Protect your Android device against theft, viruses with McAfee Mobile Security (Appolicious)

Smartphones aren't cheap. That's why it makes good sense to want to protect your investment.

McAfee Mobile Security is a service that protects your phone from viruses, backs up your data (contacts, photos, videos, call history, etc.) and even allows you to locate your phone on a map in case it's lost or stolen.

After a seven-day free trial, if you decide this is something you need in your life, you can buy a one-year subscription through the app's website: www.McAfeeMobileSecurity.com for $29.99.

You've probably got a pile of paid monthly services stacking up (Netflix, Hulu, The New York Times digital subscription, Pandora, etc.), which might make it difficult to justify spending even more cash. I look at McAfee Mobile Security, though, the same way I look at my AAA auto insurance. You might not think about it or use it very often, but when you need it, you're really glad you have it.

If your phone is lost or stolen, you can see where you phone is on a map. You can access your phone's data at any time through the app's website. The app also tracks when a new SIM card has been inserted into your device, and tracks your phone's call log. If you're still not able to get your phone back, you're able to wipe all of your phone's data — to prevent friends and family from being harassed, or embarrassing text messages and photos from being shared with strangers.

Like I mentioned earlier, the app also does a bit of preventive maintenance to make sure you don't pick up any viruses or lose any valuable information. McAfee has its own color-coding system, which is designed to alert you to potential viruses, browser exploits or other malicious websites. This way, you know which sites to avoid.

I have used McAfee on my own computer for years, so I was already a bit familiar with how this program works. Even so, the average user won't have any issues figuring this out. You mostly just follow the step-by-step directions through setup. Even better, this app works so you can set it and forget it. It takes care of the hard parts all by itself.

Download the free Appolicious Android app

Protect your Android device against theft, viruses with McAfee Mobile Security (Appolicious)

Smartphones aren't cheap. That's why it makes good sense to want to protect your investment.

McAfee Mobile Security is a service that protects your phone from viruses, backs up your data (contacts, photos, videos, call history, etc.) and even allows you to locate your phone on a map in case it's lost or stolen.

After a seven-day free trial, if you decide this is something you need in your life, you can buy a one-year subscription through the app's website: www.McAfeeMobileSecurity.com for $29.99.

You've probably got a pile of paid monthly services stacking up (Netflix, Hulu, The New York Times digital subscription, Pandora, etc.), which might make it difficult to justify spending even more cash. I look at McAfee Mobile Security, though, the same way I look at my AAA auto insurance. You might not think about it or use it very often, but when you need it, you're really glad you have it.

If your phone is lost or stolen, you can see where you phone is on a map. You can access your phone's data at any time through the app's website. The app also tracks when a new SIM card has been inserted into your device, and tracks your phone's call log. If you're still not able to get your phone back, you're able to wipe all of your phone's data — to prevent friends and family from being harassed, or embarrassing text messages and photos from being shared with strangers.

Like I mentioned earlier, the app also does a bit of preventive maintenance to make sure you don't pick up any viruses or lose any valuable information. McAfee has its own color-coding system, which is designed to alert you to potential viruses, browser exploits or other malicious websites. This way, you know which sites to avoid.

I have used McAfee on my own computer for years, so I was already a bit familiar with how this program works. Even so, the average user won't have any issues figuring this out. You mostly just follow the step-by-step directions through setup. Even better, this app works so you can set it and forget it. It takes care of the hard parts all by itself.

Download the free Appolicious Android app

Cyberattacks on South Korea-US a test run: McAfee (AFP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Cyberattacks on US and South Korean military websites in March may have been a test by North Korea or sympathizers, according to a report released Tuesday by computer security firm McAfee.

"We believe this incident... has very clear anti-Korean and anti-US political motivations," McAfee said in a report titled "Ten Days of Rain."

"The combination of technical sophistication juxtaposed with relatively limited execution and myopic outcome is analogous to bringing a Lamborghini to a go-cart race," McAfee said in its findings.

"As such, the motivations appear to outweigh the attack, making this truly seem like an exercise to test and observe response capabilities," it said.

McAfee security researchers said it was 95 percent likely that the culprits behind the online assault in March were also behind July 4, 2009 cyberattacks on US and South Korean websites.

Banking, military and government websites in South Korea and sites for US forces in that country were hit with distributed denial of service attacks on March 4.

DDoS attacks overwhelm websites with requests, causing them slow down or be inaccessible.

McAfee security researcher Georg Wicherski deemed the attacks "an armed cyber reconnaissance operation of sorts" aimed at assessing defenses and reaction times of South Korean government and civilian networks.

"Knowing that would be invaluable in a possible future armed confrontation on the peninsula, since cyberspace has already become the fifth battlespace dimension, in addition to land, air, sea, and space," Wicherski said.

