Sophos announced the release of Sophos Cloud Server Protection, a high performance malware protection solution designed specifically for servers. The solution expands Sophos Cloud to a comprehensive security platform designed to protect desktops, laptops, mobile phones, tablets and now servers with the most effective and simplest to manage business security offering available. Servers store large amounts of sensitive information and have become popular targets for cybercriminals. To secure servers, administrators have traditionally had to choose between desktop-oriented security software and complex, expensive server-specific security tools. Perhaps this is why two thirds of the IT professionals surveyed on Spiceworks identified the complexity of learning, configuring and maintaining server security software as an “important” or “very important” concern.

The new Sophos Cloud Server Protection solution delivers malware protection, host intrusion prevention and web security, as well as clear visibility into the current security status of all managed servers via a simple web-based interface. The new offering from Sophos is also the only server security product that can continually monitor the server environment, detect new applications on an ongoing basis and intelligently adjust policies to maintain operational efficiency.

“If compromising desktops is like stealing a wallet, then hacking a server is like robbing a bank,” said Bill Lucchini, SVP & GM for Sophos Cloud. “Today’s businesses need the most up-to-date protection, and Sophos Cloud Server Protection gives overtaxed IT personnel an innovative, high performance and simple to manage solution for securing server environments.”

“As part of the recent Sophos Cloud beta program, I was able to preview the Server Protection functionality added into the product,” said Scott Hartung, IT Director, The Rivett Group . “We currently use Sophos Cloud to protect our Windows, Mac, and mobile devices. I like the fact that Sophos truly understands server security, and I can see that this new version of Sophos Cloud will help me reduce the time spent on maintaining server security.”

“We are finding that more of our customers are trying to support a geographically diverse workforce,” said Pete Greco, VP of Sales and Technology, Productive Corporation. “Sophos Cloud with Server Protection provides comprehensive visibility and manageability, regardless of where employees and their devices are located.  With Sophos, we are certain our clients’ workforce is both secure and available.” Watch a video about Sophos Cloud Server Protection and sign up for your 30-day trial right now.

Read the original article, here and here.

We’re pleased to commence the roll-out of our latest major UTM software update: UTM Advantage (9.3). More and more organizations are switching to Sophos UTM for their next firewall to take advantage of our all-in-one protection with on-box reporting, simplicity and performance. This release continues to add even more value and protection while making things easier for everyone. If you’re not already a Sophos UTM customer, UTM Advantage (9.3) adds to the 5 great reasons why you should switch to a better Firewall. Watch our brief demo video of what’s new in UTM Advantage (9.3). The complete release notes are provided below.

UTM Advantage (9.3) brings dozens of new features including:

Stronger protection for web, email and WAF
Smarter Wi-Fi performance and hotspot management
Better everywhere-deployment flexibility

Release Availability and Roll-out Timing
We are rolling out UTM Advantage (9.3) in three main phases over the coming weeks to provide a great upgrade experience for everyone:

• Phase 1: We are starting with an initial Up2Date to select customer systems today.
• Phase 2: Around mid-November, we plan to make the installation package generally availability for download via our FTP site as we continue the release roll-out to additional systems. Any customers wishing to update their UTM as soon as possible can take advantage of the manual download at this time. We’ll post a notification here on the Sophos Blog when the download is available.
• Phase 3: By mid-December we will have rolled-out the Up2Date package for all customer installations including HA/Cluster environments.

Release Notes for UTM 9.300

Major New Features:

• Live AV Look-ups in Email Protection

Introduced previously in UTM 9.2 for Web Protection, Live AV look-ups now come to UTM Email Protection. This option will improve the malware detection rates by consulting the cloud infrastructure from SophosLabs in real-time for possible threat matches. Look-ups that fail will still be scanned by the AV engine, and as part of our global feedback network unknown files will be sampled for execution and deep analysis by SophosLabs to benefit the global community while allowing you to tap the knowledge gained by these events worldwide.

• SPX Email Encryption – Self-Registration

With the self-registration feature, recipients of our unique SPX encrypted email now have the option to register themselves through an online portal where they will be able to create, reset and recover passwords to access their encrypted emails. This eliminates the need to manually communicate passwords to recipients of encrypted emails, and allows them to use the same password (which they will remember) for all encrypted emails. It makes SPX Email Encryption simpler for everyone.
SPX Email Encryption – Support for Attachments on Reply Portal
SPX encrypted email recipients are now able to add attachments when securely replying to the sender using the SPX online portal. This allows for full encryption of all communications both ways.

