Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces plans to refine its organizational structure and become one of the top three IT security solutions providers for endpoint users in 2011.

“This year we are closer than ever before to becoming one of the top three providers of IT security solutions in the global market,” says Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab. “In order to achieve this breakthrough we need to maintain our current rate of growth and once again demonstrate that as a company, we have what it takes to retain our competitive edge. By making our organizational structure globally-aligned we expect to achieve our goal of becoming one of the three biggest players in the global market by the end of 2011.”

According to Kaspersky Lab’s operational results for 2010*, the company demonstrated significant growth in all regions. Globally, the company’s revenues grew by 38% year-on-year and exceeded US$500 million. The most successful regions in 2010 for Kaspersky Lab were: Europe, where company revenues increased by 16% and amounted to US$218 million; the USA and the countries of North and South America, which saw growth of 68% and revenues of US$134 million. In the Asia-Pacific region and Japan the company experienced dramatic growth of 111%, which translated into revenues of US$55 million. The year 2010 was also a successful one for Kaspersky Lab in the CIS, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where revenues totaled US$131 million – an increase of 35% compared to 2009.

These impressive levels of regional expansion mean Kaspersky Lab is set to become one of the top three providers of endpoint security solutions**. As part of the company’s strategy for continued business growth, and in order to accomplish its planned increase of market share, Kaspersky Lab’s management team has initiated a process that will refine the company’s organizational structure in two strategically important areas – product development and our regional sales network.

One of the key drivers behind Kaspersky Lab’s growth has been its winning unified technological platform developed in-house and used as a single foundation for all company’s products targeted to different market segments. In March 2011, a decision was taken to reinforce this process still further by creating a single division that will oversee the product strategy for all three of the company’s current business areas – consumer products and services, corporate solutions and technology licensing to other vendors.

Petr Merkulov, formerly Head of the Technology Alliances Division, has been appointed to the position of Chief Product Officer.

“Our goal is to hold leading positions in every sector in which the company operates, and in order to achieve that goal we need to continue actively developing our products and solutions in line with market demands,” says Petr Merkulov. “The company’s extensive international expertise in combating Internet threats is a major advantage when it comes to IT security, and we ensure that this know-how provides real benefits to users of the company’s solutions. With the creation of a single division responsible for product development and services, Kaspersky Lab’s cutting-edge solutions will become even more highly integrated in order to provide our users with comprehensive protection.”

In March 2011, Kaspersky Lab management also took the decision to revise the company’s approach to managing its network of regional sales and to create a single division that will develop and maintain global sales platform and take direct responsibility for sales and marketing in Europe and North America.

Heading the new division, Steve Orenberg, formerly Managing Director for Kaspersky Lab, Americas, has been appointed Chief Sales Officer. “At present, Kaspersky Lab is a truly international company with a global sales structure. By combining all the sales units into one division, Kaspersky Lab can implement a unified approach to dealing with global partners and clients, thus ensuring a uniformly high level of service for users in every country of the world,” says Steve Orenberg.

Kaspersky Lab plans to complete the changes to its organizational structure in the first half of 2011. According to the management team, the new centralized management structure will allow the company to more effectively develop its business worldwide, ensure stable growth and strengthen its position in the global IT security market.

*Unaudited revenue

** Kaspersky Lab is rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2009

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Kaspersky Lab has today announced that its Founder and CEO, Eugene Kaspersky, will host a seminar at InfoSecurity Europe 2011 entitled ‘Digital Security vs Cybercrime Economy: The Kaspersky Vision’. During the seminar, Eugene Kaspersky, an authority on malware, will describe how modern Cloud security solutions can not only protect users and businesses, but also undermine and outsmart the cybercrime economy.

Open to all delegates, the seminar will take place on the 19th April between 15:20-15:45 in the Business Strategy theatre. The exhibition takes place between 19-21st April 2011 at Earls Court, London, and on stand C41 the company will showcase its full range of award-winning business security software solutions.

Honoured with his induction into the Hall of Fame at Infosecurity Europe 2010, Eugene Kaspersky is one of the globe’s top antivirus experts with over 20 years of experience in the field of information security. He regularly speaks at seminars and conferences all over the world, and has authored numerous articles and reviews.

