AVG Launches New Protection Against Identity Theft, Boosts Free Product
Protection
AMSTERDAM, March 2 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Latest upgrade aims to prevent newest digital threats from becoming
digital disasters
Identity theft is now the number one Internet-based crime and claims
almost ten million online and offline victims at a cost of $48 billion in
the US alone, according to the Javelin Strategy & Research, 2008 Identity
Fraud Survey Report published last month. CIFAS, the UK's Fraud Prevention
Service, estimates that identity theft is costing that country's economy over
$3.4 billion annually. To help users protect their personal and private
information online, AVG Technologies, developer of the world's leading free
computer security product, today introduces AVG Identity Protection (IDP).
AVG Identity Protection gives computer users an additional layer of
protection on top of their existing security software. IDP is specifically
focused on helping to prevent thieves from using carefully-targeted attacks
to steal passwords, bank account details, credit card numbers, and other
digital valuables. It uses a technology called behavioral analysis to make
sure all the programs running on a user's computer are operating the way they
should. If it spots something suspicious that could indicate an attempted ID
theft attack, it shuts that activity down, preventing any possible theft from
happening. It doesn't matter whether users are running AVG software or
security software from another vendor; IDP runs smoothly alongside all
popular programs to keep users safer when they're online.
"Computer users need to be confident that when they're banking and
shopping online, they won't become a victim of identity theft," says AVG
Technologies CEO JR Smith. "Anti-virus alone can't give users the level of
security people need in today's complex, fast-moving threat landscape. AVG
Identity Protection gives them the confidence that they're safe from the bad
guys."
AVG Identity Protection is the headline product in today's launch of an
across-the-board upgrade to the AVG family of security software for home and
small business users. The technology in IDP has also been combined with the
company's Internet Security suite, which provides total protection for all
aspects of users' online lives. In addition to the new Identity Protection,
AVG Internet Security defends against viruses, spyware, worms, hackers,
botnets, poisoned web pages, trojan horses, spam, and other cyberthreats with
a full arsenal of digital weaponry. Whether users are surfing, e-mailing,
instant-messaging, or downloading files, Internet Security stops threats from
becoming problems.
"We know the security challenges users face in their daily lives," says
Smith. "Our products are designed to prevent those challenges from becoming
problems, leaving users free to get on with their digital lives. They're easy
to set up, easy to use, easy to find - and some of them are even free, for
ever."
AVG's Free product also gets a boost with this upgrade, adding Active
Safe-Surf real-time protection to the existing anti-virus, anti-spyware,
instant message security and safe-searching capabilities. Today's web threats
move at lightning speed and only stay around long enough to scoop up their
victim quota, so real-time detection is vital. Active Safe-Surf checks the
web page behind every link for hidden threats at the only time that matters -
when users are about to click on that link.
Improvements to the small business products focus on the company's
Exchange Server products, which gain a long-awaited upgrade to centralized
anti-spam protection that will make life much easier for those tasked with
managing networked e-mail.
A peek under the hood
AVG Identity Protection is based around the technology AVG acquired when
it bought the Sana Security company earlier this year. This technology helps
to prevent identity-related attacks by analyzing the behavior and
characteristics of malicious programs and using the knowledge gained to
create protection that doesn't require "signature updates" to stay current.
The software is continuously learning and improving its protection, based on
information drawn from real threats encountered by real users, ensuring that
users are always protected against new and unknown threats.
"Tens of thousands of new virus samples arrive in security companies'
labs every day," says AVG Technologies CTO Karel Obluk. "It is simply not
feasible for traditional signature-based anti-virus to keep up with this
level of activity from the bad guys. So while it's important to continue to
use anti-virus to protect against the known viruses that are out there 'in
the wild', it's vital for users to have an additional protective layer
against the unknown."
AVG Active Safe-Surf further enhances users' protection against unknown
threats by analyzing web pages in real time for hidden threats and exploits
such as drive-by downloads. Unlike other safe-surf products which rely on
historical data acquired by periodically scanning sites across the Internet
based on a variety of criteria, Active Safe-Surf bases its safety ratings on
real-time analysis of individual web pages, ensuring an accurate assessment
of a page's current status.
The new anti-spam module in AVG's Internet Security for SBS and E-mail
Server Edition is based around the widely-used Mailshell engine, ensuring
stability, compatibility, and ease of management from a central point. This
ease of use is further enhanced with the addition of a single installation
process for all components.
Product availability and pricing
The complete AVG 8.5 family of products is available now online and
through retail and reseller channels.
For more information on the complete range of AVG security products for
consumers and small businesses, please visit www.avg.com.
Follow AVG on Twitter @OfficialAVGNews
About AVG Technologies
AVG is a global security solutions leader protecting more than 80 million
consumers and small business computer users in 167 countries from the
ever-growing incidence of web threats, viruses, spam, cyber-scams and hackers
on the Internet. Headquartered in Amsterdam, AVG has nearly two decades of
experience in combating cyber crime and one of the most advanced laboratories
for detecting, pre-empting and combating Web-borne threats from around the
world. Its free online, downloadable software model allows entry-level users
to gain basic anti-virus protection and then to easily and inexpensively
upgrade to greater levels of safety and defense in both single and multi-user
environments. Nearly 6,000 resellers, partners and distributors team with AVG
globally including Amazon.com, CNET, Cisco, Ingram Micro, Play.com, Wal-Mart,
and Yahoo!. More information is available at www.avg.com.
SOURCE: AVG Technologies
CONTACT: Siobhan MacDermott of AVG Technologies,
+1-415-299 2945, mobile, +420-725-695-132,
siobhan.macdermott@avg.com
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