MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, Apr 15, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — BitDefender(R), an award-winning provider of antivirus software and data security solutions, today introduced its new Security Suite for Business, which provides growing companies with a comprehensive set of solutions that set new standards for proactive protection against security threats.

Designed with the needs of growing companies in mind, BitDefender Security Suite for Business provides intelligent, automated proactive protection at the workstation, combined with proactive management for the IT administrator.

BitDefender’s patent-pending heuristic detection technology provides superior protection against zero-day and undiscovered malware threats, enabling the BitDefender Security Suite for Business to take the offensive against stealth threats before they appear on a signature list. BitDefender Security Suite for Business allows companies to react to threats based upon common threat scenarios customized to their specific needs. This automated, proactive protection and proactive management results in complete network protection for growing businesses and allows for increased employee productivity and improved network efficiency.

For IT administrators, BitDefender enhances business productivity and reduces management and malware-related costs by enabling the centralized administration, protection and control of workstations inside a company’s network.

Security Suite for Business also features superior usability for both business user and the IT administrator through a centralized management and reporting system.

The first available Security Suite for Business offering is BitDefender Client Security, a robust yet easy-to-use security solution that features BitDefender’s unique Response Scenario, WMI Script Support and User Control capabilities — capabilities that provide growing businesses with the highest levels of proactive management.

BitDefender Client Security offers superior proactive protection from viruses, spyware, rootkits, spam, phishing and other malware, while BitDefender’s policy-based management capabilities enable the automation of routine management activities.

“BitDefender understands that businesses are faced with an ever-increasing volume of new and existing threats, and we’ve addressed this with these integrated security solutions…

Despite all the antivirus software, all the extra security features in your computer’s operating system, and all the government regulations intended to make the Internet a safer place, your PC and your personal data are as threatened as ever.

If you couldn’t already tell that from the latest e-mails offering to enlarge certain parts of your anatomy or — congratulations! — saying you won millions in a Netherlands lottery, consider some statistics released last week by tech security company Symantec Inc.:

– The amount of spam flowing over the Internet grew by 16 percent in the second half of last year and now makes up more than 70 percent of all e-mail traffic. (Other Internet security companies put the proportion at 95 percent.)

– The number of computers used for “phishing” Web sites — designed to trick users into giving up sensitive financial or personal data — more than quintupled in the second half of last year from a year earlier.

– The amount of “malicious code” — computer-speak for viruses or other software designed to take over, shut down or steal data from computers — more than quadrupled last year. Symantec predicts there will soon be more bad software than good software in the computing world.

“It’s a constant black-hat, white-hat sort of game that’s never going to end,” said Neal Hartsell, vice president of product marketing for Austin, Texas-based computer security company TippingPoint Technologies Inc.

“I don’t think anyone would suggest that there hasn’t been a lot of progress made in addressing the kinds of threats we dealt with three or four years ago,” Hartsell said. “However, there’s a whole class of newer threats that hackers are using that are more sophisticated than ever.”

No longer is the typical hacker a teenager trying to deface Web sites or shut down a government network for just…

Consumers who use search engines, online social networks, browsers and the like face a gantlet of viruses and malicious software code, according to a cybersecurity report from Symantec, issued Tuesday as security experts gather here for the sprawling RSA Conference on tech security.

The repercussions go beyond the loss of personal data, security experts say. As more consumers are victimized, it could undercut their confidence in legitimate Web sites, says Billy Hoffman, manager of Hewlett-Packard Security Labs.

Previously, hackers were more likely to use e-mail with attachments to steer victims to virus-tainted Web sites. Now, they are implanting their links on legitimate Web sites.

In all, Symantec detected 711,912 threats last year, compared with 125,243 in 2006.

The malicious attacks — including recent exploits of users of Google, Facebook, search engine Mozilla and others — are designed to steal user credentials or launch bigger attacks through the victim’s social network of contacts, says Alfred Huger, vice president of engineering at Symantec.

“Rather than set a bear trap — a porn or get-rich-quick site loaded with malicious code — to entice users, hackers are actively hunting by injecting their bad stuff on trustworthy sites,” Hoffman says.

Among the most frequent targets:

*Search engines. Cybercriminals are using a chink in Google’s Web site to redirect unsuspecting PC users to sites containing malicious software. When someone does a Google search, they are redirected to what appears to be a legitimate Web site. The site, in fact, is tainted with malware.

Google says it is fixing the problem.

*Browsers. Mozilla, considered a safer alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, is not immune. In the last six months of 2007, there were 88 vulnerabilities reported in Mozilla browsers, compared with 34 in the first half, says Symantec’s report.

*Social networks. Hackers are intensifying their efforts to compromise social-networking sites using unsecure Web 2.0 technologies to load…

Fierce competition among identity thieves has driven the prices for stolen data down to bargain-basement levels, which has forced crooks to adopt mainstream business tactics to lure customers, according to a new report on Internet security threats.

Credit card numbers were selling for as little as 40 cents each and access to a bank account was going for $10 in the second half of 2007, according to the latest twice-yearly Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec Corp. released Tuesday.

Symantec detected 711,912 new threats last year, 468 percent more than in 2006, when it found 125,243 — and almost two-thirds of all 1,122,311 Symantec has cataloged since 2002.

The data is usually sold through instant-message groups or Web forums that exist for only a few days or even hours, according to Symantec, and the hacking community exacts harsh consequences when members try to pass along fraudulent information.

“If the seller says there’s $10,000 in a bank account, and there isn’t $10,000 in there, their ability to sell will drop through the floor,” said Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response. “It’s a sort of honor among thieves, and it’s very strictly enforced.”

Researchers said they found more evidence during the last six months of the year that Internet fraudsters are adopting mainstream tactics, including hiring teams of hackers to create new viruses and offering volume discounts on stolen data to encourage larger orders.

In some cases, stolen credit card numbers were sold in batches of 500 for a total of $200. That’s 40 cents each, less than half the price observed during the first half of 2007, when they were down to $1 apiece in batches of 100, according to the report.

Full identities — including a functioning credit card number, Social Security number or equivalent and a person’s name, address and date of birth –…

Chinese health officials have confirmed that a father caught bird flu from his son in December, according to a report released Tuesday.

Human-to-human transmission of bird flu has happened about a dozen times in the past, in countries including Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. In nearly every case, transmission has occurred among blood relatives who have been in close contact, and the virus has not spread into the wider community.

In the case in China, a 52-year-old man and his 24-year-old son in Jiangsu province were diagnosed with H5N1 bird flu within a week of each other in December. At the time, officials from the World Health Organization said they could not rule out the possibility of human-to-human transmission.

After the son died, his father was treated with antivirals and participated in an H5N1 vaccine trial. He survived.

The son’s only exposure to bird flu was at a poultry market, while the father apparently had no direct exposure to sick birds. His only known exposure to bird flu was close contact with his ill son.

The H5N1 viruses from the father and son were almost genetically identical.

Experts also tested 91 friends, colleagues, and family members of the father and son — all of whom tested negative for H5N1, proving that the virus is not casually transmitted.

“Limited, non-sustained person to person transmission of H5N1 virus probably occurred in this family cluster,” wrote researchers at Beijing’s Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the medical journal, The Lancet.

“There is no indication from this data that we are any nearer to a pandemic,” said Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading. Bird flu remains difficult for humans to catch, and experts think most cases are linked to close contact with infected birds.

Health officials monitor every potential case of human to human transmission with…