Panda Security has reason to celebrate. Today the multinational developer of security solutions designed to protect the digital lives of individuals and organizations alike  is celebrating  25 years in the vanguard of IT security, not just in its native Spain, but all around the globe. Panda Security, with a direct presence in more than 80 countries and products distributed in around 200, has announced that Italy and Denmark are set to join its network of subsidiaries, as two important markets for the company’s European business. With these latest additions, the company now has 16 subsidiaries:  Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the U.S.A.

This internationalization process, which represents one of the pillars of the company’s four-year strategic plan, is further bolstered by the consolidation of its presence in markets where it is already strong, -Western Europe, the USA, Latin America-, for example with the recent inclusion of Panama in its ‘Country Partner’ model.

Moreover, in the coming months, Panda’s international expansion plan will also see it strengthen its position in emerging markets such as China, Russia and India.

New strategy for the 25^th anniversary

In the year of its 25^th anniversary the company has adopted a new corporate identity that reflects Panda’s commitment to simplifying the apparently complex, through the concept of ‘Simplexity’. This concept underpins the company’s effort to provide new and improved solutions to safeguard users’ digital lives.

“Our mission is to offer users a simple, fast and effective solution, which is always the product of our innovation. Throughout these 25 years, Panda has never ceased to innovate and to be in the vanguard of technology. We are positioned as visionaries with the implementation of technologies like Cloud Computing or Big Data Analytics which were totally disruptive some years ago. Now we are looking ahead to another 25 years with energy and enthusiasm, and with the certainty that we have all the resources we need to continue leading the way”, explains Diego Navarrete, CEO of Panda Security.

Diego Navarrete, CEO of Panda Security

The company is set to embark on a four-year strategic plan, centered on internationalization, on maintaining the pace of growth –both of sales and product portfolio–, and on driving forward new technologies and strategic alliances that respond to market trends such as the Internet of things, Big Data, Cloud Computing or mobility.

To celebrate its 25^th anniversary, Panda Security has prepared an infographic outlining the major milestones from the company’s history, which you can download here.

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PandaLabs, Panda Security‘s antil-malware laboratory, today published its Quarterly Report for Q1, analyzing the IT security events and incidents from January through March 2015. The multinational security vendor detected over 225,000 new malware strains per day in the first quarter of the year,  with peaks reaching 500,000. This record-breaking figure represents a 40 percent increase over Q1 2014, and is well above the average for the entire year, which stood at approximately 205,000 new malware samples per day.

As is usually the case, most of these specimens were variants of known malware conveniently modified by virus writers to evade detection by antivirus laboratories. Trojans continued to be the most common threat type, representing 72.75 percent of all new malware, and the main source of infections (76.05 percent of the total).

CryptoLocker remains the biggest threat

The first months of the year were dominated by ransomware attacks, especially CryptoLocker, and it is safe to say that ransomware has become cyber-criminals’ preferred method to make money from companies’ stolen information.

That was the case with ten companies in the oil and gas maritime transportation sector, which fell victim to this type of attack, as revealed by Panda Security in a report on a hacking campaign dubbed “Operation Oil Tanker: The Phantom Menace” which targeted oil tankers.

“In this particular case, the attackers didn’t use any kind of malware, but legitimate files executed recurrently,”  explained Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs at Panda Security.

Other popular attack methods exploited over the past quarter include social networks scams and mobile malware. One of the most notable scams made use of a fake $500 Zara gift card giveaway on Facebook to trick users. The scam spread like wildfire. In just a few hours over 5,000 people had joined the event, and more than 124,000 invites had been sent out.

Meanwhile, Android was in the bullseye for mobile malware attacks more than ever, this time through malicious SMS messages.

China tops list of infections per country

The average number of infected PCs across the globe stands at 36.51 percent, up more than six percentage points compared to 2014. China once again led this ranking (48.01 percent of infected PCs), followed by Turkey (43.33 percent) and Peru (42.18 percent).

