One of Negobot’s creators, Dr. Carlos Laorden, told the BBC that past chat bots have tended to be too predictable: “Their behaviour and interest in a conversation are flat, which is a problem when attempting to detect untrustworthy targets like paedophiles.” The most innovative aspect of Negobot may be a key differentiator that makes it appear more lifelike: namely, the incorporation of the advanced decision-making strategies used in game theory. In a paper about their creation, the researchers describe how they’ve taught the robot to consider a conversation itself as a game.

For example, the bot identifies the best strategies to achieve its goal in what its programmers have taught it to understand as a competitive game. Negobot’s goal is to collect the information that can help to determine if a subject involved in a conversation has paedophile tendencies, all the while maintaining a convincing, kid-like prattle, sprinkled with slang and misspellings, so the subject doesn’t get suspicious. Negobot keeps track of its conversations with all users, both for future references and to keep a record that could be sent to the authorities if, in fact, the subject is determined to be a paedophile.

The conversation starts out neutral. The bot gives off only brief, trivial information, including name, age, gender and hometown. If the subject wants to keep talking, the bot may talk about favorite films, music, drugs, or family issues, but it doesn’t get explicit until sex comes into the conversation. The bot provides more personal information at higher levels, and it doesn’t shy away from sexual content. The Negobot will try to string along conversationalists who want to leave, with tactics such as asking for help with family, bullying or other typical adolescent problems. If the subject is sick of the conversation and uses less polite language to try to leave, the bot acts like a victim – a youngster nobody pays attention to and who just wants affection from somebody. Robot. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.From there, if the subject has stopped talking to the bot, the bot tries to exchange sex for affection. Is this starting to sound uncomfortably like entrapment?

That’s exactly what gets some experts worried. John Carr, a UK government adviser on child protection, told the BBC that overburdened police could be aided by the technology, but the software could well cross the line and entice people to do things they otherwise might not: “Undercover operations are extremely resource-intensive and delicate things to do. It’s absolutely vital that you don’t cross a line into entrapment which will foil any potential prosecution.” The BBC reports that Negobot has been field-tested on Google chat and could be translated into other languages. Its researchers admit that Negobot has limitations – it doesn’t, for example, understand irony.

Still, it sounds like a promising start to address the alarming rate of child sexual abuse on the internet. Hopefully, the researchers will keep it reined in so as to avoid entrapment – a morally questionable road that could, as Carr pointed out, ruin the chances for prosecutorial success. What do you think? Are you comfortable with the premise, or does the chances of entrapment sour the concept for you?

You can read the original article, here.

Sophos received top marks in the latest report from AV-Comparatives, a leading international testing lab. The report, titled “Impact of Anti-Virus Software on System Performance,” evaluated twenty one of the world’s leading security products on a PC running under Windows 7.

The testing lab prepared a total of 545 infection scenarios, and Sophos’ antivirus offering tied for the highest score among the products reviewed. It also received an “Advanced +” award, based on the lab’s assessment of the overall results.

“We value the work of independent testing labs like AV-Comparatives, as they help vendors like Sophos to strengthen our offerings, while providing consumers and businesses great insight so that they can make better informed decisions,” said Mark Harris, vice president, engineering, Sophos. “This latest recognition validates the great work of our team, which is committed to developing complete security solutions to combat advanced threats.”

In related testing news, Virus Bulletin, another leading independent lab awarded Sophos with a VBSpam award for its comparative anti-spam testing. This marks the 20th time that Sophos has received this honor for its Sophos Email Appliance. Additionally, Sophos recently received a VB100 award for Sophos Endpoint Security and Control as part of Virus Bulletin’s comparative review on Windows XP Professional SP3.

Click here to see the original article.

The infected ads were served to visitors of the Yahoo homepage over a four-day period last week. Some of the malware that was served up could turn the infected computers into Bitcoin miners.  The malware that Yahoo unknowingly served up attacked flaws in Java on the victim machines. Yahoo says that the malware was served up from December 31 to January 3 on its European sites. 

Yahoo is being criticized for not doing anything to help the owners of computers infected with malware served from its site.

