GIRLS GONE GEEK?

by F-Secure

You probably already knew who the Yahoo! founders are but do you have any idea who is Marissa Ann Mayer? What about Sheryl Sandberg from one of the most well-known social media platforms – Facebook?

In case you only remember the founders or you have no idea who these ladies are, they are currently the backbones to these huge corporations. Marissa Ann Mayer, coming from the background of being the first female engineer in Google, is now, the Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo!. On the other hand, Sheryl Sandberg, the current Chief Operating Officer of Facebook was elected to be the first woman to serve the board by its very own existing board members.

Goh Su Gim, Security Advisor Asia Pacific, F-Secure Labs explaining to the competitors on the importance of IT Security in the semi-finals of the 2014 F-Secure National Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition.

All in all, we just have to say this – Well done ladies! You’ve done all of us proud by proving that women are just as capable as any other men, though being in such a male-dominant industry. However, as much as we are aware of the increasing number of young talented women in workforce compared to two decades ago, it is rather unfortunate that the world is still lack of women in the IT industry.

At this point, you would think what is the big deal there? Well, technology is the real deal now!

According to Goh Su Gim, Security Advisor Asia Pacific, F-Secure Labs, the IT industry is one of the top 10 fastest growing industries all around the world. With all the latest mobile technologies, these products are easily accessed by both men and women alike.

However, even with such an expansive growth in the industry, IT security has been taken on rather unimportantly till the recent years. With the vulnerability of having data available to anyone who can take them for granted, F-Secure – leader in antivirus, online security and content cloud solutions, educates the Gen-Y on the fundamental importance of keeping operating platforms and software protection updated from time to time through its recent 2014 F-Secure National Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition.

The only all-female team, Team Eminence from University Malaysia Sabah in action.

“There were a number of diverse teams but what really caught the attention was Team Eminence from University Malaysia Sabah, an all-female team with an E-commerce background who had their interests sparked through the education provided. It really left a strong impression when they managed to proceed to the semi-finals,” Goh commented.

It is a known fact that women have stronger purchasing power as compared to men and at least half the users of technology products are women. Therefore, with the saying “only women would understand women”, having females excelling in IT security benefits the industry in many ways, including contributions to ongoing projects, potential innovative developments and increases the overall market strength. After all, having diverse teams have a higher tendency of cooking up various sets of opinions and perspectives. It has also been proven that they almost always outdo a team of experts due to their team problem-solving which also trumps personal accomplishments.

Goh also added, “The IT industry is developing day by day. It is essential for IT corporations to be able to actively hire and hear out on the perspectives from different representatives, especially from women, who play one of the most vital roles in driving the world’s economics. Therefore, it is necessary to have their insights and problem-solving skills.”

Goh Su Gim, Security Advisor Asia Pacific, F-Secure Labs explaining on the rules and regulations for the semi-finals of the 2014 F-Secure National Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition.

Aside from having an eye for details and having the ability to visualize the bigger picture, women are also very much skewed towards designing as well as creativity and they can access to the range of emotions and satisfaction levels of their consumers to further improvise on the products.

Nevertheless, with technology comes knocking at the door and seeing its importance in most parts of our lives, it is indispensable to encourage not only men, but women to excel and take up on the opportunity to create and develop products that will change our future.

“One should always understand the value of information and be able to hold and share the personal information in a safe environment on a digital level. The more advanced the technology is, the higher the risk of unauthorized access and we should identify on how best to protect ourselves from internet breaches. In any case should the information fall into the wrong hands, it can wreck one’s lives entirely,” Goh concluded.

UNIVERSITY SAINS MALAYSIA EMERGED AS WINNER OF THE 2014 F-SECURE INTER-VARSITY IT SECURITY COMPETITION

~ The finale was at fever pitch as three teams went head-to-head for the ultimate victory ~

Cyberjaya, 28 April 2014 – With 255 points ahead, team N2L from University Sains Malaysia (USM) was crowned as the champion for 2014 F-Secure Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition! The competition, initiated by F-Secure and MDeC (Multimedia Development Corporation), was aimed at nurturing local talents and encouraging more Malaysian undergraduates to venture into the field of IT security through education.

After a two-hour intense battle among the two other teams, teams N2L from University Sains Malaysia emerged as the champion for the 2014 F-Secure Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition!

The finalists’ details were as below:

Team N2L University Sains Malaysia	Team Xposure Multimedia Malacca University	Team The Bounty Hunter University Sains Malaysia
Lim Yen Sheng	Tan Chee Hong	Soh Sin Siang
Lee Chi Ngan	Ling Cong Xiang	Oh Ying San
Law Jia Jge	Sia Hooi Lip	Wong Khang Siang

The competition was graced and officiated by Ms Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer of Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). The panel of judges to this year’s competition included Pn Eneng Faridah Iskandar, Senior Director, Outreach and Engagement Division of MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission), Jose Cequena, Senior Manager of F-Secure Labs Kuala Lumpur and Chang Kim Meng, Service Manager of F-Secure Labs Kuala Lumpur. 

As the champion of 2014 F-Secure Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition, (L-R) Law Jia Jge (23), Lim Yen Sheng (24) and Lee Chi Ngan (23) walked away with three Macbook Pro worth RM5, 000 each.

Pn Eneng shared, “As the regulatory body for the communications and multimedia industry in Malaysia, MCMC places high importance on security issues and as such, is always supportive of efforts to further develop expertise and knowledge in the area. This competition is also in line with MCMC’s Klik Dengan BijakTM Programme, that emphasizes the importance of safety, security and responsibility in the use of ICT and we commend F-Secure on this initiative”.  

Ms Ng Wan Peng (lady in black),  Chief Operating Officer of Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), presented the 1st runner-up, team The Bounty Hunter from University Sains Malaysia, with three Microsoft Surface worth RM2,000 each.

The finale challenge featured a jeopardy-like course comprising different categories and levels that tested the participants’ hands-on skills and knowledge. All three teams were given three laptops each and they were required to complete each tasks within the fastest time and the one with the highest score is then crowned the champion of the 2014 F-Secure Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition. 

Pn Eneng Faridah Iskandar (lady in grey), Senior Director of Outreach and Engagement Division of MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission), presented team Xposure from Multimedia University Malacca (2nd runner-up) with three smart-watches worth RM500 each.

“MDeC, the driver of MSC Malaysia and Digital Malaysia initiative is indeed honoured to collaborate with F-Secure in the concerted effort to improve the skills of our undergraduates and fresh graduates. MDeC’s Talent Division has formulated and introduced a host of programmes which are aimed at meeting the demands of the current and future workforce requirements of the ICT industry at the local and global levels,” said Ms Ng.