The DDoS attacks were made by usurping control of virus-infected computers in South Korea to overwhelm targeted websites with simultaneous requests for pages or information.

Tactics used in the attacks were more destructive than typically seen when legions of infected computers are commanded in "botnets" by hackers, according to McAfee.

The botnet in South Korea was programmed to perform DDoS attacks for 10 days and then self-destruct, frustrating investigators by overwriting or deleting files and codes to the extent the computers could not be booted up.

While the Match attacks were underway, encryption algorithms were used to mask parts of malicious code and stymie analysis by defenders.

"This wasn't a surgical strike; it was more like a sledgehammer, as most DDoS attacks are," the McAfee report said.

"The attackers relied on the encryption to buy them more time against reverse engineering until the DDoS attack window expired."

Steps were taken to ensure that the mission was executed without interruption, within the predefined attack window, and then all vehicles of attack would be destroyed, the report concluded.

Updates were sent to the botnet by servers in various parts of the world including Taiwan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and the United States to make it resistant to takedown, according to McAfee.

The McAfee study revealed that pieces of the malicious code used in the attacks were built by a number of different people, each with limited knowledge of the overall program.

Last week, South Korea's defense ministry announced that it would expand its cyber warfare unit to help combat growing Internet attacks from North Korea.

The ministry said its cyber command, launched in January last year, would increase the number of personnel from 400 to 500, following an earlier announcement that it would open a cyber warfare school next year.

North Korea reportedly maintains elite hacker units.

Seoul accused Pyongyang of staging the cyberattacks on websites of major South Korean government agencies and financial institutions in March this year and in July 2009.

Pyongyang rejected those allegations, accusing Seoul of inventing the charges to raise tensions.

In May, South Korea said a North Korean cyberattack paralyzed operations at one of its largest banks.

Cyberattacks on South Korea-US a test run: McAfee (AFP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Cyberattacks on US and South Korean military websites in March may have been a test by North Korea or sympathizers, according to a report released Tuesday by computer security firm McAfee.

"We believe this incident... has very clear anti-Korean and anti-US political motivations," McAfee said in a report titled "Ten Days of Rain."

"The combination of technical sophistication juxtaposed with relatively limited execution and myopic outcome is analogous to bringing a Lamborghini to a go-cart race," McAfee said in its findings.

"As such, the motivations appear to outweigh the attack, making this truly seem like an exercise to test and observe response capabilities," it said.

McAfee security researchers said it was 95 percent likely that the culprits behind the online assault in March were also behind July 4, 2009 cyberattacks on US and South Korean websites.

Banking, military and government websites in South Korea and sites for US forces in that country were hit with distributed denial of service attacks on March 4.

DDoS attacks overwhelm websites with requests, causing them slow down or be inaccessible.

McAfee security researcher Georg Wicherski deemed the attacks "an armed cyber reconnaissance operation of sorts" aimed at assessing defenses and reaction times of South Korean government and civilian networks.

"Knowing that would be invaluable in a possible future armed confrontation on the peninsula, since cyberspace has already become the fifth battlespace dimension, in addition to land, air, sea, and space," Wicherski said.

The DDoS attacks were made by usurping control of virus-infected computers in South Korea to overwhelm targeted websites with simultaneous requests for pages or information.

Tactics used in the attacks were more destructive than typically seen when legions of infected computers are commanded in "botnets" by hackers, according to McAfee.

The botnet in South Korea was programmed to perform DDoS attacks for 10 days and then self-destruct, frustrating investigators by overwriting or deleting files and codes to the extent the computers could not be booted up.

While the Match attacks were underway, encryption algorithms were used to mask parts of malicious code and stymie analysis by defenders.

"This wasn't a surgical strike; it was more like a sledgehammer, as most DDoS attacks are," the McAfee report said.

"The attackers relied on the encryption to buy them more time against reverse engineering until the DDoS attack window expired."

Steps were taken to ensure that the mission was executed without interruption, within the predefined attack window, and then all vehicles of attack would be destroyed, the report concluded.

Updates were sent to the botnet by servers in various parts of the world including Taiwan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and the United States to make it resistant to takedown, according to McAfee.

The McAfee study revealed that pieces of the malicious code used in the attacks were built by a number of different people, each with limited knowledge of the overall program.

Last week, South Korea's defense ministry announced that it would expand its cyber warfare unit to help combat growing Internet attacks from North Korea.

The ministry said its cyber command, launched in January last year, would increase the number of personnel from 400 to 500, following an earlier announcement that it would open a cyber warfare school next year.

North Korea reportedly maintains elite hacker units.

Seoul accused Pyongyang of staging the cyberattacks on websites of major South Korean government agencies and financial institutions in March this year and in July 2009.

Pyongyang rejected those allegations, accusing Seoul of inventing the charges to raise tensions.

In May, South Korea said a North Korean cyberattack paralyzed operations at one of its largest banks.