McAfee Unites With Industry Leaders To Help Drive Industry Standards Around Spyware

Published 19th July 2005

McAfee joins the Anti-Spyware Consortium to help the industry create definitions around spyware and other potentially unwanted programs...

McAfee Inc (NYSE: MFE), the leader in Intrusion Prevention and Security Risk Management, today announced its membership in the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), an industry group focused on helping consumer and enterprise users gain control over the problem of spyware and other Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs). Through McAfee AVERT, the company's Anti-Virus and Vulnerability Emergency Response Team, McAfee will utilise its extensive global research capabilities in a united effort to help drive industry standards and definitions for dealing with spyware and other PUPs.

Spyware and adware, which are types of PUPs, have become a major nuisance for consumers and enterprises. As a member of the ASC, McAfee will play an instrumental role in the development of consistent and defensible detection, naming, counting, reporting and testing criteria for this relatively new industry.

According to a recent Gartner report, "Antivirus Vendors Strike Back with Anti-spyware Product," by Peter Firstbrook, Gartner estimates that 20 per cent to 40 per cent of enterprise help desk calls are related to infestations of unwanted "adware" and "spyware" programs. The PEW Internet & American Life Project also released a report this month titled, "Spyware," which revealed that eight in 10 internet users (and 90 per cent of internet users who report having had adware) say that more should be done to alert consumers to the presence of adware in files they are downloading. Only about one in 10 internet users say the current practice of clicking through a user agreement or disclaimer is adequate consent to install these programs on a person's computer.

"When it comes to spyware, the boundary between legal and criminal activity is very vague," said Chris Christiansen, IDC. "Ambiguous End-User Licence Agreements (EULAs) speciously attain user consent for downloading spyware. In exchange for free programs, users unknowingly forgot their right to privacy. Industry coalitions, such as the ASC, will help the Internet community better understand the definition of spyware and how to make educated decisions about removing or blocking those programs."

"Over the second quarter of 2005, McAfee AVERT saw a 12 per cent increase in the number of new potentially unwanted programs created from the first quarter of 2005, and a 60 per cent increase over Q1 2004," said Joe Telafici, director of operations, McAfee AVERT. "While there are some apparent efforts to reduce intrusive and deceptive behaviours, malware authors are continuing to exploit the adware business model by downloading and installing adware to compromised machines in order to generate revenue. McAfee is pleased to see the industry unite in this effort to define spyware, and to create a clear gap between what is considered to be legitimate and non-legitimate behaviour."

McAfee, which is the industry's first security vendor to offer a proactive, multi-layered system and network protection strategy, believes the most effective way for consumers and organisations to protect themselves from spyware and other PUPs is with anti-spyware technology. McAfee offers comprehensive, multi-layered protection against the mounting threat of spyware and PUPs with McAfee Internet Security Suite, McAfee VirusScan and McAfee AntiSpyware for consumer users and McAfee Anti-Spyware Enterprise for small to large businesses.

McAfee also includes additional business-class spyware protection in its McAfee IntruShield network IPS solution, McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i, McAfee Secure Content Management solutions and McAfee Foundstone technologies. By offering the most comprehensive suite of system and network defences, McAfee allows customers to deploy multiple, critical layers of protection to safely block and eliminate an array of potentially unwanted programs such as spyware, persistent and unwanted marketing programs, dialers, keyloggers, tracking cookies and remote-control programs.






About McAfee AVERT
McAfee AVERT Labs is one of the top-ranked anti-virus and vulnerability research organisations in the world, employing researchers in fourteen countries on five continents. McAfee AVERT combines world-class malicious code and anti-virus research with intrusion prevention and vulnerability research expertise from the McAfee® IntruShield®, McAfee® Entercept® and McAfee® Foundstone® Professional Services organisations. McAfee AVERT protects customers by providing cures that are developed through the combined efforts of McAfee AVERT researchers and McAfee AVERT AutoImmune technology, which applies advanced heuristics, generic detection, and ActiveDAT technology to generate cures for previously undiscovered viruses.


About McAfee Inc
McAfee, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California and the global leader in Intrusion Prevention and Security Risk Management, delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that secure systems and networks around the world. With its unmatched security expertise and commitment to innovation, McAfee empowers home users, businesses, the public sector, and service providers with the ability to block attacks, prevent disruptions, and continuously track and improve their security.

To view website go to http://www.mcafee.com


Issued on behalf of McAfee Inc by Euan Barty Associates

For further information, please contact

Milly Kuo
McAfee
T: 886 2 2717-1999 ext. 2038
E: milly_kuo@mcafee.com

Carrie Tsoi
EBA
T: (852) 2122 9753
E: carrie@eba.com.hk