Eugene Kaspersky will be joined at the show by Nikolay Grebennikov, Chief Technology Officer. Also in attendance will be Costin Raiu, Director of the Global Research & Analysis team, who has been shortlisted as ‘Information Security Personality of the Year’ by SC Magazine in the same award ceremony that last year named Eugene Kaspersky as ‘CEO of the Year 2010′. All three will be available during the show to discuss the latest security threats and forecasts surrounding Virtualisation, the Cloud and mobile devices.

If you would like to speak with Eugene Kaspersky, Nikolay Grebennikov or Costin Raiu, please contact Nicole Bormann, Communications Manager Europe, by email: nicole.bormann@kaspersky.de or on: +49 (0)151 544 39 314 to arrange a meeting.

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The experts at Kaspersky Lab present their monthly report about malicious activity on users’ computers and on the Internet.

March in figures. The following statistics were compiled in March using data from computers running Kaspersky Lab products:

• 241 mln network attacks blocked;
• 85,8 mln attempted web-borne infections prevented;
• 219,8 mln malicious programs detected and neutralized on users’ computers;
• 96,7 mln heuristic verdicts registered.

Intrusion techniques. Cybercriminals obviously have a soft spot for Java exploits – of the five exploits to appear in the Top 20 malicious programs on the Internet in March, three of them were for vulnerabilities in Java.

Malware writers are also surprisingly quick to react to announcements of new vulnerabilities. A good example of this is a vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player that allowed cybercriminals to gain control of a user’s computer. The vulnerability was announced by Adobe on 14 March and by the next day Kaspersky Lab had already detected an exploit for it.

Social engineering also remains a popular tool for the cybercriminals, who have no qualms about exploiting tragic events for their own benefit. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami, plus the death of Elizabeth Taylor, did nothing to buck this trend. Scammers and malware writers spread malicious links to their own versions of the “latest news”, created malicious websites with content connected in some way to the disaster in Japan and sent out ‘Nigerian’ letters making emotional requests for money to be transferred to the message sender in order to help those who have suffered.

Protection against antivirus programs. The malevolent users behind HTML pages that are used in scams or to spread malware are constantly coming up with new ways to hide their creations from antivirus programs. In February cybercriminals were using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to protect scripts from being detected. Now, instead of CSS, they are using <textarea> tags on their malicious HTML pages. Cybercriminals use the tag as a container to store data that will later be used by the main script. For example, Trojan-Downloader.JS.Agent.fun at 9th position in the Top 20 rating of malicious programs on the Internet uses the data in the <textarea> tag to run other exploits.

In addition, according to Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) statistics, malware writers are actively modifying the exploits they use in drive-by attacks in order to avoid detection.

Mobile threats. At the beginning of March, Kaspersky Lab’s experts detected infected versions of legitimate apps on Android Market. They contained root exploits that allow a malicious program to obtain root access on Android smartphones, giving full administrator-level access to the device’s operating system. As well as a root exploit, the malicious APK archive contained two other malicious components. One of them sent an XML file containing IMEI, IMSI and other device information to a remote server and awaited further instructions. The other component had Trojan-downloader functionality.

More detailed information about the IT threats detected by Kaspersky Lab on the Internet and on users’ computers in March 2011 is available at: www.securelist.com/en.

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Specialist online stores enjoy massive popularity among the owners of all sorts of gadgets, especially mobile phones, and Android Market is no exception – it is the first place that owners of smartphone’s running Google’s popular operating system turn to for their apps. We are delighted to announce that users now have the opportunity to buy Kaspersky Mobile Security 9 from Android Market at a very attractive promotional price. The solution, complete with a lifelong license for one device, costs €6.95 in Europe, $9.95 in the USA and £5.95 in the UK and the rest of the world.

For this small price, owners of Android-based smartphones can get comprehensive protection for their device and all of the data stored on it. If the phone is lost or stolen, the product enables the device to be remotely blocked, wiped and even located with the help of the integrated GPS module and data available via GSM towers and Wi-Fi outlets. Additionally, Kaspersky Mobile Security 9 helps to protect users’ personal contacts, call histories and messages from prying eyes and shields owners from unwanted calls and SMSs, and naturally, mobile malware.

English and Russian versions of Kaspersky Mobile Security 9 are available in the respective language sections of Android Market. German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and other language versions will also be available in a few weeks’ time.