The web company has promised to monitor and block any ads being used for serving malware. Estimates are that around 27000 infections resulted every hour the ads containing the malware were served. Some malware installed by the rogue ads also installed ZeuS, which tries to steal banking information.

You can read the original article at SlashGear.

The new Sophos solution helps IT professionals confidently implement BYOD policies and provides users the flexibility they demand to stay productive and safe. It supports iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 devices.

To learn more about SMC 4.0, check out this video.

SMC 4.0: Mobile Encryption, Integrated Security and User-Centricity

SMC 4.0 provides a simple, hassle-free and comprehensive approach to protecting mobile devices. With Mobile Content Management for iOS devices, SMC is the only EMM solution to offer file-level encryption, which gates access to each file, to protect the data in the office and on the go. SMC also delivers integrated security against malware and malicious web sites for Android devices, which account for 80 percent of smartphone operating systems* worldwide as well as the majority of mobile malware threats. The number of unique pieces of mobile malware seen by SophosLabs has now reached almost 900,000 and is growing rapidly.

With web protection for Android, IT administrators can select web site categories to control access and block data-stealing or inappropriate web pages. SMC 4.0 also provides unique integration with Sophos UTM, Checkpoint and Cisco to provide network access control. Compromised devices are isolated from the network, protecting the organization’s assets from malware on mobile devices. SMC’s user-centric deployment, management and pricing greatly simplifies administration. With an intuitive web-based management console, IT administrators can provide their users with a self-service portal to change passwords, register devices and report lost or stolen devices. 

You can read the original article here.

With version 6.1 we’re addressing the two biggest issues in encryption – performance and usability – by leveraging native operating system (OS) encryption for better performance; and delivering multi-platform management across all devices and cloud environments.

SafeGuard Enterprise also solves the major challenge of managing encryption across multiple platforms, devices, and cloud environments. Users and IT staff are now able to share data safely between Windows, Mac and mobile devices – securing data wherever it lives and wherever it is sent.

Managing multiple devices no longer means managing multiple consoles, so IT can fully embrace encryption to support their users. The Sophos encryption approach enables users to safely work the way they need to – sharing files between users, partners and customers via the cloud and the devices they use.

Sophos is the only vendor to offer native device encryption, cloud, mobile, removable and file share encryption in one centrally managed solution, providing unmatched security, performance, and an intuitive user experience.

What’s New in SafeGuard Enterprise 6.1

• With SafeGuard Enterprise you can manage Microsoft BitLocker for Windows or Mac FileVault 2.
• Now with support for Windows 8, and file and disk encryption on Macs, SafeGuard covers more operating systems and platforms.
• Simplified keyring creation grants you seamless, centralized management. With this newest release, you can save time with our keyring creation that requires no repeat login.
• Use a single console to manage full-disk, removable media, file-share, and cloud storage encryption
• Get up-to-date security status for all your devices with reporting and auditing that lets you monitor and enforce compliance with internal policies and external regulations.

You can sign-up for a free 30-day trial here.

You can read the original article here and here.

Learn How Balance and MAX Routers Team Up for Unbreakable VPNs

The Balance lineup uses Peplink SpeedFusion technology to integrate seamlessly with MAX cellular routers and deliver unstoppable VPNs in a wide variety of applications. To see how, visit our updated Balance and Unbreakable VPN pages. Filled with helpful deployment diagrams and technology highlights, they’re a great way to learn more about fast, reliable, and affordable Peplink solutions for retail, enterprise, public safety, and much more.

You can read more here.

• Πως μοιάζει το νέο Κέντρο Διαχείρισης;
• Ποια λειτουργικά συστήματα υποστηρίζονται και ποιοι clients είναι διαθέσιμοι;
• Ποια είναι η διαφορά μεταξύ των UEFI και BIOS και γιατί χρειάζεται να το ξέρετε αυτό όταν πουλάτε ή εγκαθιστάτε το SGN;
• Μπορούμε να υποθέσουμε ότι η Native (Γηγενή) Κρυπτογράφηση είναι ίδια με το SafeGuard Enterprise Device Encryption;
• Μπορούν οι υπολογιστές Mac της Apple να διαχειρίζονται κεντρικά;
• Τι είναι και γιατί το FileVault 2 ενδέχεται να είναι απαραίτητο;
• Τι περιλαμβάνει η άδεια χρήσης SGN;

