News round-up

October's goings on in the AV industry.

Despite no major malware outbreaks having occurred during last month's VB conference (as has almost seemed a tradition in the past), October was still a busy month for the anti-malware industry.

Apple confirmed that a number of its Video iPods shipped in late September were found to be carrying malicious file RavMonE.exe. The company later engaged in a spat with Microsoft over the security (or otherwise) of Windows operating systems. The Windows Vista operating system fuelled more wars of words as Sophos accused McAfee and Symantec of making inadequate preparations for the forthcoming Vista release, while McAfee retorted that Sophos is unaffected because it is a 'single product vendor', unlike 'innovative security risk management vendor' McAfee.

Meanwhile, a variant of the SpamThru trojan discovered last month is believed to be the first malware known to make use of AV software to protect infected machines from rival malware. The trojan downloads and installs a pirated version of Kaspersky's KAV for Wingate to check the infected machine for other malware before it begins a spam campaign.

A number of companies in the anti-malware market celebrated awards and accolades last month: BusinessWeek placed Sophos in 42nd position on its 'Europe's Hot Growth Companies' list; MessageLabs received Frost and Sullivan's 'European Security Company of the Year' award for the second year running; messaging security firm Proofpoint was named number one 'rising star' in Deloitte's 'Technology Fast 500' program; and Fortinet secured the number two position in Deloitte's 'Technology Fast 50' program for Silicon Valley, as well as coming in at number 37 in the top 500 fastest-growing companies in North America.

October also saw the major AV companies reveal their third quarter profits. Symantec struggled in Q3, with disappointing sales in the European market and profits falling below expectations - the anti-virus section of the company's business was singled out as a particularly slow performer. Microsoft, on the other hand, posted healthy profits, beating predictions; Trend Micro announced record net sales for Q3, reflecting a 17% growth compared to the same period last year; and F-Secure reported strong third-quarter profits up 28%. McAfee's Q3 results, meanwhile, gave the company reason to be cheerful at the end of a difficult month that saw the resignation of CEO George Samenuk and the sacking of president Kevin Weiss over irregularities in the company's finances. The company's third quarter results came in above target, giving profits of around $30 million. McAfee share prices saw a 6% surge immediately after the announcement, despite the boardroom shake-ups and the prospect of further investigations into its past financial results.

For daily news updates on the anti-malware industry, point your browser to http://www.virusbtn.com/news/.

01 November 2006

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