FOSTER CITY, CALIF - June 7, 2005 - FaceTime
Communications today announced that it has acquired patent-pending
technology of anti-spyware vendor XBlock Systems, LLC and the
SpywareGuide.com community and information resource. The XBlock
asset acquisition enhances FaceTime's defense-in-depth approach to
enabling the secure use of legitimate greynet applications like
instant messaging (IM) and web conferencing, while providing
comprehensive protection against illegitimate applications such as
spyware, adware and peer-to-peer (P2P) file downloads. "Spyware has
evolved to present a very disquieting threat to enterprises," said
Peter Christy from the Internet Research Group. "If a user has
inadvertently downloaded a greynet application and installed
malware not only is user productivity and system performance
degraded - that compromised system can be used to enable the theft
or defacing of valuable information and services. FaceTime's
expertise in securing IM and P2P applications at the perimeter and
their acquisition of XBlock and its spyware prevention technology
favorably positions FaceTime to address this ever-growing greynet
problem." Under the terms of the acquisition, FaceTime will acquire
XBlock System's assets including:
- Comprehensive Anti-Spyware Database: An
extensive, growing reference database of known adware and spyware
applications compiled from a user community voluntarily reporting
new infections.
- Patent-Pending Technology: Enterprise spyware
prevention technology for scanning, detecting, cleansing and
managing spyware and related applications.
- SpywareGuide.com: The most comprehensive
anti-spyware reference destination available today, with over 1
million unique visitors monthly.
FaceTime considers spyware and adware as part of a larger,
fast-growing set of applications called "greynets." A greynet
application is an unsanctioned application that is downloaded and
installed on end-user systems (often done without their knowledge -
as with spyware) and then uses evasive techniques to traverse the
network. Greynet applications often have legitimate business uses
and include instant messaging, web browsing, web conferencing,
SKYPE and web mail. On May 23rd, FaceTime announced Real-Time
Guardian 3.0 (RTG 3.0), the most advanced perimeter security
solution for managing and securing greynet applications. "Security
managers are struggling to address a growing universe of
unsanctioned "greynet" applications that find their way onto end
user desktops - IM, P2P, adware/spyware," said Kailash Ambwani, CEO
of FaceTime Communications. "Our goal is to provide customers with
a unified approach to securing and, where appropriate, enabling the
safe use of these applications. XBlock's products, technologies and
expertise will accelerate our strategy to offer solutions that
secure the enterprise against greynet threats." XBlock has been
helping individuals and organizations maintain their privacy since
2000 through sophisticated privacy and anti-spyware applications.
XBlock products are available at http://www.spywareguide.com.
About Actiance, Inc. (Formerly FaceTime Communications, Inc.)
FaceTime Communications became Actiance, Inc on January 11, 2011 following an agreement to
transfer the FaceTime trademark to Apple.
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0,
including instant messaging, blogs and social networking. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive
years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security,
management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships
with all leading IM, unified communications providers and social networks including AOL, Google, Yahoo!,
Skype, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-3223.
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