Introducing F-Secure Internet Security 2004 The latest virus outbreaks this autumn have demonstrated that email viruses and network worms are a growing nuisance for home users and small offices. Typically, these users have not updated their computers with the latest security patches provided by Microsoft, as they do not recognize the importance of these patches. In the worst case the PC might not even have any antivirus or other security software installed.Just to give an example: the Blaster and Swen viruses utilized known security vulnerabilities, which had already been known for some time. Software updates that fixed these holes had also been available to the end users. Unfortunately, when these viruses were in the wild, hundreds of thousands of computers were infected. Many of these infected computers were PCs used at home or in small companies. These incidents demonstrated that the plain antivirus-only solution is no longer sufficient to protect the computers at home and small offices. New worms attack the hosts using network vulnerabilities. A typical attack consists of a small probe packet sent to the host. The purpose of this packet is to verify if the computer has an unpatched security hole and to use it in order to gain access to the PC. Not only broadband users were at risk here (as one could typically imagine), but also users connected to the Internet with a modem or an ISDN connection were infected. As these probe packets are very small they are not detected by any antivirus software only a properly configured firewall can block them.F-Secure Internet Security 2004 introduces a combination of an antivirus product with a personal firewall, with an improved and easy-to-use user interface. The installation and use of this product could not be any easier. The user interface provides a clear view of the status and settings of the product. You can easily verify at a glance whether everything is OK and working properly. F-Secure Internet Security 2004 has predefined user profiles for the antivirus and the firewall, which make the utilization of this rather complicated technology very easy even for an unskilled user.New features in the 2004 version include the Virus News. As soon as a serious virus incident is discovered, a notification is sent to the end users desktop. This ensures that the user gets fast information about the virus and its behaviour with instructions on how to avoid an infection and a confirmation if their computer is already protected against the virus. F-Secure Internet Security has received raving reviews from the press. The product received the Performance Award from the UK based PCPlus Magazine in July 2003. The review praised the ease of the product and its great value for money. Also, Swedish Mikrodatorn commented in its August 2003 issue that F-Secure Internet Security is an easy to use combination of antivirus and firewall sold in a single package. F-Secure Internet Security 2004 and F-Secure Anti-Virus 2004 will be available in stores in December.Author: Ilkka Ranta, Solution Marketing Manager Begin | Back
The latest virus outbreaks this autumn have demonstrated that email viruses and network worms are a growing nuisance for home users and small offices. Typically, these users have not updated their computers with the latest security patches provided by Microsoft, as they do not recognize the importance of these patches. In the worst case the PC might not even have any antivirus or other security software installed.