Monthly Main Meeting Highlights

Welcome to the July 2016 Main Meeting

This July Trend Micro

paid us a visit to discuss their protection software.

Shaniel Datt, Trend Micro’s Product and Training Manager gave us the details of Trend Micro, the company and the product.

The company was first established in Japan. To quote Shaniel, Trend Micro is Security, “That’s what we do”. The company has no other interest so it can concentrate on providing the best security software available. Security, threats and surveillance are Trend’s bread and butter. They cover PCs, Mac’s, IOS and Android devices in both corporate and personal environments and have been in business for twenty-five years. Trend has a research team called Trend Labs

and it’s sole purpose is 24/7 surveillance.

They combine with the Trend Smart Protection Network which has around a thousand people worldwide looking for threats. This means Trend can be on top of a threat in around half an hour. In Shaniel’s option it’s the main reason for paying for security software.

So, how do they find the problems? Through their surveillance of emails, web sites and file reputations. A threat is a threat, and scammers will target both corporate or private victims so Trend make no distinction between corporate or private clients.

Today the market is about security. Trend Micro, like other leaders in this field, may have started by providing anti-virus solutions but is now looking to a broader security profile. Shaniel took us through that development, with the rise of the tablet and the smartphone with its mobile internet connection, the growth of social media platforms like FaceBook and LinkedIn and the rise on the Internet of things like those non-computer devices that connect to the internet. Our houses now have appliances like Smart TVs, house lights controlled by your smart phoneand even refrigerators that link to the internet. Trend have a product in development designed to provide security for the entire smart house.

Shaniel showed some of Trends promotional videos on cyber security with the theme “Don’t be that Guy!”.

 While amusing, they highlighted just how silly we can be by asking the question “If you wouldn’t do this in real life why do it on the net”? In the first “That Guy” gets conned into going into “Nicetown Bank”,

and verifying his card and pin details

even though he knows he doesn’t bank with them. Once outside the shutters fall and his phone tells him is money is gone.

On the subject of behaviour on Social media, Shaniel was amazed at what possesses anybody, and especially young people, to share details and say things on social media they would not dream of saying in person.” Statistically, 1 in 5 people regret and even withdraw posts made on social media.

Facebook would appear to be the greatest boon to hackers. An open Facebook is almost a free passport to hacker heaven. Facebook just makes it “so easy”, it wants you to be a real person and collects things like your birthday, your school history, your job history and where you lived. Find an open Facebook and the hackers have access to the answers to all those “security questions”.  Around 63% of people share information they have also used in security questions. Trend will scan our social media. You can enter your account details for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and Trend will give you information on the best privacy settings you need.

One startling example Shaniel spoke about was the recent “Oleg Pliss” hack which appeared on iPhones and iPads.  Trend’s investigations indicated that the original hackers had raided eBay and on-sold the user names and passwords. “Oleg” purchased the information and used it to hack iCloud, and send payment demands to users.

The problem for most people affected was that they used the same login ID and password across various sites. The average user has around three different passwords across an average of twenty-six accounts making the identity thieves’ job so much easier. Trend recommends a separate password for each account. Here’s “That Guy” again.

Oleg Pliss was an example of Ransomware and Shaniel went on to discuss the problem with credit card theft.

Locally 70% of cases affect consumers. The statistics indicate around 64% of ransomware is received through email, 34% from dodgy web sites, while only 2% from downloading infected files. He and Alex noted the story of two hospitals that had their files locked. Both paid but only one of them got the files unlocked.  In regard to credit card theft, Shaniel recommended always using sites with the secure lock displayed and using a separate card for online transactions with only the amount needed in the account.

Trend protects multiple devices. In the last census the average house had around eight internet devices in the home. Trend has an “anywhere anytime” protection policy for these devices.

Then we moved to the demonstration of Trend Micro in action.

Shaniel walked us through the console explaining the major features.

Across the top you can access the devices Trend has been installed on your privacy settings, your data vault and the family security settings.

At a glance you can see your protection status and below that

 

you can add a device to your licence and see the date of your licence renewal.

Under Data, Trend have secure file erasing,

and with family protection you can manage how the children use the web and what they can see.

To provide even more security Trend have the Vault. Using the Vault, you can secure your most sensitive files in a password-protected folder.

Trend even allows you to lock the vault remotely if you lose the computer. Shaniel pointed out that the Vault was a great way to block Ransomware encryption of your sensitive files.

Password manager works across all the devices protected. A single password will give you access for all the passwords needed on any device. It will generate random passwords as needed and Trend stores them in secure storage. Only you can access that file, lose your password and Trend can’t help. You can manage up to five passwords for free, check the details.

Cloud scanner is one feature which appears to be unique to Trend. If you have a Microsoft One Drive account, Trend can scan that drive for any problems. Unfortunately, only One Drive can be scanned at the moment.

Trend also has a unique approach to Ransomware protection. You can set up Trend to monitor activity and if it detects encryption activity it will immediately close files, blocking the ransomware.

To finish off Shaniel mentioned a few other resources on Trend.

There is SSL protection. Trend will scan these encrypted sites such as bank sites and check the certificates.

So often we find a free program we need only to find it came with some annoying search bar or other unwanted program, Trend has a solution for that. You can set up Trend to automatically delete those programs.

Trend has protection for both Android and IOS.

The Raffle

Tonight thanks to Shaniel we had three copies of Trend Micro Maximum Security 10 for 6 devices and a few extras from Alex.

Shaniel presenting our Trend winners

Alex with some of our other winners

Our lucky door prize winner