Microsoft plans to release a dozen security bulletins on Tuesday, including a "critical" one for its own anti-spyware and other security products. The bulletins, part of its monthly patch cycle, will provide fixes for an undisclosed number of security vulnerabilities, Microsoft said in a note on its website. The software maker plans to offer fixes for Windows, Office, Visual Studio, Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), and several of its security products including its Windows Live OneCare package of antivirus, firewall and PC health tools, and its Windows Defender anti-spyware.

Multiple flaws in commonly used technical support tools can open Windows PCs to cyber attack, security experts have warned. The vulnerable tools are often used by ISPs, PC makers and others to provide support functions such as remote assistance, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-Cert) said in an alert. The tools, provided by SupportSoft, contain multiple vulnerabilities, it warned.

Microsoft Windows has the lowest number of vulnerabilities and the fastest turnaround time for patches of all commercial operating systems - but it also has the most serious flaws, according to Symantec. Despite having the fewest security holes, Windows was hit by more critical flaws than either Red Hat Linux or Mac OS X, Symantec found.

Miscreants have again adapted the Warezov Trojan horse to target Skype users, Websense Security Labs warned on Thursday. The attack is similar to threats that target instant-messaging applications. A targeted Skype user will receive a chat message with the text "Check up this" and a link to a malicious executable called file_01.exe on a website, Websense said in an alert. If the user runs the file, several other files are downloaded and run, it said.

We are pleased to announce the availability of the new version of the award-winning antivirus program, ESET NOD32 Antivirus version 3, and a brand new product, ESET Smart Security, a complete security solution with integrated antivirus, antispyware, antispam and firewall!

ESET, the leader in proactive threat protection, today announced the introduction of ESET Smart Security, a new, integrated security solution for consumers and small-to-medium-sized businesses. It includes antivirus, antispyware, antispam and firewall features built on ESET's award-winning advanced heuristic ThreatSense detection system and the ESET NOD32 scanning engine. ESET Smart Security combines speed, accuracy and minimal computer system impact to deliver a significant improvement over traditional solutions in the marketplace today. It provides the industry's highest level of accuracy and fewest false-positives through ESET NOD32 Antivirus . With significantly lower performance overhead compared to the competition, ESET Smart Security uses only 40MB of disk space and scans systems up to 30-times faster than other products.

ESET, the leader in proactive threat protection, was awarded the honor of San Diego's "Best Software Company," out of six finalists at the 14th Annual AeA High Tech Awards, held Friday, October 19th at the Hilton Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA. Over 650 people were in attendance. "It was an honor to be included in such an innovative and competitive field," said Anton Zajac, CEO of ESET, LLC. "This is the latest in a series of high-profile awards bestowed upon ESET. We owe our success to the dedication of our executive team, employees and partners who make ongoing contributions to ensure ESET produces premium products to ensure the level of security our customers expect."

ESET, the leader in proactive threat protection, has been named to Deloitte's prestigious Technology Fast 50 Program for San Diego, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies in the area by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, one of the nation's leading professional services organizations. Rankings are based on the percentage revenue growth over five years from 2002 to 2006.

While recent news clearly indicates that the mobile landscape is the next frontier of attack for malware and 'badware' writers, at least one mobile service provider doesn't believe that anti-virus and anti-spyware remedies should be automatically housed on mobile handsets as a primary defense. In fact, Verizon Wireless doesn't believe customers have to install any antivirus on phones at this point and says network security technology, such as scanners, is the best way to prevent mobile security problems. Obviously security vendors are itching to hit the cell phone device market and some pundits believe it's only a matter of time before that phone or personal data device is housing as many security tools as today's PCs.

The Web site for Indian antivirus vendor AvSoft Technologies has been hacked and is being used to install malicious software on visitors' computers, security researchers said last week. The download section of AvSoft's S-cop Web site hosts the malicious code, according to Roger Thompson, chief research officer with security vendor AVG. "They let one of their pages get hit by an iFrame injection," he said. "It shows that anyone can be a victim. ... It's hard to protect Web servers properly."