“We always listen to our clients’ preferences and desires, whether in connection with the capabilities of our solutions, or our distribution channels,” says Sergey Nevstruev, Director of Mobile Services at Kaspersky Lab. “Obviously, the easiest way for owners of Android-based devices to start using a product is to download it from Android Market. Can you get complete protection for the data you keep on your mobile device for less than 3 cents a day? Yes! Now every owner of an Android-based smartphone can afford protection!”

To learn more about Kaspersky Mobile Security or to purchase the product, visit Android Market at: https://market.android.com.

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces that Gartner has ranked the company as the third largest vendor of consumer IT security software worldwide in its annual “Market Share: Security Software, Worldwide, 2010” report published on March 30, 2011 by Ruggero Contu and Matthew Cheung.

According to Gartner, Kaspersky Lab’s share of the global consumer IT security market reached 9% in 2010, an increase of 2 percentage points compared to the company’s 2009 results. Kaspersky Lab’s consumer security revenue grew 42% in 2010, compared to the results of the previous year. Since 2008, Kaspersky Lab has seen a 7% increase in its share of the consumer IT security market, significantly outperforming the growth rates of its main competitors and in 2010, the company became the third largest vendor of consumer IT security software worldwide.

Kaspersky Lab is currently the fifth largest vendor of Enterprise Endpoint Protection, according to Gartner data. The company has demonstrated one of the highest revenue growth rates in 2010 (+30%) and is well-placed to further improve its market position in this sector.

“Consistent market growth relies on several crucial points – quality of products, better detection rates and better support,” said Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab. “By investing into these pivotal areas, Kaspersky Lab is constantly improving its market positions as confirmed by many of the world’s leading analytical agencies. Being the third largest vendor of consumer IT security products globally is a great achievement for us, but we will not rest on our laurels and plan to conquer the market still further.”

About Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab is the largest antivirus company in Europe. It delivers some of the world’s most immediate protection against IT security threats, including viruses, spyware, crime-ware, hackers, phishing, and spam. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users. Kaspersky Lab products provide superior detection rates and one of the industry’s fastest outbreak response times for home users, SMBs, large enterprises and the mobile computing environment. Kaspersky® technology is also used worldwide inside the products and services of the industry’s leading IT security solution providers. Learn more at: www.kaspersky.com. For the latest on antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and other IT security issues and trends, visit www.securelist.com.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. We deliver the technology-related insight necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, we are the valuable partner to 60,000 clients in 11,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, we work with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,400 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, e-mail info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.

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Kaspersky Lab works with a large number of Japanese partners and the company’s representative office, which has operated in Tokyo since 2003, currently employs 48 people. As a result, the company has firsthand knowledge of the hardships following the tsunami and the earthquake in March of this year and Kaspersky Lab employees worldwide would like to express their sincere condolences to the Japanese people. Many companies and organizations are providing aid to the country at this difficult time: money transferred to international relief funds is helping to supply those who have suffered shortages of food and medication and to those who require shelter.

“Our company is cooperating closely with the Russian Emergencies Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Tokyo to help Japan’s disaster-stricken areas,” said Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder and CEO of Kaspersky Lab. “We have participated in the financing for supply of essential goods to the disaster areas. We have also concluded an agreement with Russian manufacturers of dosimeters to purchase 5000 devices – they will be handed over to the Japanese side free of charge as soon as they are ready.

“However, our assistance goes beyond this. We have donated $250,000 to the Japanese Red Cross and have set up a scheme to enable donations by Kaspersky Lab staff members. Kaspersky Lab will increase the amount that is collected through such donations by adding its double amount from the company’s finances. Everything that is raised will be sent to the Red Cross. If the need for more help arises in the future, we will do all we can. I’m sure that Japan will eventually overcome all the disasters it has suffered and the cherry blossom will once again bloom in a country that is as beautiful as it was before the disaster.”

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, has obtained a US patent for a new system that is designed to assess how resource-intensive computer tasks actually are in real time and select the optimum settings for applications accordingly.

Patent No. 7917954 was the 27th patent that Kaspersky Lab has obtained in the USA. This patent covers a system that configures applications’ settings to ensure optimal use of system resources. This functionality is of great significance in security programs.

Nowadays, an enormous amount of software is in existence, with each program usually having a wide range of settings. Each application will generally have its own set of minimum and recommended requirements; however, the fact that a program may be running alongside several others is often overlooked. Additionally, many users forget that the version of the operating system may vary due to, for instance, the installation of an update package, or access to hardware may be different for different users. The performance of applications is also influenced by a number of other factors. For example, a security solution may itself be a very resource-intensive program. Thus the problem of how to select the optimum settings in order to reduce resource consumption is an acute one.

