Outmaneuvered at Their Own Game, Antivirus Makers Struggle to Adapt

- By - NICOLE PERLROTH - The New York Times - December 31, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO — The antivirus industry has a dirty little secret: its products are often not very good at stopping viruses.

Consumers and businesses spend billions of dollars every year on antivirus software. But these programs rarely, if ever, block freshly minted computer viruses, experts say, because the virus creators move too quickly. That is prompting start-ups and other companies to get creative about new approaches to computer security.

“The bad guys are always trying to be a step ahead,” said Matthew D. Howard, a venture capitalist at Norwest Venture Partners who previously set up the security strategy at Cisco Systems. “And it doesn’t take a lot to be a step ahead.”

Computer viruses used to be the domain of digital mischief makers. But in the mid-2000s, when criminals discovered that malicious software could be profitable, the number of new viruses began to grow exponentially.

In 2000, there were fewer than a million new strains of malware, most of them the work of amateurs. By 2010, there were 49 million new strains, according to AV-Test, a German research institute that tests antivirus products.

The antivirus industry has grown as well, but experts say it is falling behind. By the time its products are able to block new viruses, it is often too late. The bad guys have already had their fun, siphoning out a company’s trade secrets, erasing data or emptying a consumer’s bank account.

A new study by Imperva, a data security firm in Redwood City, Calif., and students from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is the latest confirmation of this. Amichai Shulman, Imperva’s chief technology officer, and a group of researchers collected and analyzed 82 new computer viruses and put them up against more than 40 antivirus products, made by top companies like Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee and Kaspersky Lab. They found that the initial detection rate was less than 5 percent.

On average, it took almost a month for antivirus products to update their detection mechanisms and spot the new viruses. And two of the products with the best detection rates — Avast and Emsisoft — are available free; users are encouraged to pay for additional features. This despite the fact that consumers and businesses spent a combined $7.4 billion on antivirus software last year — nearly half of the $17.7 billion spent on security software in 2011, according to Gartner.

“Existing methodologies we’ve been protecting ourselves with have lost their efficacy,” said Ted Schlein, a security-focused investment partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “This study is just another indicator of that. But the whole concept of detecting what is bad is a broken concept.”

Part of the problem is that antivirus products are inherently reactive. Just as medical researchers have to study a virus before they can create a vaccine, antivirus makers must capture a computer virus, take it apart and identify its “signature” — unique signs in its code — before they can write a program that removes it.

That process can take as little as a few hours or as long as several years. In May, researchers at Kaspersky Lab discovered Flame, a complex piece of malware that had been stealing data from computers for an estimated five years.

Mikko H. Hypponen, chief researcher at F-Secure, called Flame “a spectacular failure” for the antivirus industry. “We really should have been able to do better,” he wrote in an essay for Wired.com after Flame’s discovery. “But we didn’t. We were out of our league in our own game.”

Symantec and McAfee, which built their businesses on antivirus products, have begun to acknowledge their limitations and to try new approaches. The word “antivirus” does not appear once on their home pages. Symantec rebranded its popular antivirus packages: its consumer product is now called Norton Internet Security, and its corporate offering is now Symantec Endpoint Protection.

“Nobody is saying antivirus is enough,” said Kevin Haley, Symantec’s director of security response. Mr. Haley said Symantec’s antivirus products included a handful of new technologies, like behavior-based blocking, which looks at some 30 characteristics of a file, including when it was created and where else it has been installed, before allowing it to run. “In over two-thirds of cases, malware is detected by one of these other technologies,” he said.

Imperva, which sponsored the antivirus study, has a horse in this race. Its Web application and data security software are part of a wave of products that look at security in a new way. Instead of simply blocking what is bad, as antivirus programs and perimeter firewalls are designed to do, Imperva monitors access to servers, databases and files for suspicious activity.

The day companies unplug their antivirus software is still far off, but entrepreneurs and investors are betting that the old tools will become relics.

“The game has changed from the attacker’s standpoint,” said Phil Hochmuth, a Web security analyst at the research firm International Data Corporation. “The traditional signature-based method of detecting malware is not keeping up.”

Investors are backing a new crop of start-ups that turn the whole notion of security on its head. If it is no longer possible to block everything that is bad, the thinking goes, then the security companies of the future will be the ones whose software can spot unusual behavior and clean up systems once they have been breached.

The hottest security start-ups today are companies like Bit9, Bromium, FireEye and Seculert that monitor Internet traffic, and companies like Mandiant and CrowdStrike that have expertise in cleaning up after an attack.

Bit9, which received more than $70 million in financing from top venture firms like Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital, uses an approach known as whitelisting, allowing only traffic that the system knows is innocuous.

McAfee acquired Solidcore, a whitelisting start-up, in 2009, and Symantec’s products now include its Insight technology, which is similar in that it does not let any unknown files run on a machine.

McAfee’s former chief executive, David G. DeWalt, was rumored to be a contender for the top job at Intel, which acquired McAfee in 2010. Instead, he joined FireEye, a start-up with a system that isolates a company’s applications in virtual containers, then looks for suspicious activity in a sort of digital petri dish before deciding whether to let traffic through.

The company has received more than $35 million in financing from Norwest, Sequoia Capital and In-Q-Tel, the venture arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, among others.

Seculert, an Israeli start-up, approaches the problem somewhat differently. It looks at where threats are coming from — the command and control centers used to coordinate attacks — to give governments and businesses an early warning system.

As the number of prominent online attacks rises, analysts and venture capitalists are betting that corporate spending patterns will change.

“Technologies that once were only used by very sensitive industries like finance are moving into the mainstream,” Mr. Hochmuth said. “Very soon, if you are not running these technologies and you’re a security professional, your colleagues and counterparts will start to look at you funny.”

Companies have started working from the assumption that they will be hacked, Mr. Hochmuth said, and that when they are, they will need top-notch cleanup crews.

Mandiant, which specializes in data forensics and responding to breaches, has received $70 million from Kleiner Perkins and One Equity Partners, JPMorgan Chase’s private investment arm.

Two McAfee executives, George Kurtz and Dmitri Alperovitch, left to start CrowdStrike, a start-up that offers a similar forensics service. Less than a year later, they have already raised $26 million from Warburg Pincus.

If and when antivirus makers are able to fortify desktop computers, chances are the criminals will have already moved on to smartphones.

In October, the F.B.I. warned that a number of malicious apps were compromising Android devices. And in July, Kaspersky Lab discovered the first malicious app in Apple’s app store. The Defense Department has called for companies and universities to find ways to protect mobile devices from malware. McAfee, Symantec and others are working on solutions, and Lookout, a start-up whose products scan apps for malware and viruses, recently raised funding that valued it at $1 billion.

“The bad guys are getting worse,” Mr. Howard of Norwest said. “Antivirus helps filter down the problem, but the next big security company will be the one that offers a comprehensive solution.”

Genetically Engineered Fish Moves a Step Closer to FDA Approval

- By ANDREW POLLACK - The New York Times - December 21, 2012

Government regulators moved a big step closer on Friday to allowing the first genetically engineered animal — a fast-growing salmon — to enter the nation’s food supply. -- Keeping in mind that there are absolutely NO GOOD Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) CROPS and FOODS!!!

The Food and Drug Administration said it had concluded that the salmon would have “no significant impact” on the environment. The agency also said the salmon was “as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon.” While the agency’s draft environmental assessment will be open to public comment for 60 days, it seems likely that the salmon will be approved, though that could still be months away.

The environmental assessment is dated May 4. It is unclear why it took until now for it to be released, but supporters of the salmon say they believe it is because the Obama administration was afraid of an unfavorable consumer reaction before the election in November.  Environmental and consumer groups quickly criticized the federal agency’s conclusions.

“The G.E. salmon has no socially redeeming value,” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, a Washington advocacy group opposed to farm biotechnology, said in a statement. “It’s bad for the consumer, bad for the salmon industry and bad for the environment. F.D.A.’s decision is premature and misguided.”

