A new version of our Internet Gatekeeper for Linux is now available. This service release version fixes a few bugs and we have added support for a couple of new Linux distributions too.

SuSE users will be happy to hear that the init script bug which caused problems for product startup after rebooting the computer has now been fixed. For a full list of changes, please have a look at the release notes.

The product package can be downloaded here:

f-secure-internet-gatekeeper-for-linux-3.03.1299.tar.gz
md5sum: 939a3c3954d5c568965eef479d445470
sha1sum: aceb18dc3124d57292d8baee7b7d47dc76a47771

Now it is time to release the new Rescue CD for which we put out the beta some time ago. We decided to update the version number to 3.11 since we added a couple of useful utilities to the CD image. Otherwise this is the same version as is available on our Internet Security 2010 installation CD.

The new utilities on the CD are:

* PhotoRec is a tool that can be used to recover data that has been accidentally deleted or lost due to a corrupted file system on a disk.
* TestDisk is another data recovery tool that can be used to recover a lost partition, for example.
* smartmontools contain utilities that can be used to inspect S.M.A.R.T. values of hard disks. By analyzing these numbers you may get a hint if your hard disk is starting to show signs of breaking down. Check the Documentation page for more information and tutorials on how to use the tools.

Note: F-Secure does not provide any support for using the above mentioned utilities and the best resource for help on using them can probably be found from their Wiki pages.

Have a look at the release notes and then download the product package here:

f-secure-rescue-cd-3.11.23804.zip
f-secure-rescue-cd-3.11.23804.zip.md5sum
f-secure-rescue-cd-3.11.23804.zip.sha1sum

So much testing to do, test cases to automate, blog posts to write and so little time - we’re looking for a Test Engineer to join us in the Mac & Linux team in Helsinki!

The Mac & Linux team is an international team of 10 multi-talented agile software development professionals. We develop and maintain F-Secure’s Mac and Linux products like Mac Protection, Linux Security, Internet Gatekeeper for Linux and Rescue CD and use Scrum to run our projects. We have a lot of challenges and learning opportunities to offer, and we like to have fun while working.

As a member of our team, your main responsibilities will be planning and automating tests as well as manual testing. You will also participate in project planning, product design, maintaining our development systems and helping sales and support. Looking for better ways of doing things will be an important part of your work.

You can find the whole ad (and other open positions at F-Secure) here.

If the position sounds like it should be yours, please apply by Friday next week (Sept 4th)! We’re waiting eagerly to hear from you!

Last month we released a beta of Internet Gatekeeper for Linux. Now it has reached maturity and we’re announcing its general availability. Internet Gatekeeper is a stable multi-purpose virus scanning proxy that supports the FTP, SMTP, POP3 and HTTP protocols. As mentioned before, the Internet Gatekeeper now builds upon the same foundation as our product Linux Security, enabling us to provide fast and effective updates. IGK supports several modes of operation, including acting as a transparent proxy, a reverse proxy scanning incoming files in HTTP PUT or POST request, as well as chaining with other proxy software such as Squid.

Please download your free 30-day trial from our main website. Check our support pages if you have any problems, and in particular, try searching our Knowledge Base articles.

We are now releasing a new beta version of our Internet Gatekeeper for Linux. This version contains several architectural improvements and utilizes the same core components as our Linux Security 7 product. More information can be found in the release notes and manual within the product package.

Without further ado - please download and give it a spin on your test box :). And, as always, do drop us a note about your experiences with the beta!

Product package:
f-secure-internet-gatekeeper-for-linux-3.02.1164-beta.tgz (MD5, SHA1)

A new version of Linux Security 7 is available. Please find the product package here:

f-secure-linux-security-7.02.73807.tgz (MD5, SHA1)

This release contains several bug fixes. For example, scanning speed for certain types of archive files has been improved, and the automated command-line-only installation now works properly. Have a look at the release notes for a more in-depth view of what has changed.

Please note that from now on, the product manual will be available for downloading separately, which makes it easier for us to keep it up to date. You can find it on the F-Secure Product Manuals web page, as well as here.