• URL Tagging 

With UTM 9.2 we introduced the Website List feature where customers can add URLs and override the site category. URL tagging extends this feature by allowing customers to apply custom tags, or labels to URLs, in effect creating their own custom site categories. They can then use these tags in Web Policy just like regular system categories. For example, if a customer has a restrictive policy but needs to access customer websites that would otherwise be blocked, they can add their customer sites to the Website List, tag them as ‘Customer Sites’ and then modify the policy to enable access to the ‘Customer Sites’ tag. 

• Browsing Time Quotas

Many organizations want to allow users a limited amount of personal browsing time during the day. In many situations, limiting this to specific times of day does is too restrictive. With this new feature in Web Protection, administrators can allocate time quotas to specific sets of sites or categories for specific users or groups. Users can choose when to consume their time quota throughout the day. When they browse to a quota site, they will be warned that they’re about to use their quota. When a quota expires, they’ll be informed accordingly. Administrators can reset quota if necessary through the Web Protection Helpdesk area of the UTM.

• Selective HTTPS Scanning

To allow more flexibility and provide better performance we have implemented an option to allow selective HTTPS filtering. This allows organizations to balance the need for security or visibility into some encrypted traffic, with the privacy and performance concerns that come with decrypting all HTTPS content. For example, customers can focus on performing important scans in HTTPS like (a) the ability to detect malicious content in uncategorized sites, (b) the ability to identify search terms and enforce safe search for Google and other search engines, and (c) the scanning webmail traffic for DLP only for specific sites. Previously, HTTPS decryption had to be enabled for all traffic, with exclusions being set up for individual sites where necessary.

• Support for SG1xx Wireless Hardware

This release will add support for new SG 1xx wireless models we are going to introduce later this year.

• Hotspot Improvements

This release improves our hotspot capabilities with a few new features: First, we built an interface to communicate with Micros Fidelio hotel management software via its FIAS protocol. Second, we have implemented HTTPS support for hotspot login pages. And finally, hotspots can now be configured in a more multi-tenant-like fashion by restricting the “Allowed Users” option on a per-hotspot basis.

• Multiple Bridge Support

Many more advanced firewall configurations can be solved by allowing more then one network bridge. With this release we added support for multiple bridges. With introduction of this feature we at the same time cleaned up the configuration options in the UTM WebAdmin by moving the bridge configuration directly into the interfaces pane to allow you user-friendly and simple control over all aspects of your interface configuration.

Other New Features:

• VLAN DHCP & Tagging

We removed some restrictions around VLANs to make them easier to administer: you can now allow DHCP on VLAN interfaces and you can now tag and untag interfaces on the same hardware.

• True-File-Type Detection

In our web and mail proxy we now traverse archive files (zip, rar, etc.) to detect the types of files inside. This allows granular policy enforcement based on file types included in an archive rather than blocking archive files in general.
One-Click Secure Sophos Customer Support Access to UTM
With an ever increasing number of Sophos global support sites with different IP ranges, it can often be challenging to enable Sophos Support access to the UTM via WebAdmin and SSH . As a result, we’ve implemented a feature that enables administrators to easily enable access to the UTM by Sophos Support upon request with just a single-click.

• WAF Allow/Block Lists

For the Web Application Firewall we’ve now added support of lists to allow and block IP ranges. This is configured in the site paths settings.

• WAF Wildcard Extension

Exceptions for internal servers now allow wildcards also in the middle of the server path. This allows administrators to easily add exceptions for multiple servers effectively eliminating the need to maintain long lists in WebAdmin.

• WAF Prefix/Suffix Option

Some environments, most notably Microsoft servers like Exchange and Sharepoint, require UPN/domain-style user names for log in. By adding an option to append a prefix or suffix to user-names customers now are able to add a default domain (for example) to facilitate this in order to streamline the user experience.

• HyperV 3.5 Support

The UTM 9.3 now fully supports Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2. We’ve also incorporated MS Integration Tools v3.5 for Hyper-V which include the latest drivers and additional capabilities like high availability and load balancing.

• Improved performance for URL categorization

In version 9.2 we introduced Live URL Filtering, a new way of doing URL categorization lookups to our cloud data services that offers better performance than the existing CFFS system. On the UTM it provides better local caching of commonly-visited site data. In the cloud, it provides greater responsiveness and automated scaling. With version 9.3 we are enabling this feature by default. Although the URL data used has not changed, this new system will only return one category for each site. This may impact the operation of policy for a small number of sites that previously had more than one category. 

