The new threat center will serve as a comprehensive knowledge base for known IM and P2P vulnerabilities and will additionally provide rapid response and guidance for protection against newly detected threats. The IMlogic Threat Center will serve as the hub for IM and P2P threat alerts launched with the support of Internet security leaders McAfee and Sybari, and global instant messaging leaders America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo.
A recent SANS Institute survey listed instant messaging and peer-to-peer networking as two of this year's Top 10 vulnerabilities for Windows users. As the worldwide leader in enterprise IM management and security, IMlogic protects over 400 enterprise customers, dramatically minimizing their exposure to security threats posed by IM use for business while helping them learn to embrace and maximize IM's benefits. The IMlogic Threat Center. is taking a leading role in addressing IM and P2P threats and is proactively protecting the Internet community, including more than 300 million IM users.
The IMlogic Threat Center threat management and alerting service will provide:
- Comprehensive knowledge-base of IM/P2P viruses and worms built with leading internet security and IM vendors
- Free alerts and notifications via e-mail and IM of new and emerging IM and P2P threats for all subscribers
- Rapid response and guidance for protection against IM and P2P threats for both enterprises and consumers
- Protection against Spam over IM ("SPIM") and known hacker vulnerabilities in the IM clients, servers and networks
- Broad partner collaboration between IMlogic security analysts, industry-wide Internet security response teams and the global IM providers.
The threat center provides the IM industry a worldwide forum dedicated to delivering the latest and most comprehensive information about viruses and security threats captured through internal, partner and public submissions. In addition to the strength of each partner organization's threat response teams, the center has its own staff and analysts around the world to perform IM and P2P risk assessment, threat management and proactive response, identifying vulnerabilities and sharing information globally to protect enterprises and consumers.
"As with e-mail before it, instant messaging gives hackers new opportunities to wreak havoc on corporate infrastructures," said Todd Gebhart, senior vice president of sales at McAfee. "IMlogic's solid perimeter IM security, integration with McAfee anti-virus technology and the around-the-clock alerts and expertise delivered through the IMlogic Threat Center help enterprises wall out the latest IM threats."
"An increasing number of employees are using IM in the workplace and often without the IT department's knowledge or control. Companies are quickly realizing that although IM offers increased productivity and communication, it also increases security risks and requires specific protection and management capabilities," Tom Buoniello, vice president of product management at Sybari Software said.
