Kaspersky Lab: Antivirus Software
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Does the US Need Another Anti-Virus Company?
BusinessWeek Online
By Steve Hamm
July 8, 2005
 Between them, Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro just about have the US market for anti-virus software sewed up. But here comes Russia's Kaspersky Lab trying to gain a foothold. The Moscow-based company opened a sales office outside of Boston in February and has signed up about 40 resellers. Its target: small and medium-size businesses. So, why does the US need another anti-virus company? The answer: speed. Kaspersky reacts quicker than the giants to new viruses and other forms of malware, and gets fixes out fast.
The numbers are impressive. According to research done by AV-Test.org Research Group, a German outfit, Kaspersky is the only significant AV player that gets out fixes in an average of less then four hours after virus are spotted in the wild. Trend Micro does it in seven hours and it takes Symantec and McAfee an average of more than 12 hours. Kaspersky wins for two reasons: Its researchers use a lot of automation to detect and diagnose outbreaks, and it issues fixes with amazing frequency--an average of more than 600 per month. For comparison, Symantec puts out updates about once a day, and Trend Micro and McAfee do it even less often, according to AV-Test.org.
Speed matters. Hackers have become so expert at mass-distributing malware, and at quickly sending
out new variants, that their missives can quickly overwhelm the ability of individuals and companies to defend themselves. The shift from amateur to criminal in the hacker community makes speed of response essential. "A virus used to be a pain in the neck, but you weren't going to be robbed. Now, if you're vulnerable for even a few hours, you can lose a lot of money," says Stephen Orenberg, president of Kaspersky's US subsidiary.
I'm fascinated with the idea of Russian computer brainiacs working away in our defense while we're sleeping, and Orenberg didn't disappoint me. He described the Moscow office, whereKaspersky's "woodpeckers"--the T-shirted young men who spot viruses and come up with antidotes--crouch over their computers in the wee hours of the morning. "The energy they give off would give you a sunburn," he says.
If Kaspersky starts gaining momentum in the US, Symantec, McAfee, and Trend are the ones who will get burned.
About Kaspersky
Triple-Barreled Trojan Attack
eWEEK
By Ryan Naraine
June 4, 2005
Kaspersky Labs--- Anti-virus researchers are sounding the alert for a massive, well-coordinated hacker attack using three different Trojans to hijack PCs and create botnets-for-hire.
The three-pronged attack is being described as "unprecedented" because of the way the Trojans communicate with each other to infect a machine, disable anti-virus software and leave a back door open for future malicious use.
"This is so slick, it's scary," said Roger Thompson, director of malicious content research at Computer Associates International Inc. "It clearly points to a very well-organized group either replenishing existing botnets or creating new ones."
According to Thompson, the wave of attacks start with Win32.Glieder.AK, dubbed Glieder, a Trojan that downloads and executes arbitrary files from a long, hardcoded list of URLs.
Glieder's job is to sneak past anti-virus protection before definition signatures could be created and "seed" the infected machine for future use. At least eight variants of Glieder were unleashed on one day, wreaking havoc across the Internet.
On Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines, Glieder.AK attempts to stop and disable the Internet Connection Firewall and the Security Center service, which was introduced with Windows XP Service Pack 2.
The Trojan then quickly attempts to connect to a list of URLs to download Win32.Fantibag.A (Fantibag) to spawn the second wave of attacks.
With Fantibag on the compromised machine, Thompson said the attackers can ensure that anti-virus and other protection software is shut off. Fantibag exploits networking features to block the infected machine from communicating with anti-virus vendors. The Trojan even blocks access to Microsoft's Windows Update, meaning that victims cannot get help.
Once the shields are down, a third Trojan called Win32.Mitglieder.CT, or Mitglieder, puts the hijacked machine under the complete control of the attacker.
Once the three Trojans are installed, the infected computer becomes part of a botnet and can be used in spam runs, distributed denial-of-service attacks or to log keystrokes and steal sensitive personal information.