Read the original article, here.

Recently recognized as an enterprise mobility management (EMM) market leader by Forrester, Sophos today announced the immediate availability of additional security and device management capabilities for the Android mobile platform. These simple-to-deploy, yet powerful solutions deliver mobile security for businesses of any size. IT professionals can now allow employees to take advantage of all that the Android platform has to offer without putting sensitive data at risk.

According to Nielsen, mobile users are now spending 30 more hours per month on mobile devices than on their laptops, and cybercriminals are taking notice. SophosLabs has identified over 1 million new and unique pieces of Android malware and potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) just since the beginning of 2014. Android malware has grown 1,800 percent over the last two years, by far the fastest growing of any attack surface.

Approximately two billion mobile phones and tablets will be shipped this year, 85 percent of those will be Android devices, and 75 percent of apps on those devices will fail basic security tests. With a mix of corporate-owned and employee-owned devices being used for business anywhere and anytime, organizations clearly require a more comprehensive approach to mobile security. And that’s where Sophos comes in.

Sophos delivers comprehensive Android protection

Sophos Cloud now features Android support, delivering one central and hosted console for managing both desktops and mobile devices. With a simpler user-centric approach, it helps keep corporate information safe with mobility management features like remote lock, remote wipe, password reset, theft protection, Wi-Fi configuration and Microsoft Exchange setup help.

Sophos Mobile Security brings a powerful new antivirus engine and web protection technology to the Android platform. Without reducing device performance or diminishing battery life, this powerful engine provides comprehensive malware protection. In fact, Sophos received a perfect 100 percent Android malware detection rate in the latest AV-Test.

Sophos is the only enterprise mobility management vendor that offers built-in antivirus capabilities and web filtering without relying on third-party software. Additionally, only Sophos delivers a centrally managed, cloud-based mobile security solution that is compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS and now Android platforms – providing simple and complete security for businesses of all sizes.

In addition, Sophos today announced the new Sophos Anti-Malware SDK for Android, which features the core Sophos antivirus engine.  Now Telco providers, mobile carriers and other IT vendors can integrate Android anti-malware technology into their own mobile offerings.

With an increasing number of viruses and other malware samples entering the corporate network via mobile devices, it’s more important than ever to deploy Android management and security technology to ensure that sensitive corporate data stays out of the wrong hands.

“Sophos mobile security technology helps us remain secure and shielded from data loss and unexpected costs without reducing staff performance,” commented Josh Moore, network engineer at FF Thompson Hospital. “We get both protection and functionality with Sophos.”

“Sophos has increased our control over various mobile devices, including the Android devices we have deployed,” said David Bridgman, IT security manager at Northcentral University. “With the newest release, the most notable benefit—in addition to the added security—is that there is no difference in our users’ experience.”

“Well over half of all mobile apps fail basic security measures, and these sobering figures are on the rise,” said Dan Schiappa, senior vice president and general manager, end user protection group, Sophos. “Every day the risk is growing, and we’re proud to offer the most comprehensive mobile protection for businesses to keep confidential information out of the wrong hands.”

Watch the Sophos Android Security video now

Read the original article, here.

Every quarter Sophos announces the SPAMPIONSHIP league highlighting the worst offending countries for spam. As we approach Halloween, the Q3 (July-August-September) results for 2014 are in. The Spampionship is a clear reminder that while spam is a global problem, prevention begins at home. That’s because most spam comes from so-called “zombies” – computers infected by malware that puts them under the remote control of cybercrooks who could be on the other side of the world, and probably are.

For example, SophosLabs has clocked a single infected computer sending more than 5,000,000 spams in a single week, illegally promoting an ever-changing cocktail of shady products and services, and pumping out malware in attachments.

And as SophosLabs monitor where spam comes from, they are also simultaneously mapping out where in the world the zombies are. As Cybersecurity Awareness Month draws to a close, it’s time to be part of the solution, and go zombie bashing with Sophos!

Just download and run Sophos’ free Virus Removal Tool to check your computer isn’t infected, and do your bit today!

In this Sophos Naked Security article, Sophos expert Paul Ducklin provides his analysis of the latest Spampionship results.

