Since the inaugural Application Usage and Risk Report (Spring Edition, 2008), browser-based file-sharing usage in terms of frequency has steadily increased to the point where it now exceeds that of peer-to-peer file sharing.

The Application and Threat Research Team has done a great job of provide insight into what the Mariposa threat as well as how to quickly analyze their networks to see if Mariposa is present via the WireShark plugin. Based on the applications that Mariposa uses to spread itself exactly how exposed are we? To gain [...]

What’s next — the missile launch codes? While the record industry has targeted the universities and student populations in their battle against piracy, P2P use has enjoyed continued success in the business world with the most recent example being the discovery of the blue prints for Marine One, President Obama’s helicopter being found “in-the-wild”.
This [...]

ANALYSIS – In recent months, new online file transfer and storage applications have popped up with increasing frequency and the latest, Docstoc makes concerted efforts to simplify the upload process by installing an applet on your desktop. Docstoc differentiates itself by claiming that they want to be the Youtube of professional documents – [...]

ANALYSIS – Music and video are not the only things you can find on P2P networks. Sure, everyone has heard about the massive loss of employee data caused by P2P usage but what about the less publicized loss of personal documents, billing information, and corporate IP? In this InformationWeek article, the author tests P2P networks [...]

ANALYSIS – This article is downright humorous. Here we have two networking companies, each with security products or at a minimum, security features, who have indirectly endorsed the same application category (P2P) that has been the source of some of the largest data leakage incidents in recent times. Granted, the software was not the [...]

ANALYSIS – This article highlights the fact that even with the negative publicity, the risk of lawsuit or loss of personal information, P2P applications remain extremely popular. The application is supposedly installed on 36.4% of all PCs -approximately 1.66 million desktops worldwide, making it the current leader in P2P market share. Interestingly, the [...]

ANALYSIS – Comcast, the Internet Service Provider, has allegedly been throttling traffic for subscribers who are using peer-to-peer (p2p) applications such as BitTorrent. Comcast has justified this action by claiming BitTorrent and p2p applications are most well known for sharing music files, movies, videos, and software applications, with most of the files being shared [...]

ANALYSIS – In this Wall Street Journal article, the author does a great job of highlighting the hidden risks of P2P applications. With more than 450 Million copies of P2P software deployed, 12 million of which are in use (online) at any given time, the risk of inadvertent sharing of files remains high.
The article [...]

ALERT – Peer-to-peer (P2P) software continues to cause security risks for users and corporate networks with private data being accidentally shared across file sharing networks. ABN Amro (CitiGroup-owned mortgage company) recently reported that a former employee had exposed a couple of spreadsheets with 5,000+ social security numbers and other private customer information. A data-leakage protection [...]