But the decision was long in coming. AquaBounty Technologies, the company that developed the salmon, has been trying to win approval for more than a decade.

“We’re encouraged by this,” Ronald Stotish, the chief executive of AquaBounty, said on Friday. However, he added, “We’re not so foolish as to be wildly enthusiastic” that Friday’s action will definitely lead to approval. Among other things, some members of Congress have tried to block the agency from approving the fish.

The AquAdvantage salmon, as it is called, is an Atlantic salmon that contains a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon and a genetic switch from the ocean pout, an eel-like creature. The switch keeps the gene on so that the salmon produces growth hormone year round, rather than only during warm weather. The fish reach market weight in about 18 months instead of three years.

The F.D.A. tentatively concluded in September 2010 that the salmon would be safe to eat and for the environment. A committee of outside advisers, while finding some shortcomings in the analysis, did not contradict those conclusions in general.

The agency then embarked on a more detailed environmental analysis that has now come to the same conclusions.

The main concern addressed was whether the genetically engineered salmon could escape and establish themselves in the wild, with detrimental environmental consequences. The larger salmon, for instance, could conceivably outcompete wild Atlantic salmon for food or mates.

The agency said the chance this would happen was “extremely remote.” It said the salmon would be raised in inland tanks with multiple barriers to escape. Even if some fish did escape, the nearby bodies of water would be too hot or salty for their survival. And reproduction would be unlikely because the fish would be sterilized, though the sterilization technique is not foolproof.

The agency also said that approval of the salmon would have no effect on endangered species, including wild Atlantic salmon. The National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service did not disagree.

AquaBounty produces its eggs at a facility in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The eggs are shipped to the highlands of Panama, where the fish are grown to market weight.

The federal agency said that other facilities for growing the salmon would require separate approvals. It also noted that it did not assess how the salmon would affect the environment in Panama and Canada, only in the United States.

Opponents said that the agency should do a more complete environmental impact statement. They also said that not enough samples were studied to conclude that the fish would be safe to eat.

Scientists and companies working on animal biotechnology had complained that the failure to approve the salmon was discouraging investment in the industry.

An article in Slate earlier this week said the White House had been delaying release of the environmental assessment for political reasons, violating the Obama administration’s pledge to make decisions based on science. The environmental assessment was released soon afterward.

An agency spokesman declined to comment on the delay. He said it was not possible to predict when a final decision on the salmon would be made.

The F.D.A. is likely to take weeks or months to analyze the comments it receives. Even if it then affirms the conclusions released Friday, that would be a decision that a bigger environmental impact statement is not needed. The agency would still have to take a separate step to approve the salmon for introduction into the food supply, although it is thought there are no other important issues outstanding.

Mr. Stotish of AquaBounty said that if the approval came early next year, some salmon could reach American dinner plates late next year. But quantities would be limited by the small capacity in Panama. AquaBounty hopes to sell eggs to other fish farms that would grow larger quantities of salmon, but that is likely to take a few more years.

AquaBounty has argued that the faster growth of its fish makes it feasible to rear them in inland tanks rather than ocean pens, reducing the environmental impact. “That allows us not to disturb the oceans whatsoever,” said Elliot Entis, the founder of AquaBounty.

Mr. Entis, who no longer works for the company, has formed a new company to rear the salmon in the United States.

AquaBounty, which is based in Maynard, Mass., nearly ran out of money waiting for the salmon to be approved.

Kakha Bendukidze, an investor from the nation of Georgia who owned nearly half the company’s stock, sold his holdings in October to Intrexon, an American company. Intrexon, which is offering to buy the rest of AquaBounty, is providing it with a $500,000 loan.

Intrexon is working on synthetic biology, which is sort of a souped-up form of genetic engineering. It is not clear yet how it plans to apply that technology to AquaBounty’s fish.

Alcohol Consumption Health Hazards

- By Bahram Maskanian - December 20, 2012

Alcohol is Not Your Friend: Alcohol, a highly addictive and damaging substance, a deadly poison, current scientific evidences suggest that even a low level of drinking are associated with a high risk for coronary heart disease and much more.