Highlights of the Q3 2014 Spampionship

Being high on the spam-sending charts, means you’re also high on the scale of people who put their personal information, finances, and even identity at risk.

The Spampionship is the league that everyone wants to lose, and below are the results for Q3 (July, August, September) of 2014.

The “Dirty Dozen” countries 

Measuring spam entirely by volume-per-country is a little unfair, because populous countries like China, or very well-connected, like the USA, inevitably bubble up to the top of the list.

Things get fairer – and more interesting – when each country’s spam volume is divided by its approximate population:

Read the original article, here.

Back in the summer we ran a little survey on SpiceWorks and almost 400 Small and Medium Business IT managers gave us their view on the main challenges they have with their current firewall. But some of the results weren’t exactly what we were expecting.

The #1 rated issue was the lack of reporting options

35% of respondents said their firewall provides insufficient reporting and 22% also cited lack of visibility into infected machines which speaks to a lack of useful insight too. Users are hungry for bandwidth and regulatory compliance is Insufficient reporting becoming increasingly important so it’s not really surprising that IT managers crave a better view into what’s happening on their network.

What is surprising is that so few firewall vendors offer their users what they need. Compare the leading UTM/Firewall vendors and you’ll find just one who has over 1000 reports available built-into the appliance. I’ m sure you can guess who check here if you can’t!

At Sophos we prioritize reporting and in addition to the on-box reports we also offer Sophos iView our dedicated virtual reporting appliance for those that simply need more reports or want to correlate reporting across multiple appliances.

Complexity is still the enemy of security 

We all know IT threats are coNot easy to managemplex and the survey confirms that all too often the products designed to solve security problems are far too complex too.  

Ease of use only narrowly misses out on top spot with 34% saying its a frustration.

Adminstrators need a strong link between seeing what is happening and doing something about it.  This is essential  in security products where a weakness at one point on the network can quickly become a problem for the entire organization.

Advanced threats? We’re covered, at least we think we are!

Other surprising results were hreportingow few people cited lack of protection against advanced threats and poor performance as weaknesses. We hear a lot about how traditional firewall and antivirus technologies can no longer protect against sophisticated Advanced Persistent Threats. This is seemingly a non-issue for 90% of those surveyed.  

IT managers are either confident their firewalls have the necessary protection place, like command and control detection and sandboxing, or simply have more pressing needs and don’t see advanced threats as their concern but for governments and larger enterprises to worry about.

Performance matters or does it?

That performance rates so lowpoor perf is possibly the biggest surprise. Performance is often a key concern for buyers when selecting a firewall with technical data, sizing guides and comparative reports providing useful guidance for buyers to select the right firewall for their needs. This result suggests the guidance and advice of channel resellers is proving effective and buyers are right-sizing their firewalls.

All in all some interesting results that suggest reporting and ease of management should be carefully looked at when selecting a replacement firewall. But maybe this is not really that surprising after all as these areas do reflect the core focus of network security managers. Without visibility into what’s happening, or the ability to quickly put protection in place an IT Manager’s life becomes very difficult.

Sophos UTM – ease of use and on-box reporting as standard

Sophos UTM is designed to be easy to use and includes extensive on-box reporting as standard – no need for additional hardware or subscriptions. Our new SG Series appliance all include a hard drive or a solid-state disk, giving you comprehensive reporting that you can access in seconds. So you can see what’s happening on your network in real-time and quickly access historical data.

Watch this short video to see it in action. On-box reporting as standard is just one of the reasons to make your next firewall a Sophos firewall.

Read the original article, here.

Dropbox usernames and passwords were leaked online this week. It’s the latest in a string of recent data breaches involving compromises of third-party websites that take advantage of password re-use to get at users’ accounts on multiple services. In 2014 alone, millions have had their private information and passwords compromised, leading to what some are calling data breach “fatigue.” Dropbox was quick to respond, denying a breach on their end while urging their users to enable tighter password security measures. Dropbox’s response was refreshing when compared to that of other major brands, such as Home Depot, which chose to communicate very little with the public, distributing only a few carefully crafted press releases.

As businesses learn to navigate their way through crisis management in the digital age, there are solutions that can mitigate risk, greatly saving these companies both dollar value and reputation value. Sophos offers a complete suite of solutions to ensure your customers’ data is safe and secure. A major component of this is our SafeGuard Encryption solution. Simply put, encryption adds the crucial layer of security in situations where a customer’s data is breached. Even if a bad guy gets hold of a user’s data, it’s utterly useless when encrypted, whether that data is at rest or in motion (e.g, being uploaded/downloaded from the cloud).