To solve this problem, a tool needs to be employed that is able to assess the resource consumption of a computer and its applications, taking into account the various settings of both. Based on information that the tool provides, an application settings management policy can be developed which will help make the most effective use of a computer’s available resources. This system has the advantage of offering typical policies for typical situations, as well as the capability to create a new policy for a specific computer’s configuration and application settings.

Currently, some ninety patent applications filed by Kaspersky Lab are being processed by the patent authorities in the USA, Russia, China and Europe. These pending patents all cover innovative new IT security technologies.

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Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces the release of special edition of Kaspersky Internet Security in partnership with Scuderia Ferrari. The product is officially launched end of March 2011 at the start of Formula One racing season in Melbourne (Australia).

This security solution is designed for Ferrari fans and other users everywhere who like their solutions fast-paced and different. If you are the sort of person that demands impressive results across the board when you drive or use your PC, then Kaspersky Internet Security Special Ferrari Edition offer added value.

Kaspersky Internet Security Special Ferrari Edition has all the functionality of Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Kaspersky Lab’s most popular product ever. When installed on your PC, Kaspersky Internet Security Special Ferrari Edition ensures you can work in a clean and secure environment, free from digital threats and unwanted information. Additionally, the solution gets on with the job without restricting users’ activities or requiring users to spend valuable time and resources maintaining the product’s performance. The solution has been carefully designed to offer an optimal set of balanced technologies that are constantly being improved. Thanks to the wealth of finely-tuned technology under the bonnet, Kaspersky Internet Security Special Ferrari Edition provides superb levels of security and usability, for minimal resource consumption.

Kaspersky Internet Security Special Ferrari Edition has an attention-grabbing user interface that is dominated by a combination of green and red that reflect its unique pedigree made by the combination of the two brands colors. Exclusive to the Ferrari edition, the Windows desktop gadget continues the high-performance motoring theme. Fans of gaming and the Ferrari brand will also appreciate the chance to hone their driving skills with the inclusion of the Ferrari Virtual Academy video simulator on the product’s installation disk, allowing them to enjoy thrills and spills that the world of Formula 1 racing has to offer.

“Ferrari is a symbol of speed, reliability and world-class driving performance. Our Ferrari inspired style security product brings users a taste of that excellence when using their computers or browsing the Internet,” says Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab.

The cooperation between Kaspersky Lab and Ferrari started in 2010 when Kaspersky Lab entered into a commercial sponsorship agreement with the Ferrari AF Corse team at the Le Mans racing series in France. After this successful debut, Kaspersky Lab decided to expand its partnership to include the Formula 1 championship. In November 2010, Kaspersky Lab announced that it would be an official sponsor of the world-renowned Formula 1 racing team for the next two years. As part of the agreement, the Kaspersky Lab logo will appear on the Scuderia Ferrari team’s racing cars throughout the entire sponsorship period. This decision forms part of Kaspersky Lab’s global promotion strategy.

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Experts at Kaspersky Lab have detected a new variant of the now notorious malicious program GPCode. The program is classed as Ransomware, i.e. it encrypts data on an infected computer and threatens to delete it if the user refuses to pay a ransom. This time the cybercriminals behind the program have chosen a new method of payment: they demand $125 in Ukash pre-paid vouchers. “It seems the criminals are moving away from conventional money transfers and now prefer pre-paid vouchers instead,” said Nicolas Brulez, Senior Malware Researcher with the Global Research & Analysis Team who is based France. He pointed out that this was the second incident within a week in which a new Ransomware program had made use of Ukash pre-paid vouchers.

Kaspersky Lab’s experts are carefully researching possible methods for restoring data on compromised machines; meanwhile however, files encrypted by the new version of GPCode cannot be recovered.

The GPCode Trojan first appeared on the threat landscape back in 2004. In November 2010, experts noted considerably more elaborate program code that made use of strong cryptographic algorithms. Before deleting data, the version detected last November overwrote information in files in such a way as to make it impossible for standard data-recovery software to restore a user’s data.

Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Gpcode.bn, which was detected by Kaspersky Lab’s experts last week infects computers using drive-by downloads that occur when an infected website is visited. The Trojan then starts running in the system, encrypting data without the user’s knowledge. The following message is then displayed:

At this point, the hard drives are being scanned for files to encrypt. The file extensions used to determine whether a file is to be encrypted or not are kept in an encrypted configuration file. This means the GPCode Ransomware Trojan is easily updated with a new configuration file.