Any amount of alcohol intake raises the risk for dementia, seizure, severe depression, suicide, cardiovascular diseases: high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, chronic pancreatitis, certain cancers, deadly automobile crashes, over 50,000 per year killed, in U.S. alone.

Alcoholic induced violence is huge staggering number, 89% percent of violent crimes, such as rape, manslaughter and murder are committed under the influence of alcohol.

High blood sugar and diabetes, hepatitis, erectile dysfunction in men, because of fat built-up within the blood vessels, causing numbing of the sensitive sexual organs, due to lack of nutrients and oxygen, women drinking causing birth defects, and overall infant mortality, deaths and infectious diseases.

Alcohol causes cirrhosis of the liver, inflammation of the pancreas, and damage to the nerves system, brain and heart. Drinkers are also at risk of malnutrition because alcohol contains high level of sugar. The digestive system of alcoholics has reduced ability to absorb certain vital nutrients, causing many other illnesses.

We, the humankind have a tendency to runaway from our problems and sedate ourselves using a variety of different substances. And it always begins with a small dosage of whatever narcotics we choose to use. No one becomes alcoholic, or cigarette smoker, or a drug addict overnight. In case of alcohol, it begins with a glass of wine, or a beer. Shortly after we drink 2, or 3, or 4 to maintain the same level of high we had from the first beer, or glass of wine. And that is where we shift to stronger liquors, drinking more and more, chasing our first high in this costly and deadly race.

All of our bad idiotic decisions, actions and behaviors are direct affects of alcohol abuse. Alcohol is a highly dangerous poison and it causes enormous havoc to all aspects of our lives, ranging from: mental retardation, physiological, psychological and personality disorders, blackouts, forgetfulness, learning disability, out of control violent outburst, leading to incarceration, injuries, loss of limbs, and 100,000s death. - Drunk driving auto collisions causing 100,000s of deaths and dismemberment. - Fact is that 86% of all violent criminal conducts are committed under the influence of alcohol.

All of our incredibly stupid and degrading social activities, harmful behaviors toward our loved ones and family, destruction of our health, wealth, self-confidence and self-respect are also caused by alcohol. - Demolition of our one and only BRAIN, and much, much more is caused by alcohol consumption. - And after reading this article if you still not convinced, you are an alcoholic and should seek help to give up this deadly poison.

Alcohol harms our Brain - Doctors have now revealed that alcohol is highly damaging to the Brain Nerves Cells. - Alcohol kills our Brain cells and disarms us from our faculties. - The fact is that all of our human attributes, health regulation, personality, character, attitude and behavior, wisdom, intelligence, decision making and thinking ability, love, affection, understanding, memory, ability to learn and remember, and much, much more are housed and stem from our Brain. We should be highly protective of our Brian, our Brain is who we are…

Alcohol harms our Cardio-Vascular System - the heart and blood vessels are our one and only life giving and sustaining engine. Alcohol constricts and blocks heart’s blood vessels, and all other blood vessels throughout our body.  Alcohol harms our liver, destroying liver cells, replacing them with fat.  Alcohol causes Cirrhosis of liver, a deadly disease.

Alcohol harms our Stomach - Doctors have now revealed that alcoholic drinks of all kinds cause the lining of the stomach to irritate leading to ulcers and eventually bleeding in the stomach. This can be very serious.

Alcohol ~75,000 (not counting auto accidents - add another 25,000)

The good news is that if given a chance, our body will heal and repair itself. It is never too late to stop, seek help and begin a whole new healthy life. Remember all studies suddenly produced on TV, radio and newspapers are paid advertisements to promote distil industries alcoholic poison. We must be smart and not believe a word of these so-called studies.

Healthy Mind is in a Healthy Body.

Doctors all over the world have now revealed that our body constantly rebuilds and renews itself. Which it obviously means that is never too late to stop and allow oneself to get well and recover from all the damages we have done to our body. Our Brain also has the capacity to repair itself and begin again, its healthy functions with a help of good holistic organic foods and at least 1 hour of mild cardiovascular exercise a day.

