Core Security Technologies today announced that it has been chosen by the Data Protection Summit as a Best of Show awards winner for 2008 in the category of Most Innovative Data Protection Technology for CORE IMPACT, the most comprehensive product for performing enterprise security assurance testing.

The second annual Best of Show awards is the premier opportunity for industry recognition of innovative technology and how it is being used in the marketplace. Winning companies were judged by a panel of industry experts who evaluated each nomination according to the following criteria:

Distinctiveness of the application, technology or product
Central use of data protection as a solution
Technical and business significance

“The Data Protection Summit Innovation Award for Technology recognizes a company whose products and services have raised the bar for data protection,” said Jay Kramer, vice president of worldwide marketing, iStor Networks, and chairperson of the Data Protection Summit Awards Committee. “The Data Protection Summit is proud to recognize CORE IMPACT from Core Security Technologies as a solution that encompasses data protection innovation and makes a real difference in the marketplace today.”

Core Security Technologies, based in Boston, Mass., is the leading provider of enterprise security assurance testing software. Its product, CORE IMPACT, gives organizations visibility into critical information security weaknesses across network systems, end-user systems and web applications. By pinpointing exploitable vulnerabilities, IMPACT enables customers to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of their defensive infrastructure and end-user security policies. The product generates clear, actionable test reports that detail proven vulnerabilities, possible fixes and other information valuable to improving an organization’s overall security posture.

“Companies are losing the battle when it comes to protecting critical data assets, since they are often unable to view their information security from the perspective of attackers,” said Fred Pinkett, vice president of product management at Core Security Technologies. “Many businesses are now addressing this problem by using penetration testing products such as CORE IMPACT to evaluate their ability to detect, prevent and respond to security threats. We are pleased to receive this honor from the Data Protection Summit, and we are glad it recognizes our innovation as a step forward in enterprise information security.”

The Best of Show winners were honored during a special ceremony at the Data Protection Summit on Wednesday,
March 12.

Contact Digital Reach to discuss your CORE IMPACT implementation.

 Security experts are warning computer users to beware of malware attacks timed to coincide with April Fool’s Day, noting that the keepers of the Storm Trojan have already launched such attacks.

Source: SearchSecurity.com | Information Security Magazine

Researchers at Helsinki-based F-Secure Corp. said in the company blog that a new wave of April Fool’s Day-related Storm mails were spammed out late Monday with a link that points to an IP address. Subject lines carry such messages as “All Fools’ Day,” Doh! April Fool” and “Surprise! The joke’s on you.”

There appears to be no text in the messages, only the URL that, if clicked, downloads executable files with such names as “foolsday.exe” and “kickme.exe.” The files carry the Storm Trojan.

“Virus coverage is poor with the samples we’ve captured, but we’re working with the antivirus vendors to improve that,” Stephen Hall, a handler at the Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC), said in a message on the SANS ISC blog.

In a follow-up message on the ISC site, handler Joel Esler reminded people to be aware of this and other April Fool’s tricks.

Controllers of the Storm botnet have a history of using holidays such as Valentine’s Day and news events such as a wave of storms that swept across Europe several months ago to dupe people into opening infected emails.

Meanwhile, victims falling pray to the Pushdo Trojan aren’t finding any love. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based network security vendor, Fortinet has been tracking the Pushdo, which continues to spread as a result of a successful eCard spam campaign. The eCard touts nude photographs, random female names and a fake link to relationship sites.

If the victim opens an attachment in the email, “Pushdo.EV cycles through various IP’s in an attempt to establish an HTTP session where it will download a rootkit component,” Fortinet said in its March threat report. The Pushdo botnet is growing larger and gaining in activity, according to Fortinet security research engineer Derek Manky.

Source: www.widespreadpr.com