The panel of judges to this year’s competition included Pn Eneng Faridah Iskandar, Senior Director, Outreach and Engagement Division of MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission), Jose Cequena, Senior Manager of F-Secure Labs Kuala Lumpur and Chang Kim Meng, Service Manager of F-Secure Labs Kuala Lumpur.

Echoing the same sentiment, Ingvar Froiland, General Manager of F-Secure Corporation said, “Due to our everyday involvement requiring us to be online, security plays an important sector in the IT industry. With such competition, we strongly believe in investing and nurturing young minds by providing platforms for these future leaders to contribute to the industry”. He continued, “Being one of the pioneers in providing top IT security solutions, we would like to put a footprint in the industry in accordance to offering and inventing premium grade information security solutions and services to users at large”.

Do you feel the intensity of the competition? The finale challenge featured a jeopardy-like course comprising different categories and levels that tested the participants’ hands-on skills and knowledge. All three teams were given three laptops each and they were required to complete each tasks within the fastest time and the one with the highest score is then crowned the champion. 

After a two-hour intense battle, the champion walked away with three MacBooks worth RM5, 000 each. The 1st runner-up, team The Bounty Hunter received three Microsoft Surface Tablets worth RM2, 000 each and the 2nd runner-up, team Xposure walked away with three smart-watches worth RM500 each. In addition, all three participating teams were also presented with 1-year premium F-Secure Internet and Mobile security protection. 

Team Xposure in action

N2L team from University Sains Malaysia was cheering loudly when they were announced as the winner for the competition. Being final year students majoring in Computer Science, this first timer was made of Lim Yen Sheng (24), Lee Chi Ngan (23) and Law Jia Jge (23). “We are overjoyed when the result was announced as we never saw it coming,” Lim said. Lee added, “We are glad to have strategized well throughout the competition by assigning one another to be fully prepared on our core strengths as well as to push our limits to overcome our weaker subject areas”. 

Team The Bounty Hunter in action

For more information about F-Secure Malaysia and their services, please visit       http://www.f-secure.com or call 603 2264 0200. You can also connect with F-Secure through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FSecure and follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/fsecure.

Team N2L in action

THREE TEAMS TO ENTER THE FINAL ROUND FOR F-SECURE’S NATIONAL LEVEL IT COMPETITION

Kuala Lumpur, 14 April 2014 – It was an intense battle between nine teams at the 2014 F-Secure National Inter-Varsity IT Security semi-final competition. Three teams from University Sains Malaysia (Team N2L and Team The Bounty Hunter) as well as team Xposure from Multimedia University Malacca overcame all odds to make it through to the finals – one step closer for a chance to be crowned the champion.

This programme is the brainchild of F-Secure Malaysia. Together with Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), this initiative aims to develop local talents and encourage more Malaysian undergraduates to venture into the field of IT security through education.

(L-R, 3 individuals in a team, forming a triangle each) Teams Xposure, N2L and The Bounty Hunter will be competing for the title in the finale of 2014 F-Secure Inter-Varsity IT Security Competition.

Goh Su Gim, Security Advisor Asia Pacific, F-Secure Labs commented, “All full-time IT undergraduates enrolled in all Malaysian public and private universities have the opportunity to participate in this friendly competition. It provides an avenue for them to apply their academic knowledge and personal interest in the field of IT security. This annual competition has gained traction through the years since it was introduced five years ago and we are pleased to know that more and more students are taking part”.

Over the past month, officials from F-Secure set out to administer qualifying tests to almost 174 participants making up the 52 teams from 23 universities. The responses were encouraging with teams flown in from various states to participate in the Semi-Finals today.

The nine semi-finalists included:

UNIVERSITY	TEAM NAME
University Sains Malaysia	N2L
Multimedia University Malacca	Xposure
Taylors University	Flying Monkeys
University Putra Malaysia	3ecure
MSU	MsuOne
University Sains Malaysia	The Bounty Hunters
University Tenaga Nasional	CySec
Sunway University	Anony
University Malaysia Sabah	Eminence

This year, the level of excitement at the semi-finals has gone up a notch whereby the teams had to try and complete five hands-on technical puzzles of different complexity level. Upon completing a puzzle, only then will the team proceed to the next puzzle - the aim is to complete all five. The puzzles tested their programming skills and critical thinking skills, e.g. finding clues within a program to get to the next puzzle. 

“The top 3 teams were selected based on their understanding of the IT security domains such as malware and IT threats, as well as their ability to apply what they learnt in the classroom and their personal time into real world puzzles and problems. Criteria such as critical thinking, problem solving, presentation of the results and teamwork within the team (in a timely manner) determined their chances to proceed to the finals. They are basically the best of the best advancing into the finals”, explained Goh.

The nine teams gave their best in getting a spot into the finals while the committee members (those in yellow top) strived their best in developing the challenges for the participants.

One of the finalists, N2L team from University Sains Malaysia was overjoyed when they were announced as one of the finalists for the competition. Having the background of Computer Science, this first timer was made of Lim Yen Sheng (24), Lee Chi Ngan (23) and Law Jia Jge (23). “We never thought that we could make it into the finals as the hands-on challenge was pretty challenging,” Lim said. Lee continue, “For the upcoming final, we will be focusing on the topics shared and we will try our best in being a competitive opponent to the two other teams”.

  

On the other hand, team Xposure from Multimedia University Malacca who are currently pursuing an IT degree majoring in Security Technology were also ecstatic to know that they will be competing with two other teams. Leader of the team, Tan Chee Hong (21) along with two other members, Ling Cong Xiang (20) and Sia Hooi Lip (24), were also first-timers in this competition. Tan said, “The final round will be a tough one with two other strong opponents from USM but we will definitely be more prepared than ever to win the competition.”

The three finalists will advance to the final round on 25 April 2014 and will stand a chance to win the grand prize - three branded, high-end Windows 8 laptops worth RM5, 000 each, while the 1st runner-up team will receive three Android tablets worth RM2, 000 each and the 2nd runner-up team will walk away with three smart-watches worth RM500 each. 

“With the ever increasing reliance on our digital gadgets, be it smartphone, tablet, etc, most things are documented, stored and communicated through it. If we are not careful, our data can be accessible to simply anyone. It is important now than ever to protect our data. As IT progresses rapidly, the IT security industry is a burgeoning one as we will be liken to a police in a digital realm. We hope to increase genuine interest amongst the younger generation for internet security in Malaysia. With that, we look to continue investing in them and developing their knowledge and skills so that we can address as well as prevent IT security issues in the country,” Goh explained.

For more information about F-Secure Malaysia and their services, please visit            http://www.f-secure.com or call 603 2264 0200. You can also connect with F-Secure through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FSecure and follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/fsecure.