Although this breach was not due to a compromise of Dropbox itself, are you confident that your important files are safe when stored in the public cloud? In the case of cloud storage services, of which Dropbox is one of many, encryption prevents any breach, regardless of who caused it, from resulting in the loss or exposure of data. Using an encryption solution where the keys and control mechanisms are stored far from the potential points of compromise means you can control how data is stored, and manage who has access.

Learn more about SafeGuard Encryption

Sophos SafeGuard Encryption solves the major challenge of managing encryption across multiple platforms, devices, and cloud environments. Users and IT staff can share data safely between Windows, Mac and mobile devices – securing data wherever it lives and wherever it is sent. For more information about SafeGuard Encryption, get our free whitepaper Managing BitLocker With SafeGuard Enterprise (registration required).

Or download our Encryption Buyers Guide to learn more about how to choose the best encryption solution for your needs. You can also read interesting articles about SafeGuard Encryption, here and here.  

Read the original article, here.

Sophos announced additions to its range of SG Series firewall/UTM appliances, WiFi access points, and the availability of Sophos iView, a new dedicated virtual reporting appliance. By extending its Network Security portfolio with new entry-level and enterprise class appliances, Sophos now provides businesses of any size and the channel partners that serve them with the flexibility to consolidate their security with a complete proven solution set.

Sophos SG Series Appliances 

In April 2014 Sophos released the first of its new generation of network security appliances, the Sophos SG Series. Today, Sophos announced six additional firewall appliances, meaning that Sophos customers and partners can now choose from 12 SG Series models. As with the existing models, each uses the latest Intel multi-core technology to provide optimal performance. The new appliances include four desktop models ideal for small office deployments and two new 2U models that utilize the fastest Intel Chips and deliver extensive redundancy and customization features. Further desktop models will be available later in the year with integrated wireless connectivity, including two which support the 802.11ac standard.

Sophos iView

The release of the Sophos iView virtual appliance addresses what a recent Sophos survey on Spiceworks of SMB IT managers identified as their most significant frustration with existing firewalls from any vendor – insufficient reporting. This was the number one complaint with 35 percent of respondents saying they’d like greater reporting options. With over 1,000 built-in reports, including regulatory compliance reports, Sophos iView will give IT managers the extra depth they need. Users can also build their own custom reports and dashboards, focusing on problem areas or users on their network. Available as a virtual appliance only, Sophos iView supports VMware, Hyper-V, Citrix, and KVM virtual environments.

As a dedicated reporting appliance, Sophos iView can offload reporting duties and provide a range of added capabilities such as:

• Compliance reporting for industry standard regulations such as HIPAA, PCI, SOX, and GLBA
• Consolidated reporting across multiple UTM firewalls for a complete view of all network traffic from a single console
• Long-term persistent log management and storage for security and backup with convenient access for audits or forensics
• Licensing that is based on storage requirements, with the entry level vSI-Light including 100GB of storage and the vSI-Unlimited

Wireless Access Points

In addition to the SG Series and iView appliances, Sophos also announced the AP 100, the first in a new generation of wireless access points that support the latest 802.11ac protocols, and an entry level access point, the AP 15. As with previous Sophos wireless access points, the new AP15 and AP100 models can be managed directly from the Sophos SG Series appliances, meaning the wireless network is tightly integrated with the firewall protection.

You can read the original article here.

Sophos announced that it has acquired cloud-based security firm Mojave Networks of San Mateo, Calif. This acquisition will strengthen Sophos cloud-managed and appliance-based security solutions. To Sophos Cloud, an integrated cloud-managed security offering, Mojave will add a rich cloud-based web security solution. And to Sophos’ line of network security hardware it will enable hybrid deployment options (SaaS and non-SaaS) to meet diverse web security needs. An increasingly mobile workforce and an explosion of mobile devices have created a serious challenge for IT. To safeguard valuable corporate data and to secure roaming devices, Mojave’s innovative security platform provides an effective cloud-based network security solution that is easy to deploy and manage. It will allow Sophos customers to benefit by providing:

• A cloud-based web filtering engine enabling full protection for web interactions without requiring additional on-site technology
• Near instantaneous protection from emerging threats by supplying real-time threat intelligence from the cloud
• A simple and intuitive management experience designed for small and mid-market enterprises or pragmatic enterprises of any size
• A zero-compromise approach to security across Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, delivering context-awareness, visibility and seamless protection whether they are on or off the corporate network

“Mojave Networks is a young innovative company that has built a leading platform right at the intersection of three cutting-edge areas of security:  cloud, web security, and mobile,” said Kris Hagerman, CEO, Sophos. “We’re dedicated to delivering security that is both powerful and comprehensive, but also simple. By integrating Mojave Networks’ technology into Sophos Cloud, we’re extending our leadership position and enhancing an offering that is already one of the fastest growing products in Sophos’ history.”

