Category: Product

The Windows File System (WinFS) — technology that was set to simplify information storage and retrieval — won’t make it into the final, shipping versions of Longhorn client, company officials confirmed.

Longhorn is still slated to include both the Indigo and Avalon subsystems, contrary to some rumors to the contrary over the past couple of days. And Microsoft is still expecting to deliver as part of Longhorn updated “fundamental” application-programming interfaces providing core power management, driver management, application installation/deployment, digital rights management and other basic tasks.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1640454,00.asp

SecureSphere 3.0 includes multiple layers of security, including a standards-based deep inspection firewall, Web and database firewalls, and protection from zero-day worms via Imperva’s new Worm Profiling technology.

The Dynamic Database Firewall, meanwhile, relies on the database elements of the dynamic profile to detect unusual database queries.

http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1104_2-5323921.html

Developed by UK defence company BAE Systems, the wallpaper uses Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) sheeting, a material more commonly found slapped on military aircraft, naval vessels and radar antennae, New Scientist reports.

In this case, the FSS material is manufactured to absorb signals in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands used by 802.11a, b and g equipment. Other frequencies, such as the 1800MHz band used by GSM networks, are not blocked.

FSS wallpaper isn’t the only way of blocking electromagnetic transmissions, but it is the only solution that doesn’t hinder every form of wireless communication. Firms employing the technology will still need to replace their windows with radio-absorbing glass. By blocking WLAN coverage outside the building, BAE believes the wallpaper will prevent tapping into the network, particularly if the WLAN is left unsecured in order to provide guest access to a company’s network.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/12/wifi_wallpaper/

A standalone antivirus product will be built from tools the company inherited through its 2003 acquisitions of GeCad and Pelican Software, according to a report published in CNET News.com’s sister publication, ZDNet France, citing the technical head of Microsoft’s security project in that country, Nicolas Mirail. Microsoft representatives in the United States refused to comment on functional elements or a potential production time frame for the antivirus package.

However, Mirail said the Microsoft antivirus software will utilize two different means of detecting destructive files, the first of which will reference a regularly updated list of known viruses to check for potential infections. The second antivirus tool will analyze computer systems to assess whether they have been hit by a virus in the past and attempt to give end users an idea of how at risk their computers might be for future problems.

The executive indicated that the antivirus package will not come with firewall security software but said a firewall would be built into the company’s Windows XP operating system when Microsoft delivers its Service Pack 2 update. Mirail said the product would work with both Windows XP and the Longhorn release of Windows.

Microsoft has been rumored to be seeking a high-profile acquisition in that arena, and security specialist Network Associates was said to be on the company’s radar.

Earlier this month, another European security executive at Microsoft said the company’s antivirus plans remain in their early stages, including the integration of the products it has amassed via acquisition. When Microsoft purchased GeCad, which is based in Bucharest, Romania, it positioned the acquisition as the next step in its Trustworthy Computing initiative, a move aimed at securing what Microsoft estimates are the nearly two-thirds of Windows users who don’t have up-to-date antivirus software on their computers. The company said at that time that it might launch a paid-subscription service for Windows users.

http://news.com.com/Details+of+Microsoft+antivirus+software+leak+out/2100-7349_3-5287496.html?tag=nefd.top

In this report, they asked six top vendors to provide products that deliver firewall protection to the enterprise network.

The hardware alternatives offer one distinct advantage as these appliances come complete with processor, memory and embedded operating system which provides intrusion detection and prevention straight from the box.

A key feature in four of the products was the inclusion of workstations that allowed policies to be managed from the desktop. Virtually all hardware firewalls use stateful inspection which intercepts packets at the network layer, then analyses the header and contents of each packet to determine its communication state, as well as the source and destination addresses. Although basic packet filtering offers higher performance, security is reduced as most filtering mechanisms only examine packets at the network layer and are unable to determine what application they are bound for. Only the Zone Labs’ firewall product implements stateful packet inspection – a feature drawn from its popular personal firewall software.

To test installation, configuration, deployment and reporting of the central management consoles of each product we used a Pentium III 733-equipped system with 256Mb of memory and running Windows 2000 Server, while client duties were handed out to a variety of workstations running Windows 98 SE, ME and 2000 Professional.

Review: http://www.whatpc.co.uk/products/software/1133254

While Cisco is not the first wireless LAN provider to embrace Advanced Encryption Standard, its support will bring peace of mind to many IT managers who have standardized on the leading enterprise WLAN provider’s technology—especially those required to offer government-caliber security for their wireless networks.

By year’s end, Cisco will introduce “Kodiak,” an 802.11a radio module for the popular Aironet AP1200 access point, according to sources familiar with the San Jose, Calif., company’s plans. Kodiak supports the IEEE 802.11i security protocol, ratified last month, which is based largely on AES. There will be two versions of the module, one with an integrated antenna and one with connectors for remote antennas, the sources said.

Cisco also will introduce software that supports AES for Kodiak and for its 802.11g AP1100 and AP1200 access points. AES is a federally approved encryption standard based on 128-bit keys generated by the Rijndael algorithm, resulting in stronger encryption than either TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) or the more common WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). AES can be difficult to implement on an existing WLAN, especially for campuses with hundreds of access points.