2014 F-SECURE NATIONAL INTER-VARSITY IT SECURITY COMPETITION

Attention to all IT undergraduates in Malaysia! It is time to showcase your academic knowledge and personal interest in IT security by participating in a friendly competition organized by F-Secure.

Each university will be able to submit up to 3 teams of 3 members each, with a team name and a team leader. The winning team will be awarded three branded, high-end Windows 8 laptops worth RM5, 000 each. The 1st runner-up team will receive three Android tablets worth RM2, 000 each and the 2nd runner-up team will receive three smart-watches worth RM 500 each.

The closing date for registration is on Friday, 7 March 2014, at 6.00 p.m.
For more information, kindly contact Marsyada Mazlan at +6012-314 5233 or
ext-marsyada.mazlan@f-secure.com.

Younited by F-Secure, Finland’s Red-Hot Alternative to US-Based Cloud Services, Now Live

~Younited becomes the new industry benchmark by turning personal cloud services into an engaging user experience - with no Big Brother access~

Kuala Lumpur, 13 November 2013 – Younited by F-Secure, the bold new personal content cloud service that offers a fun, engaging experience with rock-solid privacy and security, is now live and ready to change the way users manage their content.

Personal cloud services commonly refer to the capability to store and back up user files to an online service, share them with friends, family and business associates, and synchronize them between desktop computers, tablets, smartphones and laptops, giving users access to their files independent of time, device or location. The drivers for the huge demand - well over 500 million people are signed up on personal cloud services across the world - are explosive growth in mobility, multi-screening and volume of user generated content.

Younited enters a market already dominated by a number of well-known American services. But younited stands out from the rest by tackling crucial needs that are not currently being properly served: Providing an engaging and fun user experience in a service that you can trust to safeguard your life's most precious pictures, documents, videos, books and music.

“We consider existing personal cloud services to be mostly boring, 90's look-and-feel file utilities that are used only occasionally. We want to change that,” says Timo Laaksonen, Vice President at F-Secure Corporation.

“What you see in younited today is already compelling but it’s only the beginning. A number of new service capabilities are in the works that will add further excitement to the user experience. For instance, we will soon launch a completely new, dead-easy and fun way to share pictures and videos from events with friends and family."

Personal cloud services are built on trust
Looking for more privacy and security in the cloud, tens of thousands of consumers and small businesses have already signed up for younited – well before the official launch. This demonstrates a clear market demand for an alternative to US-based cloud services. Personal cloud services are built on trust. However, that trust has eroded in the past year as a result of a multitude of alarming signals, such as reports of malware being spread using personal cloud services and questionable methods used by national intelligence agencies to eavesdrop and access the online data of law-abiding citizens.

Younited is the cloud service that can be trusted. It is hosted in Finland, home to strict privacy laws and strongly held cultural values of privacy, and has been conceived and built for privacy from the ground up. What’s more, it is engineered by security professionals who have built security into the architecture as well as into their ways of working on younited.

Younited’s promise is that users will remain in control of their data, with security professionals defending their content every day against loss of data, malware, unauthorized access, and other threats.

“It's high time for a fresh European alternative to enter the market, taking the existing Internet behemoths head on,” says Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer at F-Secure. “What the world needs now is a cloud storage service that is not subject to uncontrolled access by intelligence agencies.”

Engaging and fun – while flying above the clouds
As important as trust is to personal cloud services, younited brings much more. It provides a fresh, highly visual user experience for accessing content while online or offline from any device, and for sharing and organizing. Younited comes with a native user application for Windows desktops, Apple Macs, Android devices, Apple iPhones and iPads, Windows Phone 8, in addition to a generic Web User Interface.

Younited collects the pictures, videos, documents and other content users have on their many devices into one safe place. However, that's not all: In addition to younited’s own secure and private storage space, users can also connect their Facebook, Dropbox and Picasa accounts to younited. This allows users to see all their content in one single service where they can find, organize and share it with friends, family and business associates. Younited will continue to add more external clouds to the service, thus providing users with practically unlimited cloud storage space for their files.

All you need, at an affordable price
Younited is open to users through a queue for the first months of live operation. Users have gotten access to the service in controlled groups since October 24th. Younited is being launched in three alternative packages: Free, Medium and Premium.

The free version will offer all younited’s functionality along with 10GB of safe cloud storage – but only for a limited time (starting next year, the free version will offer 5GB). Medium expands safe cloud storage to 200GB and retails at €74,99 a year. Premium provides users with 500GB of safe cloud storage, retailing at €120 a year.

For more information about younited’s features and functionalities, and to sign up please visit www.younited.com.

Younited by F-Secure, Finland’s Red-Hot Alternative to US-Based Cloud Services, Now Live

~Younited becomes the new industry benchmark by turning personal cloud services into an engaging user experience - with no Big Brother access~

Kuala Lumpur, 4 November 2013 – Younited by F-Secure, the bold new personal content cloud service that offers a fun, engaging experience with rock-solid privacy and security, is now live and ready to change the way users manage their content.

Personal cloud services commonly refer to the capability to store and back up user files to an online service, share them with friends, family and business associates, and synchronize them between desktop computers, tablets, smartphones and laptops, giving users access to their files independent of time, device or location. The drivers for the huge demand - well over 500 million people are signed up on personal cloud services across the world - are explosive growth in mobility, multi-screening and volume of user generated content.

Younited enters a market already dominated by a number of well-known American services. But younited stands out from the rest by tackling crucial needs that are not currently being properly served: Providing an engaging and fun user experience in a service that you can trust to safeguard your life's most precious pictures, documents, videos, books and music.

“We consider existing personal cloud services to be mostly boring, 90's look-and-feel file utilities that are used only occasionally. We want to change that,” says Timo Laaksonen, Vice President at F-Secure Corporation.

“What you see in younited today is already compelling but it’s only the beginning. A number of new service capabilities are in the works that will add further excitement to the user experience. For instance, we will soon launch a completely new, dead-easy and fun way to share pictures and videos from events with friends and family."

Personal cloud services are built on trust
Looking for more privacy and security in the cloud, tens of thousands of consumers and small businesses have already signed up for younited – well before the official launch. This demonstrates a clear market demand for an alternative to US-based cloud services. Personal cloud services are built on trust.

However, that trust has eroded in the past year as a result of a multitude of alarming signals, such as reports of malware being spread using personal cloud services and questionable methods used by national intelligence agencies to eavesdrop and access the online data of law-abiding citizens.

Younited is the cloud service that can be trusted. It is hosted in Finland, home to strict privacy laws and strongly held cultural values of privacy, and has been conceived and built for privacy from the ground up.

