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Press Release
FaceTime Unveils Next Generation Instant Messaging Security to Provide
Enterprises Day-Zero Protection
Reports Twenty-fold Increase in IM, P2P and IRC Attacks in 2005
FOSTER CITY, CALIF - October 3, 2005 - FaceTime Communications, the
leader in IM Management solutions, today announced the Day Zero Defense System,
a new solution for preventing worms and spyware downloads over enterprise and
public instant messaging (IM) networks. The system utilizes anomaly detection
techniques to analyze multiple characteristics of IM-borne worms and other
malicious code against normal behavior, and provides patent-pending protection
against these threats without the need for traditional security signatures. For
the first time, organizations can proactively identify and stop IM attacks
before they occur in all leading enterprise and public IM applications -
including Lotus Sametime, Microsoft MSN, AOL, Yahoo, and Google Talk.
"Computers can be hijacked without a user's knowledge and buddy lists can be
used to send IM messages with links to harmful worms and viruses," said Michael
Osterman, founder of Osterman Research. "With FaceTime's technology,
enterprises are able to better understand baseline IM usage within their
organization and clearly delineate malicious IM behavior instantly."
IM usage in business - both sanctioned and not - is growing rapidly. And
because IM opens up unsecured channels into the organization, malware creators
have not wasted any time in exploiting this growth. FaceTime Security Labs,
operating in three research centers worldwide, monitors the frequency and
severity of risks posed by viruses, worms and other malware propagating through
applications such as instant messaging and P2P file sharing. The labs released
metrics today on the continued malicious attacks experienced by IM, IRC and P2P
networks. Key findings include:
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IM, IRC and P2P threats reported through the third quarter ending September 30,
2005 reached over 1,300 incidents, representing more than a twenty-fold
increase in the number of incidents recorded for the same period in 2004.
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In Q3 2005, the frequency of attacks was relatively flat from Q2 2005 levels,
but was up over 900% compared to Q1 2005 levels
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MSN Messenger was the most targeted public instant messaging service receiving
more than 3 times the number of attacks on AOL IM and approximately 9 times the
number on the Yahoo! Instant messaging service
This dramatic rise in the number of IM threats, the increasing sophistication
of IM attacks, and the speed with which they propagate have made day-zero
prevention a critical capability for maximizing productivity and reducing the
costs associated with IM use in the enterprise.
A new IM threat has the greatest propensity to spread and infect organizations
on Day Zero - immediately after it is released by the creator. IM threats are
extremely challenging for corporate IT because they utilize real-time
communications channels and proven social engineering techniques to propagate
significantly faster than email-based attacks. FaceTime's Day Zero Defense
System utilizes attributes such as message frequency, content matching, URL
identification and other heuristics to detect malicious behavior and stop
infections in real-time - rather than the conventional approach which requires
organizations to wait hours or even days for a signature to be created, tested
and distributed. Key Components of the Zero Day Defense System include:
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IM Anomaly Detection - intelligently monitors IM communications and performs
behavioral analysis across multiple attributes including message frequency,
content, and message sender to determine anomalies against normal thresholds
set by the organization.
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Zero-Day Policy Management- Provides administrators complete flexibility in
defining the actions to be taken on IM communications when an anomaly is
detected, including block, allow, log, send alert, challenge, and more. The
system provides comprehensive reporting on all activity.
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Patent-pending Challenge/Response Technology - allows administrators to
quarantine suspicious IM conversations and initiate a challenge to the sender
which requires a human to successfully respond to the challenge. This stops
malicious threats created by computer bots and allows uninterrupted delivery of
legitimate communications sent by human sources
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Integration with FaceTime Security Labs - New threats are automatically
reported to researchers for further analysis and evaluation by the largest
security team dedicated to IM, P2P and spyware threats.
IM, P2P and spyware applications are part of a category of networked
applications that FaceTime calls 'greynets.' Greynets are network-enabled
applications that are installed on an end user's system without permission from
IT and are highly evasive at the network level.
"We have created a future-proof prevention system that enables our customers to
stop new IM based threats before they happen," said Kailash Ambwani, CEO of
FaceTime Communications. "Our customers can be confident that legitimate IM
messages are being delivered securely and malicious messages are stopped before
causing damage to corporate networks and corporate data."
Availability
The Day Zero Defense System is integrated with IMAuditor 6.5.1 and FaceTime
Enterprise Edition offerings, and will be available on October 31, 2005.
About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of instant
messaging, Web usage and Unified Communications platforms. Ranked number one by
IDC for four consecutive years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by
more than 900 customers – including nine of the 10 largest U.S. banks – for
security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime
supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public and enterprise
IM network providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM and Jabber.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE.
The FaceForward blog, at http://blog.facetime.com,
offers thoughts and opinions about the changing nature of Internet communications.
PR Contact:
Joshua Barnes
A&R Edelman
650-762-2865
joshua.barnes@ar-edelman.com
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