The list of least infected countries is dominated by European countries, the top one being Norway (22.07 percent of infected PCs). Other countries with a malware infection rate below the worldwide average include Denmark (28.18 percent), Finland (28.59 percent), Venezuela (33.35 percent) and USA (34.03 percent), among others.

“We must never forget that cyber-criminals’ sole motivation is money and information, and as our lives become more digital, we are more exposed to cyber-threats. This year we can expect to see more ransomware attacks, as well as new scams spreading through social media and mobile applications”, concluded Corrons.

The full report is available here.

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Panda Security announces the beta version of Panda Global Protection 2016, with a more powerful and lighter detection engine. In addition, this version includes Wi-Fi protection and offers recommendations for safeguarding the network from intruders. It also optimizes the PC by deleting unnecessary files and controlling the programs run at startup.

Panda’s new edition of its cross-platform solution for the consumer market also includes compatibility with Windows 10, and enhanced capabilities that make it an easier and more functional product for the user.

Designed to be flexible and intuitive to use, this new version gives the user easier access to its features.

Functionality at the service of complete protection

Panda Global Protection 2016 has been specifically designed to provide total and complete protection. In this respect, the new version includes improvements like the data shield and on-demand USB scanning, features that join the vaccine already included in previous versions.

Try the beta version of Panda Global Protection 2016

Beta testers can now take part in the Panda Global Protection 2016 beta. Anyone who wants to can now try the product and give their opinion, collaborating with their comments on how to improve the product. The beta testers who take part in testing this beta version can win €600 and become the “Beta Tester of the Year”.

To download the beta, click here.

Users can also share their opinion on the beta fórum.

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Panda Security has released “Operation Oil Tanker: The Phantom Menace”, a groundbreaking report that details a malicious and largely unknown targeted attack on oil tankers.

First discovered by Panda Security in January 2014, the ongoing attack on oil cargos began in August 2013, and is designed to steal information and credentials for defrauding oil brokers.

Despite having been comprised by this cyber-attack, which Panda has dubbed “The Phantom Menace”, none of the dozens of affected companies have been willing to report the invasion and risk global attention for vulnerabilities in their IT security networks.

“The Phantom Menace” is one of the most unique attacks that PandaLabs has discovered. No antivirus engine was able to detect it when first triggered, primarily because the attackers used legitimate tools in conjunction with a number of self-made scripts to bypass any warnings that traditional AV software would detect. It was only discovered when a secretary opened a nonspecific attachment to an email – a type of file that Panda Security would later identify among ten different companies in the oil and gas maritime transportation sector.

“Initially this looked like an average non-targeted attack. Once we dug deeper, though, it became clear that this was a systematic, targeted attack against a specific sector in the oil industry,” said Luis Corrons, PandaLabs Technical Director of Panda Security, and report author. “We can limit the impact of this potentially catastrophic cyber-attack, but only if the victimized companies are willing to come forward”.

Identifying the source of a cyber-attack is tremendously challenging

In most cases, identifying the source of a cyber-attack is tremendously challenging. Once discovered, however, “The Phantom Menace” had a telling weak spot: the FTP connection used to send out the stolen credentials. Through the FTP connection, PandaLabs was able to identify both an email address and name.

Panda Security stands ready to identify the individual to authorities, but without any credible reports being volunteered by the alleged victims, the authorities are unable to launch their investigations or make any arrests.

Panda Security hopes the release of its report will shed light on the potential damage of “The Phantom Menace” and encourage companies to take the necessary steps against the perpetrator.

To read “Operation ‘Oil Tanker: The Phantom Menace”, please visit here.

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Panda Security today announced the launch of Panda Audit Service, a new audit service to detect vulnerable applications, users and computers at risk, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and targeted attacks. The service is deployed across the network in a matter of minutes, with no need for configuration changes, additional server infrastructure or databases to start the audit.

In short, Panda Audit Service provides real-time monitoring of all applications running on endpoints, performing analyses in cloud and Big Data environments to detect and neutralize any type of threat.