What’s more, it is engineered by security professionals who have built security into the architecture as well as into their ways of working on younited. Younited’s promise is that users will remain in control of their data, with security professionals defending their content every day against loss of data, malware, unauthorized access, and other threats.

“It's high time for a fresh European alternative to enter the market, taking the existing Internet behemoths head on,” says Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer at F-Secure. “What the world needs now is a cloud storage service that is not subject to uncontrolled access by intelligence agencies.”

Engaging and fun – while flying above the clouds
As important as trust is to personal cloud services, younited brings much more. It provides a fresh, highly visual user experience for accessing content while online or offline from any device, and for sharing and organizing. Younited comes with a native user application for Windows desktops, Apple Macs, Android devices, Apple iPhones and iPads, Windows Phone 8, in addition to a generic Web User Interface.

Younited collects the pictures, videos, documents and other content users have on their many devices into one safe place. However, that's not all: In addition to younited’s own secure and private storage space, users can also connect their Facebook, Dropbox and Picasa accounts to younited.

This allows users to see all their content in one single service where they can find, organize and share it with friends, family and business associates. Younited will continue to add more external clouds to the service, thus providing users with practically unlimited cloud storage space for their files.

All you need, at an affordable price
Younited is open to users through a queue for the first months of live operation. Users have gotten access to the service in controlled groups since October 24th. Younited is being launched in three alternative packages: Free, Medium and Premium.

The free version will offer all younited’s functionality along with 10GB of safe cloud storage – but only for a limited time (starting next year, the free version will offer 5GB). Medium expands safe cloud storage to 200GB and retails at €74,99 a year. Premium provides users with 500GB of safe cloud storage, retailing at €120 a year.

For more information about younited’s features and functionalities, and to sign up please visit www.younited.com.

2013: WIN32/Downadup (aka Conficker) Most Detected Threat in Malaysia

F-Secure’s latest Threat Report highlights latest trends and new developments in malware threats

Kuala Lumpur, 30 September 2013 – The prevalence of pirated versions of Windows XP and legacy systems that prevent operating systems (OS) upgrades has led to a continued rise of the computer worm:WIN32/Downadup threats affecting old platforms, especially unpatched Windows XP systems. According to F-Secure’s latest Threat Report H1 2013 which was published recently, more than 20,000 attacks related to the Downadup worm were detected in Malaysia between January to September 2013.

The report also found that mobile malware is becoming increasingly widespread among Malaysian mobile users, owing to the growing popularity of Android platforms. The number of Android malware has doubled each year since 2011, and about 77% of the new mobile malware is profit-motivated.

Most Detected Threat: WORM:WIN32/Downadup

The continued increase of threats from WORM:WIN32/Downadup, also known as Conficker, in Malaysia points to two possibilities, according to F-Secure Malaysia Security Advisor, Goh Su Sim.

“This five-year-old virus, which spreads through the Windows system, is still prevalent today and affects older platforms, especially Windows XP systems that are unpatched,” said Goh. “This means two things: One, pirated versions of Windows XP are widely available in Malaysia. Of course, when you use non-original versions, you most likely cannot connect to the latest updates to update your system and this can result in your system being vulnerable to attacks. Two, there are a lot of Legacy applications running, for example in banks, which prevent OS upgrades.” He added that the top 10 most infected cities in Malaysia are Kajang, Kuala Lumpur and Batu Caves.

While the worm is known to wreak havoc on the OS, Goh stressed that the solution was relatively simple, and that is to patch systems to avoid potential disasters.

“Microsoft issued a patch for the threat in 2008 when they detected the vulnerability in their software. Unfortunately, a lot of IT administrators and personnel here are not doing enough patching to keep their servers or systems up to date. Hackers are quick to take advantage of these loopholes. It’s like having a door with a lock that doesn’t work, and you know it’s not been working for the past five years, but you haven’t done anything to fix it.”

In addition to updating the patches, another recommendation according to Goh, is to minimize the attack surface. For example, because of the high vulnerability of Java plug-ins, users are recommended to disable or uninstall Java if we do not use it, as not all programs require Java to run.

Growing Threat: Mobile Malware

Hackers are starting to turn their focus to mobile devices as there is now money to be made hacking smartphones as well. According to F-Secure’s Threat Report, the number of Android malware has been doubling year on year since 2011, and doubled further in H1 2013 from the previous year.

“This reflects the speed of which people have started adopting Android platforms and in tandem, how fast viruses are being written for them. It’s not so much about which platform is safer, rather, because more than 70% of the market is now made up of Android users, hackers tend to focus on the larger share of the pie,” explained Goh.

358 new families and variants of Android malware were discovered by F-Secure Labs in H1 2013, nearly doubling the total number of malware the Labs has ever discovered, to 793. Symbian followed with 16 new families and variants discovered, while no new families or variants were discovered on other mobile platforms.

Goh added that most, about 77%, of the new malware for smartphones has been found to be profit-motivated. “Malaysian mobile users are hit by potentially unwanted applications such as adware and money-stealing viruses known as premium SMS malware. Your smartphone today contains more information than your PC – it knows your lifestyle and habits, and marketing companies love this information. There are viruses that track all your information and sell it to marketing companies,” he said.

APT Threats and Mac Malware

Mac OS platforms are no longer strangers to malware. In the first six months of 2013, there have been 33 new families or variants of malware detected on Mac OS platforms. This is largely due to the growing popularity of Mac OS in the market and also the over-confidence of users that Macs are immune to viruses. About 57.6% of Mac malware are Backdoors, while 36.4% are Trojans.

APT threats have also become a major talked-about threat to the data security of organisations and industries and now F-Secure Labs has constructed a rough overall picture of the kind of victims APT attackers are targeting. For details on that study plus the latest in Mac malware, phishing, and more, refer to the complete Threat Report H1 2013 .

2013 So Far: Java Exploits Jump, Android Malware Emerges Outside App Stores

~F-Secure’s Latest Threat Report, out now, covers all the latest hot topics in online security~

Kuala Lumpur, 24 September 2013 – A continued rise in exploit-based attacks, particularly against Java, and an increasing sophistication in mobile threats characterized the first half of 2013, which saw its share of interesting developments in the world of digital security. According to F-Secure’s new Threat Report H1 2013, being published today, nearly 60% of F-Secure’s top ten detections in the first half of 2013 were exploits.

Exploits: the most common attack vector

The high percentage of exploits detected by F-Secure is a good thing, according to Sean Sullivan, Security Advisor at F-Secure Labs. “The fact that the majority of our top ten detections are blocking exploits rather than dealing with payloads – that means we’re doing a good job of making sure the malware itself doesn’t even get the chance to enter the machine,” he says.

