The Web today is fast becoming a basic feature of global civilization with some 1.1114 billion people dependant on it for communication, to do business, as a source of information and for social networking purposes amongst others. However, with the Internet being ubiquitous so are the harmful threats... |
The Web today is fast becoming a basic feature of global civilization with some 1.1114 billion people dependant on it for communication, to do business, as a source of information and for social networking purposes amongst others.
However, with the Internet being ubiquitous so are the harmful threats that see it as an ideal vehicle to infect and steal both personal and confidential corporate information via malicious activities such as spam, phishing or malware.
According to Trend Micro’s CEO and Co-founder Eva Chen the market for web-borne threats is driven by a USD 80 billion dollar industry focused on an end result such as stealing identity or information for profit and because it is lucrative, the threat is only set to rise.
As web threats become increasingly sophisticated and harder to detect, traditional forms of detection and filtering at a URL level are just not making the cut.
Speaking to reporters throughout Asia Pacific via a Webinar last Friday, Chen said that the only way to avoid being hit by malicious activities is to avoid them from the start by using a multi-tier approach that leverages existing and emerging technologies including web reputation, in-line scanning and network behavioral analysts to stop threats before they reach the users.
She cited Trend’s latest security tool TrendProtect , as an tool that answers such problems. This free, browser plug in which is available for download at www.trendsecure/trendprotect.com offers consumers continuous protection from unwanted content and hidden threats on the Web.
It rates individual web pages based on multiple criteria such as content category, phishing scam detection, site reputation, page reputation etc. and alerts users in real-time on how secure the page is before they enter it.
“TrendProtect finds out how the code works and studies its behaviors. If the code is not working properly or behaving in an unusual manner the software will detect and send the information to the user,” said Ross Wilson, managing director Consumer Products and Services for Trend Micro’s APAC region.
Armed with all the information needed, it is then up to the user to decide if he should proceed with opening the page or not.
“Our policy is to educate users of the best practices for safe web practices, not to stop them from using the web,” he continued.
In related news, Trend Micro’s multi-tiered anti-spam solution has topped the Anti-Spam benchmark tests beating other security solutions from Symantec, IronPort and Secure Computing in the process.
Conducted by IT consulting company Opus One, the test was based on criteria such as effectiveness of the solutions when acting as a spam filter as well as determining the degree to which spam can be stopped before it reaches the gateway and begins to impact infrastructure and related costs.
According to Chen, Trend Micro is already working to develop a new suite of products under the Total Discovery line. Said to be launched later this year and the tools will help to detect and protect mobile users who, after being on the road for some time return to the office and attempt to connect directly from there. Any threats that they might have caught whilst on the road would instantly be detected before it can infiltrate and corrupt the office infrastructure. |