Complete visibility into all running applications

Panda Security’s new solution provides complete visibility into the applications running on the network, showing the origin and location of any running process. This way, users will know at all times who and when accesses their computers’ files and folders.

“Panda Audit Service tracks and monitors all applications running in an organization. It provides granular control and monitoring of all applications running on endpoints, ensuring customers’ security and peace of mind”, said Josu Franco, VP Business Development at Panda Security.

Additionally, Panda Audit Service generates real-time comprehensive reports on network activity, offering specific recommendations to take preventive action.

Identification of advanced threats and system vulnerabilities

Data theft has become the number one objective of targeted attacks and advanced threats to the point that any company may fall victim to a data breach. Modern-day attacks are increasingly complex and sophisticated, and in some cases traditional antivirus solutions are unable to even detect them.

“Panda Audit Service sees what others do not. It detects any attempt to access data and performs forensic analyses of the actions taken by malware.  Thanks to its continuous monitoring of the network, the service detects threats and identifies system vulnerabilities immediately”, explained Franco.

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Panda Security is launching Endpoint Protection 7.20, the cross-platform solution that offers businesses the best protection delivered from the cloud rapidly, simply and efficiently. This product represents the new version of Panda Cloud Office Protection (PCOP) and Panda Cloud Office Protection Advanced (PCOPA), now called Endpoint Protection and Endpoint Protection Plus respectively. Both versions include security for Android with antivirus protection.

New protection for Android systems

The new version of Endpoint Protection now includes an important new feature: protection for Android systems. “Attacks on smartphones, and especially those running Android, are set to reach new levels. Not only will they increase, they will also become more complex, and they will all have a common target: to steal users’ personal data”, warns Roberto Fernández, Product Manager at Panda Security.

“We are increasingly storing more and more data on smartphones, and cyber-criminals will do anything to get hold of this information. All indications are that in 2015 these threats will grow exponentially, as will the number of victims, and as such it will be essential for users to have antivirus protection”, adds Fernández.

Automatic organization by IP address

Panda Security has also included in this solution a system for automatically organizing computers by IP address. This way, users with Endpoint Protection installed will be able to set rules to automatically distribute computers into groups and assign a configuration profile to them based on their IP addresses.

Improved security for users’ login credentials

The new versions of this solution now include an Identity Provider system to enhance customers’ security. Instead of passwords, customers will now receive a link through which to create their own user. This will offer them greater autonomy by allowing them to make any changes whenever they need.

‘Plus’ version offers added value

Though both Endpoint and Endpoint Plus include antivirus for Android, the ‘Plus’ version also provides anti-theft protection for businesses that want even greater control over devices.

This anti-theft feature in Endpoint Protection Plus enables the locking and remote wiping of devices to prevent thieves from accessing confidential data. It also includes a geo-locating feature and even the possibility to take a photo of the person who has stolen the device.

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Panda Security presents the latest generation of Gatedefender e250 and e500 UTM devices to tackle the security crisis affecting companies. These new models replace the previous e9100lite and e9100 versions.

The Gatedefender e250 and e500 devices provide an effective way of ensuring continuous high-level protection. In short, they deliver an advanced security service from a single solution: deep packet inspection firewall, application firewall, VPN, anti-spam, Web traffic and email filter in the Internet gateway as well as a powerful hotspot module.

High performance protection

The major advance in Gatedefender e250 and e500 is undoubtedly high performance, with both models offering speeds rated in terms of Gbit/s instead of Mbit/s. The firewall throughput in Gatedefender e250 has leapt from 800 Mbit/s to 5.1 Gbit/s, a notable increase. The same is true for Gatedefender e500, which has gone from 1474 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s.

The IPS throughput has also undergone a substantial improvement, from 95 Mbit/s to 590 Mbit/s in Gatedefender e250, while in Gatedefender e500 the previous rate of 121 Mbit/s now reaches 600 Mbit/s.