Su Gim sharing 2013 Threat Report Statistic.

Users in the US saw the most vulnerability-related attacks, with 78 out of every 1000 users encountering an exploit attempt. Germany and Belgium followed with 60 out of 1000 encountering exploit attempts. Java-targeted exploits lead the pack of exploits as a whole, making up almost half of the top ten detections, up from a third the previous half-year.

Exploits are programs, but they are simply another vehicle for getting malware onto a machine, like an infected USB drive or email. Usually attacking via malicious or compromised websites, they take advantage of flaws in the code of a computer’s installed applications to access the computer and infect it with malware that can spy on the user, steal passwords or other sensitive data, or allow cybercriminals to take control of the machine.

Mobile malware: not just in app stores anymore 

358 new families and variants of Android malware were discovered by F-Secure Labs in H1, nearly doubling the total number the Labs has ever discovered to 793. Symbian followed with 16 new families and variants. No new families or variants were discovered other mobile platforms.

Android malware isn’t just distributed by app stores anymore, either. The first half of 2013 saw distribution by malvertising and by drive-by downloads while visiting a compromised site. Malvertising, or advertisements that lead users to malicious products, is increasingly being used to distribute mobile malware, due in part to its wide reach. And while still less sophisticated on a mobile than on a PC, drive-by downloads are expected to continue as an attack vector. Mobile drive-bys use a notification message asking if the user wants to install the app, making them more obvious than PC drive-bys, with the option to circumvent them.

Stels, an Android trojan that serves multiple purposes from building up botnets to stealing mobile Transaction Authentication Numbers (mTANs) as a banking trojan, uses methods that are usually characteristic of Windows malware, such as spam as a distribution method. This serves as evidence that Android malware is advancing closer to reaching the highly developed level of Windows threats.

APT threats, Bitcoin mining, and Mac malware

APT threats have become a major talked-about threat to the data security of organizations and industries, and now F-Secure Labs has constructed a rough overall picture of the kind of victims APT attackers are targeting. For details on that study of 100 documents used in targeted APT attacks, plus a look at the very lucrative practice of Bitcoin mining and the latest in Mac malware, phishing and more, check out the complete Threat Report H1 2013 .

MERDEKA GOODIES FOR MALAYSIANS

~Safeguard Your Valuable Content with FREE Security from F-Secure~

Kuala Lumpur, 13 August 2013 – According to Internet World Stats 2012, Malaysia ranked 10th place among Asian countries for online usage, including everyday activities from answering emails and doing banking transactions to interacting on social network sites. With our private details available online, it is apparent that we should protect them at all cost.

To celebrate Merdeka Day and encourage Malaysians to be vigilant when online, F-Secure is giving away RM25million worth of one-year online security packages for FREE; available to download via F-Secure’s Facebook page or log in to http://campaigns.f-secure.com/free-download . The RM25million worth of security solutions consists of 200,000 keys of anti virus for computers and another 200,000 keys of Android mobile security.

“In this ever changing world where data can be shared and accessed easily, it is vital to guard your valuable content. For over two decades, F-Secure has been providing premium grade internet security and solutions to users and we are proud to offer this to Malaysians,” commented Jari Heinonen, Vice President of Asia Pacific Region of F-Secure.

Many Malaysians may already be aware of incidents where renowned celebrities’ reputations are compromised when unwanted images of them are leaked to public domain or when human rights are disregarded with easy implementation of spyware, just to name a few.

Jari added, “We will continue to offer and invent premium grades of internet security and solutions for users. At F-Secure, ensuring online security has never been more important, as every piece of digital information - a password or even a trusted online relationship - is considered personal and irreplaceable.”

F-Secure holds the AV-TEST Best Protection Award for 2012 from the reputable AV-Test Institute. The award is presented to the best antivirus product of the year, taking into account protection against malware infections caused by the latest threats.

For more information about F-Secure, kindly visit http://www.f-secure.com or call 603 2264 0200. You can also connect with F-Secure through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FSecure and follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/fsecure.

2500万令吉免费保安系统送给马来西亚人！

F-Secure庆祝25周年纪念，送出40万萬套防毒軟件

（吉隆坡2013年6月13日讯）全球领先网络保安供应商F-Secure宣布将送出2500万令吉的免费保安系统给马来西亚人，庆祝该公司在这25年来守护数码资料与防止宝贵内容遗失。

这些价值2500万令吉的免费保安系统包括20万把电脑防毒钥匙，以及另外20万把Android流动保安钥匙。用户可以浏览F-Secure面子书，只须点击几下就能换取1年的免费保安系统。

A. (L-R) Ng Wan Peng, COO of MDec & Christian Fredrikson, CEO of F-Secure launched  of RM25million of FREE security to Malaysians!

F-Secure主席兼首席执行员菲力克森（Christian Fredrikson）表示，“过去超过20 年，F-Secure一直都致力于保护客户与公司的数码内容和网上联系。我们非常感激与珍惜这些关系，因此我们将奖励马来西亚人价值2500万令吉的保安系统为期一年。”

为了庆祝25周年纪念，F-Secure连同PGA冠军吉恩（Stewart Ginn）为公司伙伴举办了一场迷你高尔夫球场比赛， 让50名高尔夫球手有机会与这名标志性人物交流， 学习宝贵的球技。在活动之后，他们还与多媒体发展公司（MDEC）首席营运员Ng Wan Peng和著名网络保安权威米科（Mikko Hypponen）享用丰盛的一顿午餐。

菲力克森补充说，“我们将在未来继续为用户提供与创造优质的网络保安措施与方案。对F-Secure来说，网络保安从来不曾这么重要，因为每一份数码资料，无论是密码或是一段值得信赖的网上关系，都是属于个人与无可取代的。”

成为最优秀的网络保安并不足够，F-Secure目前正扩张至云端储存空间，为用户提供超越网络保安的方案，让不同设备之间可以简易地进行个人内容同步化与共享，并简易地储存所有珍贵的数据，在任何设备出现问题时重新取回这些数据。

所有这些服务都是由全球最安全的云端所提供。

HACKATHON FOR WEB SECURITY

~ F-Secure‘s Hackathon provides opportunity for local developers to develop safe web apps ~

Kuala Lumpur, 18 April 2013 – F-Secure Malaysia’s Hackathon 2013 attracted more than 30 talented Malaysian developers to compete in a 30-hour challenge as they networked with other developers. The event has given them the opportunity to learn about F-Secure’s APIs and security systems and to develop innovative applications for better online security.