Our Brain health and well being, is the only path to having a successful and prospers life all around; to be in a good physical and psychological shape means never touching alcohol, of any kind. Healthy strong BRAIN generates and maintains our physical health, clarity of mind, bright, healthy, positive, sensible, intelligent, loving character and personality.

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Facts and Figures

Did you know that an average of one person dies every 3 minutes from alcohol-related traffic crashes?

In the US, an estimated 50,000 individuals under the age of 21 die each year from injuires caused by underage drinking 19,000 of these are a result of motor vehicle crashes.

Or that every 2 minutes one person is injured from such crashes?

Or that one in every three people will be somehow affected by impaired driving in their lifetime?

Did you know that there has been nearly a 30% increase in women driving under the influence?

In 2007 there were 121,998 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities.

In 2007 total drunk drivers caused accidents and fatalities of innocent people 41,059.

In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.

These statistics are powerful and understanding the numbers is a critical component in having the knowledge to take a stand in the fight against impaired driving!

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The Signs and Symptoms of Alcohol Poisoning 

•  Person is known to have consumed large quantities of alcohol

•  Person is unconscious and cannot be awakened

•  Person has cold, clammy, unusually pale or bluish skin

•  Person is breathing slowly or irregularly, less than 8 times a minute or 10 seconds or more between breaths

•  Person vomits while passed out and does not wake up during or after

Steps to Taking Action

1. Try to wake the person. Try to wake the person by calling their name, slapping their face, or pinching their skin. See if you can get a reaction that will wake the person up. Remember, just because they wake up doesn't mean they are fine. Alcohol stays in the bloodstream until it is processed and just because you can get some reaction at 1:00 AM doesn't mean they will still be conscious by 2:00 AM. Do not leave the person alone.

2. Check the person's breathing. Evaluate if the person has slow or irregular breaths; less than 8 times per minute or more than 10 seconds between breaths. If they are not conscious or barely able to wake up, we need to make sure they don't choke on their own vomit.

3. Turn the person on his/her side to prevent choking. If they are not conscious or barely able to wake up, we begin by making sure they don't choke on their vomit. Start by putting their arm above their head. Bend their opposite knee and roll them toward you so that they are laying on their side, preferably their left side. Putting the person on their left side will slow the delivery of alcohol to the small intestine and also allows more air to surface from the right lung. This way, if they do throw up, the vomit will have a better chance of coming out.

4. Do not leave the person alone. Although it might be inconvenient, it is important to stay with someone who is extremely drunk and barely conscious. Continue to monitor their breathing, responsiveness, skin and lip color, etc.

5. If any of signs of alcohol poisoning exist, call 911 or follow your campus emergency procedures, immediately. Hesitating can mean the difference between life and death.

Stand by your decision. Stand up for your friendship. Do the right thing based on your best judgment and your knowledge of alcohol poisoning. You are always doing the right thing by getting help.

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Alcohol Poisoning

Alcohol Poisoning is a real occurrence taking place on college and university campuses. Some students are drinking heavily and quickly and becoming medical emergencies, or worse – fatalities. Certainly, most students don’t drink to excess and campuses and peer education groups are doing everything they can to educate students to prevent a tragedy from happening. However, when all the educational programs are over, sometimes it all comes down to friendship.

Alcohol poisoning occurs when someone puts a large amount of alcohol into their system. There are a lot of reasons why people drink; to be social, they like the feeling of being impaired, to be less self-conscious, to forget their problems, - we could go on and on. But there is a difference between drinking and drinking way too much.

Alcohol poisoning is an overdose of alcohol. Alcohol poisoning is deadly. The brain begins to shut down involuntary functions that regulate breathing and heart rate sometimes resulting in death. The amount of alcohol that causes alcohol poisoning is different for every person. It is not possible to accurately predict for each person what amount will cause them to overdose.

When we hear of a person who has died as a result of alcohol poisoning, typically one of two things happen.

• The person stopped breathing. The depressant level of the alcohol was so high that the drinker simply stopped breathing and his or her heart stopped beating.

