BELMONT, CALIF. - December 4, 2007 - FaceTime
Communications, the leading provider of solutions that control
greynets and manage Unified Communications in the enterprise, today
announced it has launched www.GreynetsGuide.com. Greynets are
Internet-enabled, communication applications that are typically
installed by end users without the sanction of corporate network
managers.
The Web-based guide aims to be a comprehensive reference center
to help enterprise network administrators better understand evasive
and consumer-oriented applications like public IM clients, P2P
file-sharing, anonymizers, IPTV and consumer VoIP that are
increasingly being adopted by employees.
GreynetsGuide.com details the source, behavior
and effective removal tools for more than 600 greynet applications
of concern to IT managers. FaceTime Security Labs' researchers are
identifying and adding new greynets to the database daily.
FaceTime is also offering a free
tool called RTDiscover™ that will enable IT managers to gain
visibility into the greynet traffic that is traversing their
networks.
FaceTime RTDiscover, delivered on DVD, provides a comprehensive
report of greynet and Web traffic on the enterprise network at
user, group and enterprise levels. RTDiscover presents the user
with a real-time view of all malware threats including spyware,
adware, keyloggers and rootkits currently resident on PC endpoints
throughout the organization.
"Our goal is to provide a comprehensive public resource that
catalogs and provides independent analysis of the greynet
applications that have become pervasive on enterprise networks,"
said Frank Cabri, vice president of marketing and product
management for FaceTime. "Just as SpywareGuide.com is the definitive resource for
identifying and controlling malware, GreynetsGuide.com is designed to be the
definitive resource for understanding and controlling greynets in
the enterprise."
What are Greynets?
Greynets
are Internet-enabled communication applications that are installed
on an end user's system without permission from IT and are highly
evasive to existing security infrastructure. While many of these
applications deliver collaborative benefits to users, they pose a
unique challenge to network administrators by traversing the
network through a variety of ports and evasive techniques. If left
unmanaged, greynet applications can impact productivity, become
vectors for malware attacks, and introduce compliance risks
including leakage of confidential information.
While some greynets such as Skype, public instant messaging (IM) and Web
Conferencing have legitimate business uses, IT requires visibility
and control to ensure their safe and productive use. With other
greynets, such as P2P file sharing, video streaming, and
anonymizers, the risks might outweigh the benefits and
organizations need the ability to accurately detect and block
them.
"Enterprises face three key risks from unmanaged greynets:
confidential or proprietary information leaking out, malware and
other infections entering the network, and the legal ramifications
due to insufficient archiving and retrieval," Cabri explains.
Greynet Usage is on the Rise
According to the 2007 survey Greynets in
the Enterprise: Third Annual Survey of Trends, Attitudes and
Impact, conducted by NewDiligence Research and commissioned by
FaceTime*, the number of greynet applications installed at a
typical work location has increased significantly in the past year.
According to the survey, the number of work locations with eight or
more greynet applications in use has almost tripled in the last
three years.
"With so many greynet applications freely available online, the
IT security manager must examine the behavior of the company's own
workers, and understand the nature of these greynets before setting
and enforcing security and management policies," said Cabri. "GreynetsGuide.com provides a resource for
understanding the true nature of these stealthy applications, to
aid in making policy decisions about their use on the corporate
network."
The costs of greynet usage can be very high. In the recent
survey, IT managers reported spending an average of nearly
$289,000 annually to repair or re-image company PCs after malware
attacks that occurred over greynets. On average, IT managers
experience nearly 39 incidents per month that require some kind of
repair or remediation to end user PCs and each repair requires, on
average, about nine hours of work.
"We're providing enterprise IT with the information they need to
manage the new work environment where employees feel empowered to
download the applications they determine necessary to do their
jobs," said Cabri. "Workers take these applications for granted as
a just another convenient way to do business, keep up with friends
and take a well-deserved break during work hours, but IT
understands that the potential costs are very real and very
high."
Visit www.GreynetsGuide.com on the web for the most
up to date information about more than 600 greynets, and click
here to request the free RTDiscover tool.
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.
PR Contact Information: