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November 8, 2004 at 6:00 am #16457BigBlueBall NewsMember
Press Release
November 8, 2004
FaceTime Instant Response Security Team (FIRST) and Vulnerability Assessment Survey and Test (VAST) Launched with Release of RTGuardianTM 2.0
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ — FaceTime Communications, the leading provider of solutions that secure, manage, and extend instant messaging (IM) and peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, today announced two key security initiatives aimed at mitigating the growing risks of unmanaged IM and P2P use: the FaceTime Instant Response Security Team (FIRST) and a free process for enterprise customers called VAST (Vulnerability Assessment Survey and Test). In addition, the Company announced the immediate availability of the industrys only IM and P2P security gateway appliance, RTGuardianTM 2.0. The announcements were made at the CSI Computer Security Conference and Exposition being held this week in Washington, D.C.
IM and P2P networks are quickly emerging as the delivery vehicles of choice for malicious programmers. Last month, the System Administration, Networking, and Security Institute (SANS) listed IM and P2P as two of the top ten most critical Internet security vulnerabilities for Windows systems. Security experts have noted that over the last year, eight of the 10 most common viruses used IM and/or P2P as their propagation methods. A survey conducted by AssetMatrix showed 40% of business users have downloaded files using a P2P file sharing application, with ISPs reporting that P2P-related traffic represents as much as 70% of the IP traffic on their networks. Such unchecked P2P use creates substantial security and legal risks.
FIRST is the only singularly focused and specialized intelligence and response organization addressing the rapid proliferation of new IM and P2P protocols and the growing frequency of IM and P2P-related information security attacks. FIRST is comprised of FaceTimes experienced team of IM and P2P protocol analysis and security experts working from the Companys U.S. and Indian locations to monitor, analyze and report on all malicious IM and P2P-related activity on a global scale. The team will deliver documented countermeasures to the IT community at large while providing FaceTime customers with automated product updates to instantly defend against the latest attacks.
The second of FaceTimes security initiatives is the VAST service, designed to help FaceTime customers and prospects identify and resolve network weaknesses that may render them particularly vulnerable to external IM and P2P attacks as well as employee misuse of IM and P2P behind the firewall. The free FaceTime service, available to current and prospective customers, is driven by a consultative discovery process that evaluates an organizations existing policies, procedures and products. The evaluation is followed by specialized testing for real-time communication based vulnerabilities, the results of which are compiled by FaceTimes team of security specialists into a detailed, customized report and a set of recommendations. To request a free VAST assessment, prospects and existing FaceTime customers can visit http://www.facetime.com.
“Effectively securing and managing IM and P2P in the enterprise requires specialized expertise,” said Michael Osterman, president and founder of Osterman Research. “FaceTime is going the extra mile by educating and alerting the IT community on the latest security threats and what can be done to defend against them. The company is clearly embracing its leadership role in IM and P2P security with these new initiatives.”
FaceTime also announced the immediate availability of RTGuardian 2.0. RTGuardian 2.0 doubles the security capabilities previously provided by FaceTimes RTG500TM by detecting and blocking over 40 IM and P2P protocols and applications for the broadest level of protocol support in the industry. Among the 20 new protocols added are Azureus, BitTorrent, eMule and Koala DC. Competitive offerings provide a false sense of security with support that extends to only a handful of protocols, allowing users to easily switch from a P2P file-sharing application that has been blocked to another one that hasnt.
With the formation of FIRST, the launch of VAST, and the availability of RTGuardian 2.0, FaceTime is working to resolve the risks associated with IM and P2P by blending its industry-leading solutions with global, real-time intelligence.
“FIRST and VAST represent FaceTimes commitment to leadership in the field of messaging management and security,” said Kailash Ambwani, CEO at FaceTime. “Because IM and P2P do not need to be proactively deployed to pose a threat to corporate networks, this is an urgent, present-day dilemma for all businesses. FaceTime is proud to provide these new services, which are immediately available to customers and the rest of the IT community, so they can protect their businesses as well as the value they derive from IM.”
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