Fortinet Security Blog » Antispam http://blog.fortinet.com Real Time Network Protection Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:35:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 ©Fortinet Product Marketing jleggio@fortinet.com (Fortinet Product Marketing) jleggio@fortinet.com(Fortinet Product Marketing) Fortinet Product Information 1440 forti-gate, anti-spam, anti-virus, fortigate The latest news and information about Fortinet products and services for Real Time Network Protection. Fortinet is a leading provider of Unified Threat Management (UTM) network security solutions for enterprise and service provider environments. The Fortinet FortiCast delivers news, information, and tutorials about products, services, and industry trends. Fortinet's FortiGate product line and FortiGuard security subscription services provide an array of integrated network security functions including antivirus, firewall, virtual private networking, intrusion prevention (IPS), web filtering, antispam and traffic optimization. Fortinet Product Marketing Fortinet Product Marketing jleggio@fortinet.com No no http://blog.fortinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/forticast-144x144.jpg Fortinet Security Blog http://blog.fortinet.com 144 144 Stop the (Network Security) Insanity! http://blog.fortinet.com/stop-the-network-security-insanity/ http://blog.fortinet.com/stop-the-network-security-insanity/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:09:22 +0000 JLeggio http://blog.fortinet.com/?p=1498

]]> http://blog.fortinet.com/stop-the-network-security-insanity/feed/ 1 Targeted Spam: An Unfair Blow to Security http://blog.fortinet.com/targeted-spam-an-unfair-blow-to-security/ http://blog.fortinet.com/targeted-spam-an-unfair-blow-to-security/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:40:12 +0000 Axelle http://blog.fortinet.com/?p=704 Today, I feel like telling you a true story that happened at Fortinet, the story of Jane Doe.

Jane Doe works for Human Resources at the reception desk, so she is used to receiving lots of mail, UPS or DHL parcels for the company. Some time ago, Jane received an e-mail from DHL, notifying her they had been unable to deliver a parcel (see figure below). She does handle plenty of DHL parcels every day, consequently, she did not give this e-mail any particular attention and, quite absent-mindedly, tried to open the attachment. Fortunately, she did not manage to unzip anything because the attachment had been removed by FortiMail. Only then did Jane realize there was something strange about the e-mail.


bredolab-email
Figure 1. Bredolab spam example. Apart from the sender, they look real. Click on the image to enlarge.

Apart from covert advertisement for FortiMail ;) this example just perfectly illustrates the efficiency of targeted spamming. Forge a plausible e-mail (as a matter of fact, UPS or DHL often include attachments in their e-mails to track this or that parcel) and send it to the right mailbox (a person expecting DHL parcels): this is close to guaranteed infection. Proof: it would have worked even at Fortinet where employees are particularly well-aware of the dangers of viruses. So, spammers, please don’t do this: it is an unfair blow.

Incidentally, we had a look at the stats of our scanning system. There was a large spike of DHL spam, October 13th being the largest (around 3,000 spam mails collected by our system), and recently tapered off. This increased from about 50-100 spam mails per day in mid-late September. This spam campaign infects victims with Bredolab.

Guillaume Lovet, Derek Manky, Doug McDonald, Alexandre Aumoine and Jane Doe are the main contributors to this blog entry. Many thanks !

]]> http://blog.fortinet.com/targeted-spam-an-unfair-blow-to-security/feed/ 1 The most dangerous thing you can do: Cross the road? http://blog.fortinet.com/the-most-dangerous-thing-you-can-do-cross-the-road/ http://blog.fortinet.com/the-most-dangerous-thing-you-can-do-cross-the-road/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:02:31 +0000 DTurnbull http://blog.fortinet.com/?p=261 cannon-lgWell that would be the usual boring answer from the guy down at the pub who isn’t really entering in to the spirit of the conversation. How about this one… Be shot out of a cannon – that’s pretty dangerous. But with a little thought we can make it safer. For a start, how big is the cannon? Where is it aiming? Can I wear a crash helmet? Can I land in a very large safety net? Can I get someone else to do it for me?

Of course, reading email can be a pretty dangerous business to, with all those requests from your bank, or someone else’s bank, to make sure you validate your password just one more time. Or the links to special interest web sites eager to part you from you money. Or even some distant relative desperate to give you a share of those millions you thought were lost forever.

Of course we take precautions here, too, looking left and right, not doing anything stupid. But what if we are taken over by a feeling of wanting to know just what it would be like to be shot from a cannon?

The tempting invitation for the Cannon Shoot arriving in your inbox in the first place meant that your first antispam line of defence has been breached. Of course, you could still have some client software installed, but that has also failed you this time. So you click the Cannon Shoot registration, but the site has been blocked by your content filtering safety net, phew! Someone’s been busy rating dodgy websites on your behalf. Had you been able to access the site, download that little software application, then you too could soon be hosting your own Cannon Shoot. Of course a compromised PC would still need to be able to install this little piece of malware. Even if that happened,  here again someone has been working on your behalf making sure that even in this worst case, that software you’d installed wouldn’t be able to call home for the latest invitation instructions for the Cannon Shoot.

If we didn’t have antispam, content filtering, antivirus, and intrusion protection defences, pretty soon it wouldn’t be safe to cross the road, you’d be dodging all those crash helmet clad cannon balls flying up the street.

]]> http://blog.fortinet.com/the-most-dangerous-thing-you-can-do-cross-the-road/feed/ 1 Introducing the FortiGate-310B http://blog.fortinet.com/introducing-the-fortigate-310b/ http://blog.fortinet.com/introducing-the-fortigate-310b/#comments Mon, 19 May 2008 22:36:02 +0000 AMinko http://podcast.fortinet.com/?p=20 Jason Wright of the Fortinet product marketing group provides a 6-minute introduction and overview of the new Fortinet FortiGate-310B network security appliance. The FortiGate-310B is ideal for medium-sized enterprises. Some of the many benefits include:

  • Wire-speed Firewall/VPN
  • Accelerated IPS/AV performance
  • High port density
  • Expansion options
  • Facilitates internal security segmentation

For more information, please visit www.fortinet.com

Fortinet FortiGate-310B New Product Introduction

]]> http://blog.fortinet.com/introducing-the-fortigate-310b/feed/ 0 00:05:48 Jason Wright of the Fortinet product marketing group provides a 6-minute introduction and overview of the new Fortinet FortiGate-310B network security appliance. The FortiGate-310B is ... Jason Wright of the Fortinet product marketing group provides a 6-minute introduction and overview of the new Fortinet FortiGate-310B network security appliance. The FortiGate-310B is ideal for medium-sized enterprises. Some of the many benefits include: Wire-speed Firewall/VPN Accelerated IPS/AV performance High port density Expansion options Facilitates internal security segmentation For more information, please visit www.fortinet.com Fortinet FortiGate-310B New Product Introduction Security Fortinet Product Marketing no No