Σήμερα, ευαίσθητα δεδομένα βρίσκονται παντού, στο cloud, σε φορητές συσκευές και προσωπικούς υπολογιστές. Ο στόχος είναι η προστασία τους, χωρίς θυσίες στην απόδοση και η Sophos έχει τη λύση με το SafeGuard Enterprise 6.1, το οποίο προσφέρει κρυπτογράφηση, οπουδήποτε και αν βρίσκονται τα δεδομένα –σε υπολογιστές Windows, Mac, σε αφαιρούμενα μέσα αποθήκευσης, σε δίσκους στο δίκτυο, σε φορητές συσκευές ή στο cloud, χωρίς καμία επίπτωση στην απόδοση.

Με το SafeGuard Enterprise 6.1, η Sophos διευθετεί τα δύο μεγαλύτερα ζητήματα στην κρυπτογράφηση -την απόδοση και τη χρηστικότητα- εκμεταλλευόμενη την ενσωματωμένη κρυπτογράφηση του λειτουργικού συστήματος (Bitlocker στα Windows, FileVault 2 για Mac) για καλύτερη απόδοση και προσφέροντας multi-platform διαχείριση για όλες τις συσκευές και τα περιβάλλοντα cloud.

Θέλετε να μάθετε περισσότερα;
Σας περιμένουμε στο 4o Infocom Security όπου απαντάμε στις προκλήσεις του μέλλοντος.
Ώρα 12:30 – 14:15 στην 2η ενότητα «Ευφυείς Λύσεις για την Προστασία των Πληροφοριών»

There’s definitely an update coming next Tuesday, 18 June 2013, and you might as well get ready for it now if you haven’t already. The details of what will be fixed aren’t a matter of public record yet, so we can’t spell them out for you in detail. Nevertheless, Oracle has published a very brief pre-announcement to remind us of the importance of this month’s fixes. The good news is that lots of security vulnerabilities have been repaired – 40 in total, of which all but three are RCEs, or remote code execution holes.

That’s where untrusted content sent over the network might be able to trick Java into performing operations that really ought to be limited to already-installed, trusted code. In short, an RCE means that you could get infected by malware simply by looking around online, without explicitly downloading, authorising or even noticing the malware being installed.

There are two handy ways to reduce this RCE risk:

·    Apply Oracle’s patches as soon as practicable. You can turn on fully-automatic updating if you like.
·    Turn off Java in your browser, so that web-based Java applets can’t run at all.

Click here to see the original article.

Στο διάγραμμα που δημοσιοποιήθηκε από ανεξάρτητη εταιρεία ερευνών, και περιλαμβάνει τους Δείκτες Υπόσχεσης και Εκπλήρωσης, μπορείτε να δείτε και να συγκρίνετε την αποτελεσματικότητα ορισμένων από τις σπουδαιότερες εταιρείες της βιομηχανίας των υπολογιστών στο marketing αλλά και στην εκτέλεση.

Ένας κατασκευαστής, που βρίσκεται στο πάνω δεξί τεταρτημόριο του διαγράμματος, έχει βαθμολογηθεί με υψηλή βαθμολογία τόσο στο τομέα της υπόσχεσης όσο και στο τομέα της εκπλήρωσης αυτής της υπόσχεσης. Με βάση τα ίδια κριτήρια, μία εταιρεία στο κάτω αριστερό τεταρτημόριο, δεν τα καταφέρνει ούτε στο επίπεδο της υπόσχεσης, ούτε στο επίπεδο εκτέλεσης.

O “Δείκτης Εταιρικής Υπόσχεσης” (Vendor Promise Index) σχεδιάστηκε κατά τέτοιο τρόπο ώστε να μετράει την αποτελεσματικότητα του marketing. Χρησιμοποιεί τέσσερα από τα δεκατέσσερα σημεία αξιολόγησης πελατών (Θέση ανταγωνιστικότητας, Τεχνολογική Καινοτομία, το Στρατηγικό Όραμα του management της εταιρείας καθώς και η Μάρκα/ Φήμη) που σχετίζονται με ιδέες και concepts που μεταφέρονται σε πιθανούς πελάτες σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο πριν το πραγματικό προϊόν ή κάποια υπηρεσία παραδοθεί προς χρήση.