A botnet is a collection of compromised machines controlled remotely via IRC (Inter Relay Chat) channels.
According to CA's Thompson, the success of the three-pronged attack could signal the end of signature-based virus protection if Trojans immediately disable all means of protection.
"These guys have worked out that they bypass past signature scanners if they tweak their code and then release it quickly. The idea is to hit hard and spread fast, disarm victims and then exploit them," Thompson said in an interview with Ziff Davis Internet News.
He said he thinks the attack, which used virus code from the Bagle family, is the work of a very small group of organized criminals. "There's no doubt in my mind we are dealing with organized crime. The target is to build a botnet or to add to existing ones. Once the botnets reach a certain mass, they are rented out for malicious use."
"There's a black market for infected computers. The bigger your botnet, the more money you can make," Thompson said. He said researchers tracking underground hacker activity had seen a price tag of about 5 cents per infected machine.
Assured Destruction
Assured Destruction
Red Herring
April 18, 2005
When a new strand of malicious code strikes the world’s computers, no antivirus vendor launches a fix faster than Kaspersky Lab. Perhaps that’s because the company is housed in a Cold War temple consecrated to rapid response: an ex-Soviet missile complex in Moscow.
Eugene Kaspersky, the company’s head virus researcher, founded the company in 1997 with his then-wife Natalya, who became CEO. The two started Kaspersky Lab at just the right time. The market for digital protection has grown to $11.6 billion per year, according to the Yankee Group.
Vendors all over the world have tackled the problem, and at least 37 antivirus products have hit the market. In this crowded pack, Kaspersky Lab has a reputation for delivering a strong product backed by cutting-edge antivirus innovation. The company has held its own against McAfee and Symantec, but will face its biggest challenge at the end of the year, when Microsoft enters the market.
In its Personal Security Suite, Kaspersky Labs offers firewall protection, antivirus, anti-spyware, and anti-spam. The company also sells corporate and small business versions. Although this package is an industry standard, Kaspersky has taken the service aspects to their logical conclusion, getting its security patches out in an average of four hours, compared to the industry standard of about 10, say testers. And that speed can make a big difference, as virus writers increasingly design their malicious code to spread quickly and infect computers before antivirus programs receive pre-emptive updates.
The company has been way out in front of emerging threats in devices as diverse as mobile phones, PDAs, and even luxury cars. It was the first to investigate a vulnerability in the Bluetooth-enabled Lexus that opened the car to virus attacks. Kaspersky Lab has released antivirus software for both PDAs and Symbian smart phones to combat the proliferation of Bluetooth viruses like Cabir and Skulls.
But the best technology isn’t enough to stay competitive in digital security. On the business side, Ms. Kaspersky has pushed the company to expand globally. The firm now has more than 380 employees and offices in Moscow, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the United States, and Japan. Ms. Kaspersky says the company is working to increase sales in China.
The company’s strong footing may not be enough to steel the company against Microsoft’s promised entry into the antivirus market. In February, the software giant bought Sybari Software, one of Kaspersky Lab’s partners, to prepare for an antivirus offering by the end of the year.
The Kasperskys don’t seem particularly concerned. “Microsoft wants to understand what to do, so they’re trying things,” says Mr. Kaspersky. “I don't know what they’ll do. They probably don’t either…. We can expect Microsoft to make a system more secure than the one in use. But how easy will it be to use? It’s a difficult balance.”
Even if Microsoft’s future in the antivirus space is uncertain, there’s no doubt that the threat of hackers is here to stay. Kaspersky Lab has shown its ability to master the discovery of new threats and deliver speedy updates. It has moved to meet new, emerging threats in smart phones and expand into promising new markets like China.
The antivirus market will see more consolidation in the future, narrowing down the 37 products it supports today. Kaspersky Lab may yet follow the former tenants of its missile complex into oblivion, but expect the company to make at least the first round of cuts.
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