We recently made a small new feature for the Rescue CD. One of our customers had problems with a system file that was renamed by our virus scanner, but the detection was actually a false positive. Problem was of course promptly fixed in anti-virus databases, but since the system file was renamed, the machines in question failed to boot. To help this customer we implemented a new feature for Rescue CD that allows the user to run repair scripts from a USB stick when booting with the Rescue CD. Since this feature might be useful in some other situations too, we decided to make a new public release. Here are instructions on how to use the feature:

1. Copy the script (repair_script.sh) onto a USB stick, in a folder called fsecure/rescuecd (for example, in Windows this might be E:\fsecure\rescuecd\repair_script.sh). The script must be called repair_script.sh, and if the script is from F-Secure, it should have an accompanying gpg signature file (repair_script.sh.sig) which should also be copied to the same folder.

2. Insert the USB stick in the broken computer and boot the computer using Rescue CD 3.01.

3. When Rescue CD asks which partitions to scan, there is now a new option to run the repair script. Select that, and which partitions you want to run the script on, and continue.

4. If the script is not from F-Secure or the gpg signature is not correct, the script will still be shown, but Rescue CD will display a warning and ask if you still want to run the script.

5. After the script has ran, the results will be displayed and you have the option to continue with a file system scan or reboot the computer.

Please note that this version only supports running the repair script before the actual virus scan. So if you must run a repair script after a virus scan, you should first boot and scan the computer, and then insert the USB stick containing the repair script and reboot with Rescue CD.

The new version can be downloaded here.

checksums for f-secure-rescue-cd-release-3.01-14505.zip:
md5sum: 5c2b86cdb11f9d1cade3243818afb7ca
sha1sum: 8eb21784e780222c1823c09d9e21ac577888ba4c

It seems that some people have experienced problems with Rescue CD not mounting NTFS partitions for scanning.

If you encounter a display that looks like this It means that the partition was not mounted for some reason. In this case only one partition - hda1, but it could be multiple partitions. If mounting failed because the NTFS partition was marked dirty (windows had not been properly shutdown), there are ways to try and fix this.

The Best solution in this case is to detach the network cable or disable wireless and boot the Windows preferably into safe mode by removing the CD and pressing F8 in boot sequence and selecting “Safe Mode”. After Windows has booted, select shutdown. After machine has turned itself off, attach/enable network and boot into Rescue CD.

However, if your computer is so badly infected that booting to Windows will not work or it gets hung up till infinity and beyond, you might be able to mount the problematic partitions for scanning with following procedure.

Press Alt-F2 and into command prompt type
root!tty2:/# grep scan /tmp/mount_error_details.txt

You should get the commands that you can try to use for mounting dirty NTFS partitions.
ie.
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/hda1 /mnt/scan/hda1 -oforce
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/hda5 /mnt/scan/hda5 -oforce

With the df command you can verify if the mount succeeded and also check the partition information (how big it is and how much of it is used/free)

After you have verified that the partition you wish to scan is mounted, press Alt-F1 and press
enter to verify next and continue with scanning process.

The workaround is a bit complicated, I know. We will try to fix the issue in the next version of Rescue CD.

We released F-Secure Rescue CD 3.00 beta two weeks ago. After one more development sprint, here’s the actual release of F-Secure Rescue CD 3.00 for you!

Rescue CD scans the computer and renames all files containing malware to .virus file extension.

• Rescue CD will by default scan:
  • all hard drives in the computer
  • all USB drives attached to the computer
  • Windows FAT and NTFS drives
• Virus definition databases are updated automatically if the computer has an internet connection
• Virus definition databases can be updated manually by using a USB drive
• The Rescue CD Guide (pdf) has step by step instructions how to use the CD

Rescue CD is localized to English only.

The release package including an ISO image, the manual and release notes can be downloaded here. See the release notes for more information. Feel free to send us feedback!

details of f-secure-rescue-cd-3.00-release.zip:
size: 153MB
md5sum: ed690b558493c3096bb666ea19749316
sha1sum: 71017c8325e90aaf19f8d2cb2f235519239384c2

The next version of F-Secure Rescue CD is going to see the daylight in few weeks. And here comes a feature complete beta for you to try. The big changes compared to 2.00 include a proper manual for the product, ability to update databases manually with a USB stick, better hardware support (Knoppix version 5.3.1), upgraded NTFS driver (NTFS-3G 1.2506) and the ability to detect MBR viruses.

The beta package including an ISO image, the manual and release notes can be downloaded here. See the release notes for more information. Keep the feedback flowing!

details of f-secure-rescue-cd-3.00-beta.zip:
size: 151MB
md5sum: 8a66ca08ccdcb4759fae6bc9ce1818df
sha1sum: abdec0cd567880170c6e5fea2c780c549d82730a