company bought Perfigo, a start-up that develops network access control products.

In March, it announced it was buying Twingo, which makes technology for Secure Sockets Layer virtual private networks. The technology is being incorporated into Cisco’s WebVPN product.

Cisco says it’s confident that Protego’s technology will fit nicely into its portfolio. “The acquisition of Protego further emphasizes Cisco’s commitment to network security, and (Protego’s) leadership in security monitoring, threat management and mitigation complements our ongoing work in security,” Richard Palmer, vice president in Cisco’s Security Technology Group, said in a statement.

One of the biggest problems network managers face is making sense of all the security warnings and alerts they get when an attack is detected. Protego has developed software that aggregates these alerts and security threat notices. But the company’s PN-MARS product takes security event management a step further. The software is designed to be aware of network topology. As a result, it can trace attacks through the network and send out new security rules on the fly to firewalls, Ethernet switches or IP routers to kill the attack.

Several other companies also sell products that aggregate security warnings and alerts. Some of these products, from companies such as NetForensics, ArcSight and Network Intelligence, also support remediation capabilities.

It’s easy to see how Protego’s technology complements Cisco’s existing product portfolio. In fact, the two companies have already been working together. Protego is currently a member of Cisco’s AVVID partner program, and the companies have been working together to sell security products to customers.

There are other ties among the two companies. Partha Bhattacharya, CTO of Protego, was architect and technical lead for several of Cisco’s security products, including Cisco’s firewalls, IP routers, virtual private network gear and intrusion detection devices.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5498272.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnet

SAP, one of the world’s foremost business software makers, has dubbed the package “SAP Security Optimization” (SSO).

As a platform, it searches for vulnerabilities in the system, other SAP applications, third party applications, middleware, interfaces as well as externally facing gateways to determine if there is an issue that needs fixed.

While the initial evaluation can take upwards of a couple of days, customers do receive a very comprehensive evaluation of security issues and vulnerabilities which are prioritized according to severity and probability — as well as a detailed plan of attack on how to deal with the issues.

http://www.ebcvg.com/articles.php?id=480

Microsoft said it plans to offer tools based on Giant’s technology that will help protect Windows PCs from spyware and other deceptive software. The technology complements security features available in Windows XP Service Pack 2, the company said.

A beta version of a tool based on Giant’s anti-spyware product will be available to Windows customers within one month, according to a statement from Microsoft. This beta version of the software will scan a user’s PC to locate spyware and enable customers to remove it, the company said. The tool will also be configurable, so users can block known spyware and other specific unwanted software from being installed on a computer.

The company didn’t disclose financial details of the acquisition, nor did it provide a timeline for the introduction of new products based on the technology, apart from the one-month estimate on the release of the beta.

Over the past couple of years, Microsoft’s Internet browser has been hit hard by security threats. Malicious code writers have targeted security holes in Internet Explorer to launch attacks and install spyware. These attacks are often launched when a victim clicks on a specific Web link, opening the door for criminals to take over the person’s computer. Once the PC is compromised, the attacker often can access information stored on the computer, load other software on the machine and delete files.

“Spyware is a serious and growing problem for PC users, and customers have made it clear that they want Microsoft to deliver effective solutions to protect against the threat,” Mike Nash, vice-president of Microsoft’s Security Business and Technology unit, said in a statement. “Through this acquisition we’re excited to be able to provide near-term relief to Windows customers by offering new technology to help keep spyware and other deceptive software off their PCs.”

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39181459,00.htm