Themed ‘Securing Services on the Web’, the free event kicked off Friday, 12 April 2013 at 10am at Wisma F-Secure, Bangsar South and was open to all developers, beginners and professionals alike. Teams were spontaneously formed to work on their respective new applications, which were expected to drive innovation of Safe Web Apps to the next level. In the beginning, participants were introduced to F-Secure’s technology and concepts before developing their inventive ideas for the Hackathon.

Developers participating in the Hackathon.

“We have previously organized many such Hackathons internally in our offices across the globe, but this year we decided to open it to local developers so that they too could share their ideas and contribute to the betterment of online security,” said Klas Kindström, Senior Manager, New Innovation, R&D Services.

The Hackathon session continued throughout the rest of the day and into Saturday, 13 April 2013, concluding at 2:00PM. Participants, working either individually or in groups, then demonstrated their newly developed applications to the judging panel, comprised of F-Secure’s lead engineers and software architects. Applications ranged from online browser plugins to smartphone and web based applications.

Local developers in Action.

Participants were given full access to F-Secure’s APIs and development tools as well as information such as network reputation, virus alerts and malware information, which served as an excellent platform for talented developers to showcase their programming skills and quickly turn their ideas into reality.

Prizes were awarded to three applications. Lee Swee Meng won the award for ‘The Most Unexpected Demo Effect’ with his 3D Globe application, followed by duo Fatin Ruzanna and Francis Fueconcillo, who walked away with the award for ‘The Best Use of F-Secure’s APIs (Application Programming Interface). The duo amazed the crowd with their application which integrated F-Secure’s APIs with Twitter, allowing users to avoid malicious tweets on the social networking platform.

Fatin Ruzanna and Francis Fueconcillo working on their app.

Finally, young developer Tan Kok Boon stole the spotlight with his groundbreaking application which allows users to monitor and prevent threats using F-Secure’s World Map Interface. Tan won the award for ‘ The Most Innovative Application’ and the award for ‘The Best Overall Performance’ which entitles him to a luxurious dinner with Mikko Hyppönen, internationally acclaimed Computer Security Expert, Columnist, Malware Researcher and Chief Research Officer (CRO) of F-Secure Corporation.

“We wanted to offer something more than just merchandise and cash prizes. That is why the grand prize is an opportunity for local developers to learn from Mikko, exchange ideas and perhaps develop some new ones in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. To be able to spend time with Mikko is indeed an opportunity not to be missed,” said Markus Melin, Director, R&D Operations, F-Secure Corporation.

Tan Kok Boon (center) with Panel of Judges.

“I am still in a state of shock! My biggest wish is to fully develop my application and contribute to the world and I am ecstatic to be able to dine with Mikko and learn from him,” said Tan.

For more information about F-Secure Malaysia and their services, please visit            http://www.f-secure.com or call 603 2264 0200. You can also connect with F-Secure through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FSecure and follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/fsecure.

F-Secures Strengthens Regional Hub in Malaysia

Security Software Company Strengthens Regional Hub on Operator Business in Malaysia

Petaling Jaya, 8 March 2012 – Global security software company, F-Secure Corporation (F-Secure) announced today that it is strengthening its regional operations based in Malaysia to meet the rising security challenges in the digital arena.

“We chose Malaysia to be our regional hub for several strategic reasons. Apart from the availability of a well-educated, multi-lingual talent pool and a world-class infrastructure at competitive costs, the country is open to attracting knowledge-based activities and offers a conducive business environment”, said Christian Fredrikson, President and CEO of F-Secure Corporation.

Jari Heinonen, Vice President of F-Secure Asia Pacific added that one fifth of F-Secure’s current global workforce is based in Malaysia and the company is aggressively adding headcount in 2012 to strengthen its regional hub.

“We are recruiting predominantly locals to increase our headcount here in Malaysia. There is a growing need for the protection and storage of people’s digital content across device and our aim is to build a strong team of experts that can provide innovative security solutions in this challenging environment of security, user-generated content and multi-devices,” said Heinonen.

F-Secure has been protecting consumers against PC threats and more recently mobile threats for over 20 years with its Internet Security and Backup solutions. This security heritage now extends into helping customers to have access to any of their content from anywhere, and from any device. F-Secure also announced recently that it has entered the content world through its latest flagship solution ‘Content Anywhere’ that is available via local operator partners.

“Security is in our DNA but it is now so much more than just anti-virus. Our entry into the cloud business with ‘Content Anywhere’ ensures we continue to meet the need of operators in an environment now characterized by uninterrupted online access and an explosion in user generated content,” remarked Fredrikson.

F-Secure continues to assert its leadership in providing a compelling range of solutions that are tailored to the needs of the operator community that goes beyond internet security. The company has also recently launched ‘Safe Anywhere’, a unique offering which combines Internet security and browsing control solutions so PC’s, Laptops, tablet devices and smartphones.

The solution which was recently showcased in the 2012 Mobile World Congress is embedded with F-Secure’s award-winning[1] protection from viruses, spam, phishing and other kinds of malware and cyber-attacks. It supports PCs, Macs and mobile devices running Android, iOS and Symbian and is available through selected operator partners.

F-Secure’s focus is about supporting over 200 operator partners that serve over 250 million broadband and mobile customers around the world.

Flood Of Spam Slowing Down Twitter Today

F-Secure discovers two fraudulent accounts, warns of tinyurls

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 25 March 2009 – Wondering why Twitter is really slow today? A flood of spam has infiltrated the microblogging community. F-Secure today discovered a fake Twitter account that tricks users into a Google scam, by promising a free Range Rover.

Another example is Kristen Andrews’s account, whose latest tweet reads: “My boyfriend emailed me this site that has a $5000 slot tournament on april’s fool day and it’s free to enter”, followed by a URL.

Kristen Andrews claims to live in Miami/ Florida, and has more than 1,000 followers.

The links leads to a page asking you to download the file goldencasino.exe, a Casino game.

“Twitter is aware of the problem and deleted "follower" Kristen's account within 10 minutes but the problem is that new Twitter scams are popping up left, right and centre,” said Patrik Runald, chief security advisor at F-Secure’s Security Labs. “Tweeple should check who’s following them, and be cautious when clicking on URLs and tinyurls.”

The link promising a free Range Rover, posted by Nevada-based Jason (Terri962), takes us to a page talking about how we can make US$5,000 per month, by simply posting a link on Google.

Clicking on any of the links in the ad takes you (after a redirect via krovs.com) to onlinewizards.net where it says we can now make US$6,500 per month. Sounds too good to be true? Then it probably is. To become a Google Cash advertiser, you have to submit your credit card details and other personal information.

For updates on Twitter spam and screen shots of the fraudulent sites, visit F-Secure’s Weblog: www.f-secure.com/weblog/ or follow Patrik Runald on Twitter.