• The person choked on their vomit. The drinker passed out, was laying on their back, threw up and choked on his or her vomit.

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Alcohol Abuse and Your Health

Alcohol Abuse and Health Risks

There are long-term health risks associated with drinking alcohol over time. These risks include damage to the heart, liver, and brain. However, it should be noted that the vast majority of alcohol health risks could also occur over the course of a single evening.  Teenagers, or college-aged students has a much higher risk of an alcohol-related injury caused by a car crash, slipping or falling, getting into a fight, etc. than developing cirrhosis of the liver.

Still, these long-term health risks are important to know because if a person is currently a heavy drinker, has been so in the past, or plans on continuing drinking in this manner in the future, that person ought to know the consequences and damage. There are a number of long-term health risks involved with chronic alcohol abuse; risks in addition to other physical effects such as weight gain, dry skin and a compromised immune system.

Alcohol and the Liver

Alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of illness and death in the United States. In fact, the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, 20046 reports that chronic liver disease and cirrhosis rank among the top 10 leading causes of death in the nation. ALD comes in several different forms, some more severe than others.

The first, and least serious, of these, is fatty liver. Fatty liver is just what it sounds like, a buildup of fat in the liver. Fat buildup is not normal and is usually indicative of a more severe liver problem. A more serious liver condition is alcoholic hepatitis; characterized by persistent inflammation of the liver, alcohol hepatitis can cause scarring and hardening of the liver. When scarring becomes extensive, the condition is called cirrhosis, which is very serious and often fatal.

All of these contribute to the death of liver cells. The presence of damaged cells triggers the body’s defensive responses resulting in a vicious cycle of inflammation, cell death, and eventually organ failure, ensuring the necessity of a liver transplant.

Liver cancer is a very real and very serious health risk of alcohol drinking. Deaths from liver cancer are higher among heavy alcohol users than people who do not drink. By altering the liver’s ability to metabolize some carcinogenic substances into harmless compounds or to disable certain existing carcinogens, alcohol’s effects may influence liver cancer.

Alcohol and the Heart

Drinking any amounts of alcohol can raise the levels of fat in the blood (triglycerides), leading to high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. It can also lead to high blood pressure, heart failure and increased calorie intake (leading to obesity and a higher risk of diabetes). Excessive high risk drinking can also lead to stroke. Other serious problems related to heart disease and the use of alcohol include cardiomyopathy a disease in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed and therefore doesn't work efficiently, cardiac arrhythmia, (abnormal, irregular heartbeat) and sudden cardiac death.

Alcohol and the Brain

In understanding the various risks faced by 15-24 year olds, it is important to note that brain development significantly impacts decision-making skills. Current research dispels the previously held belief that an adolescent, after undergoing puberty, has a brain that closely resembles that of an adult. According to a study conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), “The brain’s center of reasoning and problem solving is among the last to mature…” (NIMH, 2004)7. In this decade long study, the brains of thirteen healthy children and teens, from ages four to twenty one, were scanned every two years using MRI technology. In studying these images, researchers found that, “Areas with more advanced [brain] functions – integrating information from the senses, reasoning, and other executive functions (prefrontal cortex) – mature last” (NIMH)7. This gradual brain development makes adolescents physiologically more prone to risky decision-making that can have dangerous results. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School reports that, “Indeed, the risk of injury or death is higher during the adolescent period than in childhood or adulthood, and the incidence of depression, anxiety, drug use and addiction, and eating disorders increases…It is clear that adolescents think and act differently from adults…” (Kelley, 2004)8.

Additionally, research demonstrates that new, and sometimes dangerous, experiences “…tap into a teenager’s so-called reward system…This is the same set of neurons affected by certain illicit drugs, such as cocaine, that releases dopamine, one of the brain chemicals, or neurotransmitters, that are responsible for arousal and motivation” (Brownlee et al, 1999)9. While new experiences may produce a “rush,” substance use and abuse in young people can cause serious health risks, such as a lasting impact on brain development, chemical balances, and neurological “hardwiring” (Brownlee et. al., 1999)9.