NOTES, COMMENT AND BUZZ FROM EUGENE KASPERSKY – OFFICIAL BLOG
March 17, 2012
Hi everyone! Today I’ll be telling you about Giant’s Causeway.
There’s a legend about this impressive rock formation off the coast of Northern Ireland not far from Bushmills (now there’s a familiar name!). It goes something like this:
March 17, 2012
Top o’ the day to ye!
It’s fair to say I’m a bit of an IT-paranoiac, and most of you will know by now I’m not one to hold my tongue about my fears of possible future Internet catastrophes, or the greed and degeneracy of cyber-wretches – plus the massive size of the threat they represent – and so on.
Because of this tendency for speaking openly and plainly I constantly get accused of purposefully frightening everyone (and in my own self-interest). But I don’t mind, even though it’s nonsense. So I’ll keep on calling a spade a spade – telling people what I think is right – regardless!
The evolution of cyber-Armageddon is moving in the predicted trajectory (proof it’s not just a matter of my frightening folk just for the sake of it); this is the bad news. The good news is that the big-wigs have at last begun to understand – to the extent that often in discussions on this topic are heard my horror stories of old practically word-for-word. Looks like the Cassandra metaphor I’ve been battling for more than a decade is losing its mojo – people are listening to the warnings, not dismissing and/or disbelieving them.
March 16, 2012
Here it is, the original Spam! Hmmm, yummy… but healthy? Is anything in a tin? Ok, will leave off the foodie lecturing just for today…
// It’ll be interesting to see if this post with the above pic in it will get through the anti-spam filters of those who subscribe to my mail-outs.
So here we are once again on a subject that it seems will never go away – spam, this time about a particular kind thereof – “image spam” – and the protective technologies that fight it.
I’ll start with a brief bit of historical background.
March 13, 2012
Howdy all,
Phew. Finally got through them all – more than 600 pages of the Steve Jobs biography.
Despite the abundance of waffle in this tome (about 80% of it could easily have been ditched without really losing much) the book’s still an interesting read, demonstrating well why Apple is as it is. I’d heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the history of, and prospects for, the IT industry; particularly to those who want to discover Steve Jobs’ take on the IT confrontations of both the past and the present – Apple against Google, Microsoft, HTC, Samsung and others; and also those who follow or engage in the eternal holy-war forums that debate which products are better, cooler, the prettiest, etc.
My thoughts on Apple and Jobs are mixed. I’m rapturous about some things, highly critical about others.
First, let’s look back at this ad from 1984:
March 7, 2012
What’s an ideal antivirus? Something that would feature the following:
Like anything ideal though, this is of course a fantasy – quite unattainable in real life. But it’s nevertheless still worthwhile contemplating since it provides a fixed reference point for security developers: every company can then try to get as close to the ideal as it can within the limits of its financial and professional resources.
More: An important but unheard instrument to combat unknown threats …
March 6, 2012
Hi all!
A little about my Ferrari FF test drive…
Now, I fully understand that for the vast majority in this world to drive a Ferrari or in fact any super car is a mere dream, and so my tales about Ferraris and Formula-One races may all seem a bit… politically incorrect – Clarkson style. But when out of the blue the Ferrari plant in Italy invites me over there to have a go in one of their mean-machines – well, I’m hardly gonna turn that down now, am I? And so why not let others know about it too?
Let’s face it, should ever the dream come true for you and you also one day get the chance to get behind the wheel of a Ferrari – it’s not as if you’d keep the experience to yourself, right? You’d tell others – wouldn’t you? :)
March 5, 2012
Greetings all!
// Note! Warning! Achtung Baby! To all Apple fans – read no further! But if you do, please forget about this post and don’t comment on it!
The MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona is one of the world’s key mobile events. It’s possible there to discuss the directions of development of mobile technologies, the pace of their expansion and improvement, and generally about industry goings-on.
What caught my eye this year most of all was what I saw to be the main change in the mobile landscape: the start of the end of the iPhone era. Indeed, it appears plain to me that the (mobile) party’s being rocked mostly by other brands now (a bit like Dubstep rocking formerly House clubs, but without being a flash in the pan:). I won’t go so far as naming those other brands here, but unless you’re a hermit – you’ll know which I’m talking about.
March 1, 2012
“Tearing Up the Rule Book” is an informal motto we use in our high-level marketing. Looking back over our trip to the South Pole, sponsorship of the Ferrari Formula One Team, enrolling Japanese teen pop sensation AKB48, supporting the recent transantarctic expedition of Felicity Aston, and all sorts of other local events and promotions too, I think it’s fair to say that we pretty much totally tear up the rule book every time one is pushed our way.
And here’s a fresh example. But first a bit on the events leading up to it…
Last September, during one of my regular trips to Japan, my old acquaintance Okatani San invited all our party to a totally exotic restaurant.
The idea was to get all gluttonous on the tastiest of local cuisine – to the accompaniment of traditional Japanese Awa Odori dancing and singing, and then to join in the dancing and merriment ourselves.
February 28, 2012
A little bit about… not our taking Orizaba by storm, but the storm taking us away from Orizaba!…
We were just blown away – almost literally, and so didn’t make it to the top of Pico de Orizaba – the highest mountain in Mexico. Conditions were just too outrageously extreme, and stayed that way for the whole time we were there.
Read more: An unforgettable adventure… and spag-Bol with parmesan cheese at 4800m
February 27, 2012
Security people, sysadmins and, generally, all those who by virtue of their employment take loving care of corporate networks – all these people have plenty of headaches. Indeed, a veritable cornucopia of headaches. And, of course, the main source of trouble is… you guessed it, users. Tens, hundreds, even thousands of users (depending on your good fortune) who have problems 24/7. As for us, we try to help these ‘frontline soldiers’ get to grips with their headaches, using the full extent of our resources in our field of competence. Below, we discuss one very helpful remedy that fits this combat strategy to perfection.
There are, in fact, three separate remedies. But they all tackle one problem – keeping users under control. And there are helpful side effects – enforcing a centralized IT security policy, fool-proofing, and automating the ‘donkey work’. That’s right, I’m talking of three new features included in the new version of our corporate solution, Endpoint Security 8: application control, device control and web control. This post is about application control (or simply AC without the DC).
Most of the time it’s a struggle to keep computers clean. Users are given to downloading questionable “cool warez”, installing them, trying them out and forgetting all about them. As a result, in half a year the computer normally turns into an unmanageable software zoo, becoming unbelievably error-prone and slow. And, of course, the abovementioned “cool warez” can easily be virus-ridden, pirated, or at best counterproductive.
There are different ways of getting out of this predicament. Some companies wag their finger at users and strictly forbid them to install software on their computers (without actually enforcing a ban). Others simply make installing software impossible in one way or another. AC is, in fact, an elegant compromise between the two.