Give your computer a spring cleaning to avoid malicious exploits

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – March 23, 2009: F-Secure data indicates thatwhat is making computers most vulnerable to exploits are unpatched orout-of-date versions of the most widely-used software for PCs. Between80-90% of users have security holes in their systems with on average 5different vulnerabilities in the software on their computers. Users don’t remove the old versions of their programs and the vulnerabilities inthem can leave the computer wide open to malware or malicious software.

Trojans are a typical example of the kinds programs which take advantageof vulnerabilities. They are malicious applications which appear to doone thing but actually do another, giving the criminal access to yourcomputer.

Chia Wing Fei from F-Secure Labs explains: ”A lot of the software onusers’ computers has been updated and patched to make it safe. Peopleare using these new versions, but if they do not delete the old orunused versions from their computers, they may still be open toexploits. F-Secure’s data shows that people have lots of old softwarelying about on their PCs, unused, and creating possible problems.”

“The best way to keep your PC safe from exploits is to make sure yoursoftware is updated with the latest patches. Many software applicationswill do this automatically. You should also make sure you only haveprograms you actually use installed on your computer. Old versions orunused programs should simply be removed,” Fei advises.

In addition to the other programs on your computer, Web browsers canalso be vulnerable to exploits. Sometimes these vulnerabilities are usedby criminals before an update is available from the manufacturer.

F-Secure Exploit Shield recognizes attempts to exploit a known web-basedvulnerability and shields the user against them. It also works againstnew, unknown vulnerability exploits by using generic detectiontechniques based on the behavior of exploits. F-Secure Exploit Shield isa free beta tool and can be downloaded fromhttp://support.f-secure.com/beta

F-Secure compiles the data of common vulnerabilities from F-SecureHealth Check logs. F-Secure Health Check is run on over 100 000computers monthly worldwide. It is a free tool which can be used tocheck that your computer’s security software is up-to-date and that youdon’t have any security holes in your other software or applications.http://campaigns.f-secure.com/healthcheck/index.html

When giving your computer a spring cleaning, make sure
‧ Your software is updated with the latest patches
‧ You only have programs you use installed on your computer
‧ You remove old versions or unused software
‧ Your security solution is up-to-date

F-Secure’s Mikko Hypponen calls for establishment of ‘Internetpol’

F-Secure’s Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen calls for the establishment of ‘Internetpol’ to tackle organized crime on the Web.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – October 16, 2008 -- F-Secure’s quarterly security wrap-up highlights the challenge of bringing cyber criminals to justice by examining several high profile cases which have been in the news recently.

Jeremy Jaynes, a prolific spammer in the United States, has had his conviction overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court following a ruling that the state Anti-Spam Law violated the First Amendment to the Constitution concerning the right to free and anonymous speech. In New Zealand, a teenage author of banking Trojans which earned millions of dollars for a criminal gang, walked free from a court despite pleading guilty. Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Office in Washington, United States, and Microsoft Corporation have announced that they are filing lawsuits against the purveyors of rogue security applications attempting to scare Internet users into buying worthless products.

As the courts and law enforcement struggle to stem the mounting Internet crime wave, Mikko Hypponen F-Secure’s Chief Research Officer says,”The Internet has no borders and online crime is almost always international, yet local police authorities often have limited resources for investigations. We should consider the creation of an online version of Interpol – ‘Internetpol’ – that is specifically tasked with targeting and investigating the top of the crimeware food chain.”Other topics in the quarterly wrap-up include phishers attacking consumers using the international banking crisis as a ruse, a spamming campaign that uses the U.S. presidential election as a way of spreading malware, and the return of the malicious attachment in infecting computers.The full third quarter 2008 security wrap-up is available at http://www.f-secure.com/2008

F-Secure achieves excellent results in Internet security suite comparison

Results from AV-Test.org put F-Secure ahead of its main competitors, while its ‘in-the-cloud’ technology takes Internet security to another level.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – October 9, 2008 -- The latest F-Secure Internet Security 2009 consumer product has gained excellent results against its main competitors in the major comparison of Internet security suites conducted by AV-Test.org, an independent testing organization specializing in security solution testing. F-Secure Internet Security 2009 also showed improved performance compared to last year’s version of the product, including faster scanning speed and response times.

The AV-Test.org covered a range of metrics, including detection rates for various types of malware including adware and spyware, false positive rates, scanning speed, proactive detection, and response times to outbreaks. F-Secure Internet Security 2009 scored particularly well in AV-Test’s ‘malware on demand’ category with a detection rate of 99.2%, and also in the ‘spyware/adware on demand’ category with a 99.6% detection rate. According to the results, another strong point of F-Secure Internet Security 2009 was in the ‘proactive detection’ category that examined the performance of its heuristics and behavioral detection (HIPS).

While the AV-Test.org results proved that F-Secure’s traditional signature based detection, heuristics and behavioral detection worked extremely well in detecting malware, the test did not analyze the benefits of F-Secure’s innovative ‘in-the-cloud’ technology. F-Secure DeepGuard 2.0 technology (NHIPS) is part of the F-Secure Internet Security 2009 product and uses in-the-cloud protection technology to verify the trustworthiness of all programs that are executed on a computer.

By accessing a real-time protection network, F-Secure DeepGuard 2.0 decreases the response time to new threats to just milliseconds, while also decreasing the number of false positives and further improving scanning speed. For the computer user this means that the quality of protection against today’s real threats in the Internet will be even better than the already excellent level illustrated by AV-Test.org.

Patrik Runald, Chief Security Advisor, said: “The real-time protection network means that F-Secure can protect its customers faster and more accurately than ever. F-Secure is at the forefront of developing in-the-cloud technology and the recently launched F-Secure Internet Security 2009 was the first consumer product in the industry to bring the benefits of in-the-cloud protection technology to millions of Internet users.”

F-Secure reports malware growth at a higher level than ever before Amount of malware reaches 900,000 in the end of June 2008

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – July 17, 2008 -- In its 2008 first half data security summary F-Secure reports malware growth rate at a higher level than ever before. This recent explosion of malware doesn't necessarily represent new types of threats. It is largely the packing, encryption, and obfuscation of existing families of trojans, backdoors, exploits, and other threats which is now done with industrial efficiency. What the increasing use of self-defense technologies in malware represents is the ever growing professionalism within the crime-ware community.

"I have a nasty feeling that the situation is getting worse, not better", says Mikko Hyppönen, Chief Research Officer at F-Secure Corporation. "However, we're not giving up either."

The first half of 2008 has witnessed a growing number of targeted malware attacks on individuals, companies, and organizations. In a targeted malware attack, the attacker profiles his victim and sends an e-mail using the recipient's name, title, and perhaps references to his job function. The message's content is typically something that the recipient would expect to receive via e-mail.