If you think your computer is infected, Kaspersky Lab’s experts recommend that you do not change anything on your system as it may prevent potential data recovery later on. Desperate situations can sometimes require desperate measures, so don’t hesitate to turn off your PC or pull out the power cable if that is the quickest method to prevent malware damage! “We haven’t seen any evidence of a time-based file deleting mechanism despite claims by the malware writer that files are deleted after ‘N’ number of days,” writes Nicolas Brulez in his latest blog post dedicated to the new version of GPCode. “Nevertheless, it is better to avoid any changes that could be made to the file system which, for example, may be caused by rebooting the computer.”

The encrypted files cannot be recovered because of the strong encryption algorithm employed. At present, the only way to recover your files is via backups. Meanwhile, Kaspersky Lab’s experts are continuing their careful analysis of the new version of GPCode and investigating possible ways to restore data on compromised machines.

Users of Kaspersky Lab products are fully protected against this malicious program – the threat was detected proactively thanks to the Kaspersky Security Network.

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The events that took place during the last six months of 2010 included the shutdown of the command centers for the Pushdo, Cutwail and Bredolab botnets and criminal proceedings started against partnership programs that operated mass mailings of pharmaceutical-themed spam. These developments led to the amount of unwanted correspondence being halved if the average volume of global spam in the last week of October is compared with those levels recorded in mid-August, 2010.

The efforts of the Internet crime units of law enforcement agencies around the globe had an effect not only on the amount of unwanted correspondence, but also on the geographical distribution of the primary sources of mass mailings. In the second half of 2010, there was a noticeably large drop in the volume of spam emails sent from the US. In October, the US moved from being ranked as the first or second most prolific source of spam in the world to the eighteenth, producing just 1.6% of all spam, and in November the US did not appear in the Top 20 sources of spam at all. The reason is obvious: the shutdown of the Pushdo and Cutwail botnets, which were primarily comprised of computers in the US infected with Cutwail; and Bredolab, which was also partially based in the US. A drop in the amount of outgoing spam was also noted in Asia. The losses that spammers suffered were partially compensated for by renewed spam distribution efforts in South America and Europe.

As the events of the past year have shown, mass mailings with malicious attachments sent to particular regions always come directly before an upsurge in spam activity within those regions. First of all, the cybercriminals infect users’ computers with spambots and then the infected machines start sending out spam.

Which countries are most frequently targeted by malicious users? As soon as the law enforcement agencies in the US and western Europe turned their attention to spambots, the botnet owners changed their tactics. These regions experienced a steady drop in the amount of email threats, such as malicious code, detected by Kaspersky Lab’s antivirus products. Meanwhile, the reverse could be seen in countries in Asia and eastern Europe. More likely than not, the botnet owners were counting on inadequate anti-spam legislation and low levels of computer literacy among users in those regions.

The actions of the law enforcement agencies also affected the different categories of spam. The closure of SpamIt, one of the leading partnership programs that distributed pharmaceutical-related spam, triggered a significant decrease in the amount of spam advertising counterfeit Viagra. After 20 September, this category of spam was reduced by one third. Later, the Moscow police curtailed the activities of Glavmed, another pharmaceuticals partner program. This increase in attention from law enforcement agencies with regard to pharmaceutical spam dissuaded most malicious users from becoming involved. As a result, over the course of November and December 2010, Viagra advertising remained at a record low of 8-12% of all spam.

“The effective actions of law enforcement agencies in 2010 led to a two-fold decrease in the volume of spam, which is without doubt a major achievement. Nevertheless, spammers and the malicious users running botnets are not the types who give up their lucrative game quite so easily. Just two months of low activity in December and January gave them the time they needed to make substantial progress towards restoring what they had lost. By late January, the volume of spam had already reached levels recorded in September 2010, right before Bredolab was shut down,” writes Maria Namestnikova. “The key is to have a solid legislative base in place, and not just in a handful of developed countries but right around the world. Otherwise, malicious users will continue to avoid any liability and will regain any losses they sustain by simply relocating to other countries and taking their botnets with them.”

To read the full version of Maria Namestnikova’s article A Short, Sharp Shock for Spam, visit: www.securelist.com/en.

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