Ο “Δείκτης Εταιρικής Ικανοποίησης” (Vendor Fulfillment Index) σχεδιάστηκε ως μέτρο για την εκτελεστική αποτελεσματικότητα. Χρησιμοποιούνται και σε αυτή τη περίπτωση τέσσερα από τα δεκατέσσερα κριτήρια  βαθμολόγησης πελατών  (Απόδοση/ Τιμή, Ποιότητα προϊόντος, Παράδοση σύμφωνα με την Υπόσχεση και Ποιότητα τεχνικής υποστήριξης) τα οποία σχετίζονται με το φυσικό προϊόν και την υπηρεσία που έχει παραδοθεί και την εμπειρία που είχε ο πελάτης από τη χρήση του συγκεκριμένου προϊόντος ή της υπηρεσίας.

Το μέγεθος του κύκλου που βλέπετε στο διάγραμμα επίσης δείχνει τη σχετικότητα μεταξύ των βαθμολογιών που έλαβε κάποια εταιρεία. Οι γραμμές που τέμνονται δείχνουν το μέσο όρο βαθμολογίας που έλαβε κάθε εταιρεία, συμπεριλαμβανομένων και εταιρειών που δεν βρίσκονται στο διάγραμμα. Όπως μπορείτε να δείτε, η Sophos έχει αποσπάσει εξαιρετική βαθμολογία, τόσο στο τομέα του marketing, όσο και στο τομέα του να κάνει πραγματικότητα όλα όσα υπόσχεται για τους πελάτες της.

Our poll offered readers the chance to vote for one of the six most popular web browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari and Chromium – and asked which you trusted the most. Mozilla’s Firefox, the linear descendant of both Netscape Navigator and the original ‘graphical web browser’ the NCSA Mosaic, was a runaway winner. Firefox accrued almost double the number of votes of its nearest rival, Google Chrome, and more than six times the votes awarded to perennial rival and fellow ‘browser wars’ veteran Internet Explorer.

The results are even more emphatic when you consider how many people actually use each browser. Below is a table that compares the number of votes each browser received in the poll against the number of unique article pageviews from each of those browsers over the same period.

Results are ranked in order of conversion rate – the rate at which page views by a given browser correlate with votes for that browser (Chrome and Chromium identify themselves in the same way and we can’t separate their unique page views so their results are combined in this table).

Top of the table is Opera which was the only browser that scored more votes for trustworthiness than it had users, although it did so with much smaller totals than its competitors. You could probably sum up the entire history of the Opera browser with the phrase “small but loyal following” and despite the regard in which its users hold it Opera seems destined to remain the perennial bridesmaid of the browser world. The poor showing of Internet Explorer is notable but perhaps not surprising given that it is often imposed on users as a matter of corporate policy. What stands out at me is the difference between the Mozilla and Google products. Both browsers are well established and well known open source projects, they both run on Windows, Mac and Linux and unlike Explorer or Safari neither come bundled with an operating system.

Perhaps Chrome users are more cynical or more realistic about where they place their trust. Or perhaps people who choose Chrome are also people who don’t vote in internet polls. We don’t know but I suspect, as the comments on our poll seem to suggest, that the reason for Chrome’s poor showing is that Google’s claim to Do No Evil is simply no longer convincing. The untrustworthiness of Google is a consistent theme across the most highly rated comments on the poll:

    “frankly I trust Google the least, as they have too many data points for comparison.

    I don’t trust Google as far as I could throw ’em. As a company, it’s entirely uninterested in my security or privacy, especially if it can make money by selling my personal information.

    Trusting any software completely is a bit foolish, but anyone who actively trusts Chrome is a good subject for psychological study.”

You get the idea. Of course this is only an online poll and and not a scientific experiment so my conclusions should be taken with a liberal pinch of salt.

You can read the original article, here.