“We are proud of the work we’ve done at Mojave to pioneer a cloud-based approach to mobile and web security that offers unrivaled protection from malicious threats, security for mobile workers, and uniform policies across platforms,” said Garrett Larsson, CEO of Mojave Networks. “As part of Sophos we can continue to pursue our vision of comprehensive security for a mobile workforce at an accelerated pace, as we take full advantage of the rapid growth of Sophos Cloud, Sophos’ world-class community of more than 15,000 partners, and Sophos’ global presence. We’re excited to join such an innovative and disruptive leader in the IT security space.”

Sophos plans to integrate Mojave Networks’ technology into its fast-growing Sophos Cloud product line in early 2015 and then later in 2015 into appliance-based network security solutions. This will allow Sophos partners to offer their customers an integrated security platform that brings together best-of-breed PC, Mac, mobile, and network protection abilities through a single cloud-based console. This represents another leap forward in delivering comprehensive protection to organizations seeking enterprise-class security without enterprise-class complexity.

You can read theoriginal article here.

InfoCom World Congress is the largest event on digital technologies in SE Europe, attracting more than 3,500 delegates per year. It successfully records and captures for many years to run the course taken and convergence happening in Technology, Informatics, Telecommunications & Media sectors. The 16th InfoCom World titled «Techonomy: Time for Synergies!» will take place on October 21, 2014 at Divani Caravel Hotel. This year’s conference takes place in a period when special emphasis is given to technology, business strategies and synergies that are now unanimously recognized as a driver for growth.

NSS could not be absent so is one of the Sponsors of the conference. Come to chat with us !!

A lot has changed since 1995, the last time a major European law was passed on the subject of data protection (the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC). For example, mobile devices are ubiquitous, and it’s not unusual to carry two or even three at a time. Meanwhile, sensitive company data is moving outside the safety of the traditional corporate security perimeter. Employees email documents to themselves, access data from personal smartphones and tablets, and store data in the cloud. Major data breaches are commonplace today, putting customers at risk of identity theft and financial loss, and businesses at risk of losing customer and investor loyalty. European businesses are not prepared to meet regulatory requirements outlined in the EU Data Protection Regulation, due to be enacted by the EU parliament in 2015. That’s the story told by a survey of 1,500 office workers in the UK, France and Germany, conducted by Sophos. Although a large majority of poll respondents (84%) agree that stricter data protection requirements are needed, most lack confidence that their employers are compliant (77%), and many do not know what type of data protection their companies currently have in place.

During a roundtable discussion about the survey, our security experts talked about the current state of data protection and how the new requirements might impact businesses. Anthony Merry, director of product management in the data protection group at Sophos, said companies have to get a better understanding of not just what regulations require, but what data protection actually is. “Many of the companies I talk to still do not understand what data protection is, why businesses need to do it and why it is important, and that needs to change,” he said, according to ComputerWeekly.

Some of the proposed changes to the EU Data Protection Directive include huge fines for non-compliant companies in the event of a data breach — as much as 5% of global turnover, or €100m, whichever is higher. Compared to relatively lax data protection laws in the United States, such punitive laws could be seen as harmful to businesses.

However, if companies are encrypting their data — on disks, mobile devices, storage drives, and in the cloud — they don’t have to worry as much. “If data is encrypted, even if IT systems are breached, companies will not be liable under the law,” Anthony said. Unfortunately, businesses in the countries we surveyed have a long way to go to complete data protection. According to our survey, only 62% of UK companies are encrypting laptops, along with 36% in France and 56% in Germany. Encryption of mobile devices is even farther behind: 41% in the UK, compared to 21% in France and 32% in Germany.

