McAfee Security Insights

McAfee Security Insights

A revolutionary solution to multiple threats

When it comes to safeguarding critical systems, companies can’t afford to cut corners. Yesteryear’s viruses have given way to sophisticated blended threats such as Blaster and Slammer.

Using a combination of malicious code and vulnerability exploitation, these blended threats can destroy an entire IT infrastructure in mere seconds. Your business loses employee productivity, corporate data, and annual revenue.

What’s more, cleaning up thousands of infected systems consumes endless hours and can easily overwhelm a company’s system administrators or IT department.

However, it’s the bottom line that stands to suffer most from malicious code. Industry experts estimate that the Netsky virus and its variants have caused more than US$31.3 billion in damages worldwide. And the combined damage stemming from Bagle, MyDoom, and Netsky has now surpassed US$100 billion worldwide.

New security risks

In fact, as today’s security threats continue to grow more menacing, so too do the speed and breadth of their propagation. In just four days, the Blaster worm infected more than 1.4 million computers.

In fact, eMarketer reports that between July and December 2003, worms and blended threats accounted for 43% of Internet attack activity worldwide. Pre-attack reconnaissance by hackers ranked second at 40%, followed by targeted hacker attacks at 17%.

As if battling worms and hackers weren’t difficult enough, today’s IT administrators have to be on the lookout for spyware, which can infiltrate a computer by merely browsing a Web site or deploying a new application. Spyware can track a user’s keystrokes and then deliver that data back to an ill-intentioned hacker or organized criminals trying to steal credit card numbers, confidential documents, and employee passwords.

Dangerous exposure

Companies’ nerves were rattled once again when Microsoft® announced a critical vulnerability in how its software handles JPEG files. This security vulnerability is a buffer overflow that allows intruders to create a special JPEG file that can take control of a victim’s machine when the user views the infected graphic file through Internet Explorer®, Microsoft Outlook®, Word, and other programs.

Fortunately, McAfee® VirusScan® Enterprise 8.0i protects against such attacks. By integrating application-specific and operating-service buffer overflow prevention technologies into a single product, McAfee had the foresight to create a solution that guards against innocent-looking JPEG files with hidden security threats.

But that’s not all. With its combination of both intrusion prevention and anti-virus capabilities, McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i proactively halts and removes malicious software, extends coverage for new security risks, and reduces the cost of managing an outbreak response.

Integrated technology

VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i extends its coverage against new security risks including blended threats and spyware. Furthermore, by moving beyond traditional anti-virus products, the solution automatically traces and reports the source of an infection–and blocks further communication with it.

By stopping malicious code dead in its tracks, VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i enables companies to deliver solutions that save time, resources, and money while maintaining business and employee productivity.

Since this article was written, McAfee has introduced new products that offer similar capabilities. Please see our products section for additional information.

Resources

Learn more about McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i.