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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Websense Launches New Threat Prevention Tool
Websense introduced its latest malware detection technology on Oct. 31, rolling out its ThreatSeeker application that will serve as the technological foundation for all of the company’s security software products. As Web-based threats have shifted away from traditional attacks focused on software vulnerabilities to so-called zero day exploits aimed at previously unidentified flaws, traditional anti-virus and intrusion detection technologies have left users with inadequate protection, Websense officials maintain. By utilizing a vast network of data mining machines, along with some 100 proprietary processes based on a combination of mathematical algorithms, behavior profiling and code analysis, the San Diego-based company claims that the technology can identify zero day threats and other attacks before they show up on corporate networks.
The first products to bear the technology will be the firm’s latest network security filtering applications, Websense Web Security Suite version 6.3 and Web Security Suite—-Lockdown Edition version 6.3, which are expected to become available sometime before the end of Nov. 2006.
Sometime in 2007, Websense also plans to launch a data leakage prevention software package featuring the ThreatSeeker technology.
The company said that ThreatSeeker has already aided in the identification of several major attacks, including the recently reported WMF and VML zero-day exploits that targeted flaws in popular Microsoft products. Since Websense’s products are already used by a number of Internet service providers, the company is using the technology to get an eagle’s eye view into emerging attacks as they propagate on those companies’ own massive networks, said John McCormack, senior vice president of product development for the software maker.
While anti-virus and intrusion protection software makers, namely market leader Symantec, have been battling with Microsoft over the PatchGuard technology being added in the 64-bit version of the company’s upcoming Vista operating system, technologies such as ThreatSeeker eliminate most of the need for technologies that access an OS kernel, McCormack said.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2048199,00.asp?kc=EWWHNEMNL110206EOAD