Paul F. Roberts

For the second year in a row, Microsoft Corp. invited a small number of hackers onto its Redmond, Wash., campus to crack the companys products for all to see. Blue Hat V2 was held on Thursday and Friday and teamed noted “white hat” hackers with Microsoft employees to break into and expose security weaknesses in […]

Scam artists who target online banking customers are adapting their techniques to try to defeat a range of sophisticated new security features designed to thwart phishing attacks, according to experts. In recent months, companies that monitor phishing attacks have noticed an increase in malicious programs that record computer screen activity. The rise in so-called screen […]

Citing increased threats from spyware and rootkits, Microsoft Corp. last week unveiled a new enterprise security product called Microsoft Client Protection and a security industry partnership to develop products for the companys operating systems. The product combines anti-spyware and anti-virus protection with management features that will allow it to integrate with Active Directory and software […]

Symantec Corp. continued its recent run of acquisitions last week, announcing plans to buy BindView Development Corp., of Houston, for $209 million, or $4 per share. The acquisition adds BindViews IT security compliance software to Symantecs enterprise software product line. However, at least one expert expressed concern over Symantecs ability to absorb yet another computer […]

A discussion of a new system for tracking malicious code introduced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security turned into a contentious argument Wednesday, with some anti-virus and enterprise IT analysts questioning the programs value and its dependence on major anti-virus software vendors. Attendees at a presentation on the CME (Common Malware Enumeration) program at […]

The recently announced reorganization at Microsoft Corp. will also bring changes to the companys Security Business & Technology Unit that could raise the profile of the companys security products, according to a company executive. Microsoft will move development and marketing of several security products out of the SBTU and into the Windows Server Division, including […]

BMC Software Inc. this week will unveil its upgraded identity management software and new products that the company claims will make it easier to link network security policies to user identities. The Houston company plans to launch Identity Management Suite 5.0 later this month, along with three new products: BMC Identity Discovery, BMC Identity Compliance […]

Advertising software company Direct Revenue will bundle its product with the Kazaa peer-to-peer client, according to a statement posted on the Direct Revenue Web site. Direct Revenue said it will offer the Kazaa P2P technology as a free software download to consumers who agree to view “a small number of relevant advertisements per day.” The […]

BOSTON—Despite the recent success of open source software projects like the Mozilla Foundation and Firefox Web browser, cultural and technical hurdles separate open source software from mainstream adoption in the developed world. Open source development projects hold great promise for the future, and may give birth to a new form of corporation in the long […]

Cisco Systems Inc. on Tuesday announced a host of new products and services that extend the companys Self-Defending Network security program and protect against so-called “zero day” Internet attacks. The San Jose, Calif., networking equipment maker announced a new Incident Control System that will combine security intelligence from Trend Micro Inc. with Cisco routers and […]