November 01, 2005
FaceTime Issues Worm-Free Guarantee
Company backs up release 6.5 of IMAuditor with 100-percent guarantee against the proliferation of IM-borne threats.
FaceTime Communications, Foster City, Calif., is backing the new release of its IMAuditor instant messaging security software with guaranteed protection against worms propagating through all major public IM systems.
IMAuditor 6.5's "worm-free guarantee" offers unspecified compensation upon a single instance of an IM worm propagating in the customer’s environment. FaceTime attributes its enhanced level of confidence in the program to new patent-pending technology within IMAuditor 6.5 that protects at a level unmatched by signature-based products.
Since an IM threat has the greatest propensity to spread and infect organizations immediately after it is released, security roducts that rely on signatures alone and require organizations to wait hours or even days for a new signature to be created, tested and distributed are less effective in defending against IM threats, according to . IMAuditor 6.5 utilizes behavioral attributes such as message frequency, content matching and URL identification, in addition to traditional signatures, to detect malicious activity.
"Even a short window of vulnerability for IM based attacks is unacceptable," said FaceTime CEO Kailash Ambwani. "Enterprise organizations require a solution that prevents new infections before they start. With our patent-pending technology and our ‘worm-free guarantee’ customers can be confident that their network is protected."
The software uses anomoly detection techniques to analyze multiple characteristics of IM conversations against normal behavior. A file transfer security capability enables users to allow or restrict attachments to incoming and outgoing communications by file type, source domain or transfer method.
IMAuditor 6.5 includes new rules that eliminate spim through the ability to block, allow, or challenge messages meeting identified criteria. IMAuditor uses a combination of white/black lists, custom rules, and a patent-pending challenge/response mechanism to enable administrators and security officers to manage external solicitations, while allowing legitimate IM.
A new reporting features provides visibility into IM usage across the enterprise and delivers actionable data for the business executives and the security administrators.
In addition to configuring legal disclosure notices at the company, group, and user levels, with the new release, administrators can now enable or disable disclaimers for any licensed IM network, the company said.
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