Targeted malware attacks are also being used for political and military motives. During the recent clashes between Tibetans and the Chinese military, the battles on the streets were accompanied by political espionage on the Internet. Human rights groups, pro-Tibet organizations and individuals supporting the freedom of Tibet were attacked with a carefully targeted and technically advanced e-mail campaign that attempted to infect their computers in order to spy on their actions.

Additionally the first half of 2008 brought some new ways to infect PC’s, as well as “jailbreaking” for mobile phones. The full 2008 first half data security wrap-up is available at http://www.f-secure.com/2008/

Two New Mac OSX Trojans

Kuala Lumpur, July 3, 2008 － F-Secure has reported that an Apple Remote Desktop Agent vulnerability recently surfaced. Now there's news of a trojan that can exploit the flaw.

The exploit tool, called "Applescript Trojan horse template" was crafted by forum participants of MacShadows.com. These guys appear to have been hobbyist hackers interested in testing the ARDAgent vulnerability. It doesn't appear to be in the wild at present. F-Secure Security Labs detects it as Backdoor.Mac.Hovdy.a.

Chia Wing Fei, Security Response Program Manager, F-Secure Security Labs said that, “ARDAgent runs Applescript with root privileges. So once the victim is tricked into installing Hovdy, no user passwords are required for it to do its thing, which is provide backdoor access to the attacker.”

Apart from this Trojan, the Labs has discovered another Mac OSX trojan last week called Trojan-PSW:OSX/PokerStealer.A.

PokerStealer.A heavily relies on social engineering. It comes with the filename PokerGame.app (180Kb). Once executed, it will prompt the user for a password.

Trojan-PSW:OSX/PokerStealer.A checks the provided password to see if it matches the username of the machine. If not, it will ask again. It needs the user's password to continue.

What happens behind the scenes is the following: it enables the SSH of the infected machine by running; it acquires the local IP address, subnet mask, private IP address of the router (domain), public IP address by querying via the Internet; it gets the version of OSX, recovers its hash and saves it to a file named "secret_file".

After all the necessary information has been gathered it then sends the information to a specific e-mail address with a subject of "Howdy" and the message details include username, password, and IP addresses.

With the e-mailed information, the attacker can perform routines from a remote location through SSH without the user knowing it and may even take control of the infected machine.

“The PokerStealer.A trojan appears to have been written by someone with more than just hobbyist level motivations. Its infection is limited by the password requirement,” he added.

The author of PokerStealer (motivated by profit) is going to seek out the hobbyist's "Applescript Trojan horse template" and will reduce the infection steps of PokerStealer.A to simply running an application named "PokerGame".

For more information, please visit F-Secure weblog: http://www.f-secure.com/weblog

F-Secure includes firewall with Mobile Security for the Windows Mobile platform

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – April 17, 2008 -- F-Secure Corporation, the global leader in providing security as a service through mobile operators and Internet Service Providers, today announced its award-winning Mobile Security solution for the Windows Mobile platform. The solution brings new levels of protection for Windows Mobile Smartphone and PocketPC users.

F-Secure Mobile Security enables smartphone users to enjoy the full potential of their devices without the fear of mobile threats. The application combines real-time antivirus and antispyware functionality with a firewall, ensuring complete protection in today’s connected lives. A firewall provides additional security for all mobile devices that access public networks like Wi-Fi. The solution also delivers automatic over-the-air antivirus updates.

F-Secure Mobile Security prevents malware from:
- causing unwanted billing as they try to spread or call premium rate numbers
- deleting valuable information from the device
- making the device unusable
- sending information from the device to third parties

With this latest launch of its Mobile Security product, F-Secure now provides a complete security suite with firewall, antivirus and antispyware functionality for all the main mobile platforms running an open operating system: Windows Mobile, Symbian S60 and UIQ. F-Secure Mobile Security can be subscribed from selected mobile operators as a service, purchased directly from the F-Secure eStore at: http://www.f-secure.com/estore/ or bought from resellers worldwide. The product will be available during the second quarter.

The list of supported devices is constantly expanding and consists today of over 150 smartphones. The up-to-date information can always be found from the mobile-device optimized F-Secure Mobile Portal under http://mobile.f-secure.com .

近九成手機用戶忽略手機安全

Mobile users do not take security precautions

86 per cent of Mobile Phone users (across the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany) do not have security software installed, according to F-Secure

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 5 March 2008 -- F-Secure Corporation, the global leader in providing security as a service through mobile operators and Internet Service Providers, today announced mobile security results from its Online Wellbeing survey. Over three quarters of mobile phone users are aware that malware can infect a mobile device via Bluetooth – but fail to have security software installed, according to this survey.

Independent research* commissioned by F-Secure questioned web users aged 20 to 40 across the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany about their knowledge of online and mobile security issues.

On average, 28 per cent of all respondents said they use their mobile device to access the Internet. A large majority, 86 per cent admitted to having no mobile security. Out of all the countries questioned, the UK had the highest percentage (47%) of users accessing the Internet through their mobile device, while at the same time being the least likely to have a security product installed on their mobile phone. Most users are aware of the security risks involved with using the connectivity features on their phone: only 21 percent regarded Bluetooth connections safe, and a mere 15 per cent were under the impression WiFi connections are safe.

Over half of those questioned felt it was up to the individual user to ensure their phone was protected. A third expected this to be taken care of by their mobile phone carrier, with the US putting the greater emphasis on third-party responsibility. Only 11 per cent of Germans believed their mobile phone provider should be in charge of security, compared with over 32 per cent in France.

“While the mobile threat is low at present, it’s only a matter of time before Internet criminals start utilizing the growing potential that smartphone usage presents to them,” warned Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure. “So far there have been about 400 mobile viruses detected, but as smartphones replace PC's as the dominant Internet platform, we can expect this figure to rise.”

Geographically the sources of mobile threats are spread around the globe with activity originating for instance in South-East Asia, Russia and South America. While the threat from mobile viruses remains low, there has been increasing activity with spyware applications for mobile phones. Such applications make it possible to get covert access to all the functions of the affected phone, including recording of phone calls, access to messages and switching on the phone's microphone for listening.

The low amount of security software installed on smartphones coupled with the rapidly increasing volume of these devices make them a very vulnerable target for hackers.

*The survey was carried out by a third party in January 2008 across 1,169 Internet users aged 20-40 across the US (225 respondents), Canada (228 respondents), the UK (227 respondents), France (256 respondents) and Germany (224 respondents). F-Secure asked respondents a series of basic online security questions and, using a Likert scale, asked them to rate the extent to which they were confident in the security of given online activities.