“With the Gatedefender e250 and e500 models we are introducing a new generation of UTM devices that represents a major qualitative advance for our product portfolio. At Panda Security we have managed to exponentially increase the performance of our products without affecting the price. All this boosts our competitiveness in the market”, explains Miriam Serna, Gatedefender Product Manager at Panda Security.

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Panda Security announces Adaptive Defense 1.5, the new version of the managed service that ensures security against Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and targeted attacks in enterprise environments. Adaptive Defense has a disruptive approach compared to traditional blacklist-based malware detection systems.

The major new features of Adaptive Defense 1.5 include the disinfection service, the ability to view the status of endpoints in real-time and the ability to manage the settings from a single Web console.

Protection against targeted and zero-day attacks

An APT (Advanced Persistent Threats) is new generation malware that uses multiple infection vectors at the same time and for an extended period of time, remaining hidden on the computer, and whose main objectives are industrial espionage and data theft.

Traditional antivirus solutions are not capable of detecting these types of attacks, nor of disinfecting the computers infected by them. Adaptive Defense, however, proposes a new security model based on supervision, control and classification of the behavior and nature of every application run in order to provide robust and complete protection, only allowing legitimate applications (goodware) to run.

In addition, the ability to incorporate it into the customer’s existing infrastructure, coexisting with traditional antivirus solutions and with the SIEM solution used by the company, coupled with its disinfection capabilities, make Adaptive Defense the complete and definitive enterprise tool against all types of malware, including targeted and zero-day attacks.

“With the blocking modes of Adaptive Defense 1.5, we can ensure complete and robust protection for all companies. These modes only allow applications classified as goodware to run, making it the ideal solution for companies that require a ‘Zero Risk’ security policy”, explains Josu Franco, VP Corporate Development at Panda Security.

Real-time audit service

Adaptive Defense 1.5 constantly scans the applications that try to run, and automatically classifies all applications using Machine Learning techniques in Big Data environments under the supervision of specialized PandaLabs technicians. If malware is identified, the user receives instant warnings with a comprehensive report detailing the locations, infected machines and the actions performed by the malware. The execution graphs allow the administrator to view the events triggered by the malware, providing clear and thorough information about the actions performed by malware, the recipients of the messages and the files created. Furthermore, the new version of Adaptive Defense identifies software with known vulnerabilities installed on the network.

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Panda Security today announced the launch of a new and improved version of Panda Mobile Security, the company’s solution to protect mobile devices against next-generation threats.

The new Panda Mobile Security allows users to enjoy their devices with complete peace of mind, locate lost or stolen smartphones and tablets, and protect their private information. One of the solution’s new features (‘Costs money’) warns users against downloading apps that send SMS messages to premium-rate numbers.

Panda Mobile Security protects mobile devices against cyber-attacks, neutralizing malware designed to take control of the target system without the user’s consent. For example, it prevents apps from taking photos when the device is turned off or hibernated, or stealing stored data.

Protection from ransomware

Additionally, Panda Mobile Security protects smartphones and tablets against the growing threat of ransomware, that is, malware designed to hijack users’ devices, making them unusable unless a ramsom is paid by the victim.

Increased security with geolocation technologies

Another key feature included in the new release is the use of geolocation to protect users and ensure the security of their devices. The new Panda Mobile Security incorporates an anti-theft system that takes a photo of any person who enters an incorrect unlock code, and then sends the photo and map of their location to the user’s email address. Additionally, should the missing device run out of battery, Panda Mobile Security saves its location in order to use it in case of necessity.

“This new version, and the one to follow shortly with even more features, represent a major step forward in mobile security as they are designed to stop both internal and external threats to users’ devices. Our goal is to make things as simple as possible for our users so that they can enjoy their mobile devices without worrying,“ said Hervé Lambert, Retail Product Marketing Manager at Panda Security.

Panda Mobile Security is now available in 16 languages, and Panda Security is working on a new look and feel to mark the company’s 25th Anniversary and its new corporate identity. Over the next few months the solution will also incorporate motion alerts.

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