Learn more about data protection

Sophos SafeGuard Encryption solves the major challenge of managing encryption across multiple platforms, devices, and cloud environments. Users and IT staff can share data safely between Windows, Mac and mobile devices – securing data wherever it lives and wherever it is sent. For more information about SafeGuard Encryption, get our free whitepaper Managing BitLocker With SafeGuard Enterprise (registration required). Or download our Encryption Buyers Guide to learn more about how to choose the best encryption solution for your needs.

This isn’t entirely surprising as the FBI had issued a warning on Christmas Eve to media organizations about a new wave of phishing attacks associated with the infamous SEA. Skype has more than three million followers on Twitter, which indicates that, had the attackers wanted to send out malicious links or other dangerous content, this could have been a whole lot worse.

What I would like to know is why on earth a company social media profile with over three million followers would not be using two-factor authentication. Earlier this year Twitter rolled out an improved two-factor solution seemingly in response to previous attacks by the SEA. WordPress offers two-factor authentication and Facebook has supported two-factor authentication for a couple of years now, all in an attempt to prevent this exact type of attack.

Microsoft, would you care to explain why you apparently are not using it? We believe it is the responsibility of organizations with a large number of followers to do whatever they can to secure their profiles. We suppose this can be a lesson to the rest of us. Take advantage of the safety net of two-factor authentication whenever possible. While it may be less than perfect, so are you.  

You can read the original article here.

“The new Sophos SG Series appliances are the fastest UTM and Next-Gen Firewall devices we’ve ever produced,” said Guenter Junk, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Network Security Group, Sophos. “They run our latest operating system, version 9.2, and are optimized to get the most out of latest performance innovations from Intel to ensure our customers and partners get an unrivalled performance and protection combination.”

The new SG Series includes models to meet the requirements of small offices to large, distributed enterprises. These 1U appliances are available today in the mid-range 200, 300 and 400 models.  They all deliver over 10 Gbit/sec firewall throughput to easily handle the demands of multi-layered protection. The SG Series is the 6th generation of Sophos security gateways built on an Intel® architecture, to enable Sophos customers to quickly benefit from the frequent performance and protection enhancements. They utilize Intel® technologies including high-speed LAN interfaces, high volume Solid State Drives and AES-NI acceleration.

“By using Intel® Architecture, Sophos has been able to use the performance gains we’ve been able to deliver with the 4th Generation Intel Core processors which delivers improved software processing architecture,” said Bob Ghaffari, Director, Communications and Storage Infrastructure Division, Intel. “Sophos has been able to see dramatic performance improvements by unlocking Intel’s core processor capabilities to make fast, intelligent decisions.”

The SG Series run the latest Sophos UTM 9.2 operating system which features over 150 enhancements including new Advanced Threat Protection and SPX Email Encryption functionality. Designed to run on an Intel architecture, version 9.2 can also be deployed on Intel compatible servers as virtual appliances and in the cloud using Amazon Web Services.

Bruce Kneece, Chief Technology Officer at Convergent Information Security Solutions, said, “Our team was heavily involved in the UTM 9.2 beta program.  From the outset we liked what we saw – added performance and simplicity across the board.  Version 9.2 running on the SG Series hardware is a true winner.  It’s easy for us to recommend it to our customers.”

Additional information on all of the features in Sophos SG Series appliances and Sophos network security solutions is available at: www.sophos.com/accelerated.  

Saving your data and increasing your bottom line just got easier. Purchase a WD Arkeia backup appliance at a reduced price and get all licenses for popular software agents at no additional cost. The WD Arkeia bundle comes standard with software, hardware and one year of maintenance at up to 50% less than the competition.

Here’s what’s included:

• Software, hardware and one year of maintenance
• Virtualization agents: VMware and MS Hyper-V
• Microsoft hot-backup agents: MS SQL, Exchange, Active Directory & SharePoint
• Agents for MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle
• Agents for Novell GroupWise and eDirectory / NetIQ
• Hybrid-cloud backup replication
• End-to-End
• Encryption
• Bare metal restore for Linux and Windows
• Remote Storage Option and Shared Storage Option

WD Arkeia offers six backup appliance models including both desktop and rackmount options.  See our full backup appliance range here.

This limited time offer ends September 21, 2014. Find more at http://info.arkeia.com/emea/bundle

Embedded 4G model supporting 4G LTE for EU and worldwide GSM carriers and providing automatic fallback to 3G as needed. Technologies and frequency bands supported: 4G LTE (Band 1/3/7/8/20); WCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+ (900/2100 MHz).

 You can read the original article here.