FOSTER CITY, CALIF - August 29, 2005 - FaceTime
Communications today announced the FaceTime Enterprise Spyware
Prevention Suite, the first and only integrated, anti-spyware
solution that detects, prevents and automatically remediates
spyware on infected PCs - without having to deploy desktop
software. Powered by new patent-pending technology and the Greynets
Research Database, the Enterprise Spyware Prevention Suite enables
organizations to protect business assets, significantly reduce help
desk and clean up costs, improve desktop productivity, and prevent
information theft associated with spyware and adware. "Businesses
consider spyware to be a major nuisance," said Peter Firstbrook,
Research Director, at Gartner. "A PC can be infected with spyware
to the point where pop-up ads and malicious programs can severely
interfere with user productivity and business operations. Gartner
estimates that 20 percent to 40 percent of enterprise help desk
calls are related to infestations of unwanted 'adware' and
'spyware' programs." Spyware, IM and P2P applications are part of a
category of networked applications that FaceTime calls 'greynets.'
Greynets are network enabled applications that are installed on an
end user's system without permission from IT and are highly evasive
at the network level. Spyware, in particular, creates significant
productivity and monetary losses for enterprises today. According
to a July 2005 survey published by NewDiligence, IT managers at
large enterprises reported an average of 277 spyware attacks per
month. This translates into nearly $130,000 spent per month in IT
resources. In addition, because spyware can open up a communication
channel outside the network through its "phone home" activities,
sensitive data and regulatory compliance can be compromised. Calyon
Financial is a global brokerage firm providing institutional
clients with efficient access to financial and commodity markets
around the world. "In a regulated industry, we need to be able to
ensure all electronic communications comply with company policy and
are logged and archived," said John Takemura, FVP Head of IT
Production, at Calyon Financial. "Greynet applications like spyware
pose a significant risk to confidential data. FaceTime has a long
heritage in helping financial institutions with their compliance
needs and their anti-spyware solution will help ensure we continue
to meet regulatory requirements." About FaceTime Enterprise
Spyware Prevention Suite
Effective spyware prevention requires the intelligent harnessing
and deployment of both gateway and desktop components. Utilizing
patent-pending capabilities obtained through the XBlock Systems
acquisition, the FaceTime Enterprise Spyware Prevention Suite
delivers a multi-layered defense against spyware applications from
the Internet gateway to the PC endpoint using a single management
framework. The Enterprise Spyware Prevention Suite consists of two
key components:
- The recently announced RTGuardian 3.0 anti-spyware gateway
appliance at the perimeter, and
- The FaceTime Enterprise Spyware Manager (ESM) - a centralized
management, reporting and control server in the LAN.
The suite provides organizations a range of capabilities for
defending against spyware - from preventing installations and
detecting activity at the gateway, to "pushing" spyware remediation
and inoculation components in real-time to targeted desktops and
laptops in the LAN. Both components receive automated threat
updates from FaceTime Security Labs' Greynets Research Database,
providing customers with rapid response and documented
countermeasures to the latest IM, P2P and spyware threats.
Gateway Detection and Prevention
The RTG 3.0 appliance delivers advanced gateway-based spyware
detection and prevention to protect organizations from spyware -
before it infects the network.
- Monitors all possible channels - HTTP, IM, P2P, and more -for
spyware activity.
- Blocks attempts by previously installed spyware to 'phone home'
with unauthorized data, thus preserving the integrity of corporate
information assets.
- Reports 'phone home' activity identifying both the infected PC
and the specific spyware application. This allows for targeted
remediation of the infected PCs, dramatically reducing the
possibility of false positives.
- Blocks user access to known spyware sites, preventing
accidental infections.
- Stops "drive-by" installations of known and unknown spyware
applications distributed through Web, P2P and IM
communications.
- Prevents unintentional downloads of spyware hidden within or
co-opted by a seemingly helpful application using multiple
behavioral factors.
Targeted Desktop Remediation and
Inoculation
The Enterprise Spyware Manager provides centralized control and
management of client scanning, remediation and inoculation and is
completely transparent to the user avoiding any impact on
productivity.
- Detections reported by RTG can be used to initiate a targeted
scan of any managed PC or group of PCs based on custom policies set
by the administrator.
- Patent-pending inoculation hardens PC operating systems to
block new spyware installations and "freeze in place" existing
installations, without the need to deploy any client software. This
mitigates the need for continuous rescanning of PCs and helps to
ensure that mobile users won't get re-infected when outside the
LAN.
- Optional, "headless" (no user interface) anti-spyware client
can be pushed out 'hands-free' to PCs for removal and cleansing of
targeted spyware applications and can be configured to stay
resident or be removed from the PC. Enterprises can also choose to
utilize their existing desktop software of choice. Crowe Chizek and
Company LLC is one of the top 10 public accounting and consulting
firms in the United States, serving clients worldwide as a leading
member of the Horwath International network of public accounting
and consulting firms. "At Crowe, we have a large mobile workforce
and it is important that we safeguard these laptops from adware and
spyware infections," said Rex Voorheis, Senior Manager of Network
Infrastructure for Crowe. "FaceTime's end-to-end solution for
preventing spyware gives us immediate visibility on all spyware
infections, prevents the spyware from connecting to the internet
and quickly identifies infected PCs. We believe this will help us
reduce the time our staff spends dealing with these problems and
protect confidential customer data." "Greynet applications such as
adware/spyware are growing increasingly evasive and are entering
the network through the browser and other vectors," said Jonathan
Christensen, CTO of FaceTime Communications. "Whether spyware
piggybacks on trusted applications or is distributed through an IM
worm or within a P2P payload, organizations need to have a
multi-pronged approach to be effective. With FaceTime's
patent-pending technology, comprehensive architecture and industry
leading security research team, our customers can achieve the
highest efficacy against spyware." Pricing and
Availability
The FaceTime Enterprise Spyware Prevention Suite, including RTG
and ESM, starts at $5,000.00 and will be available in 30 days. The
RTG gateway appliance is available immediately and can be deployed
separately starting at $3,995. The products are available worldwide
through authorized FaceTime distributors and partners.
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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