Websense unveils bold new approach to Web security

SecureData, a member of the JSE-listed ERP.com Group and the sole southern African distributor for Websense, today unveiled the latter's fundamentally new approach to security that identifies threats on the Internet before criminals can launch Web security attacks.

The patent-pending Websense ThreatSeeker technology delivers pre-emptive protection from Web-based security threats - threats typically missed or too costly to prevent using security technologies such as anti-virus and intrusion prevention systems.

Unlike these traditional approaches, Websense seeks out threats on the Internet before customers are compromised and protects customers before patches and signatures are created. As a result, organisations are automatically protected from the latest threats within minutes, without massive costs and administrative burdens and without having to guess what attacks may look like in the future.

There has been a shift in the motives of attackers -- from achieving fame to financial gain, which is changing businesses' priorities in security technology investments. In the past, attackers utilised popular methods like e-mail borne viruses to interfere with business operations, but today's threats have moved to the Web and are more targeted, covert and geared toward financial gain. In the first half of 2006, Websense identified a 100% increase in sites designed to install malicious code such as keyloggers, screen scrapers and other forms of crimeware, which can enable an attacker to collect critical information about end-users and specifically target companies. As a result, businesses are now focused on protecting critical business assets from outside criminal threats and are evaluating more innovative approaches to solving complex security issues.

"Business executives frequently ask me why they are still losing money from Internet attacks after spending so much money on IT security," commented Gene Hodges, CEO, Websense. "Part of the reason is that their investment is spent fighting yesterday's threat. Anti-virus and intrusion prevention systems simply aren't effective in stopping today's rapidly evolving Web-based attacks. With Websense ThreatSeeker, we're able to pre-emptively stop threats from reaching our customers' systems because we know about almost every attack on the Internet, making our customers' investments effective against today's outsider threat.

"Websense ThreatSeeker finds, blocks and protects customers from Web-based threats before they have a chance to steal business information and affect business productivity. The technology is based on more than 100 proprietary processes and systems used to decipher emerging and complex threats. Using a combination of mathematical algorithms, behaviour profiling, code analysis, as well as an extensive network of data mining machines, Websense ThreatSeeker provides ongoing threat intelligence to Websense security software products - delivering protection to customers within minutes.

In development for more than five years within Websense Security Labs and based on more than 10 years of experience classifying the Web, Websense ThreatSeeker is the technological foundation for Websense's current security software portfolio and will provide an extra layer of intelligence in upcoming Websense security software, including data leakage prevention software that Websense plans to deliver in the first half of 2007.

"When customers are hit by a backdoor Trojan or when a keylogger has stolen valuable proprietary information despite anti-virus having been in place, the first person customers look to is their solution provider," added Allen Allison, vice-president, Information Security Practice, MTM Technologies. "The shifts in attack methods are making legacy security solutions a liability to VARs. With Websense software, fuelled by its innovative technology, I trust my customer won't be calling me after the latest zero-day attack; they are protected immediately."

Websense also today introduced the latest version of its Web security and filtering software, which will be available to customers and business partners within two weeks. Websense Web Security Suite version 6.3 and Websense Web Security Suite - Lockdown Edition version 6.3, both powered by Websense ThreatSeeker, include new security protection capabilities, reporting enhancements and integration with Citrix Presentation Server for enhanced security in virtualised computing environments.

Despite the widespread use of legacy security systems, research shows that attacks continue to evade current preventive measures. According to the 2006 CSI/FBI survey, even though 97% of the companies surveyed deployed anti-virus products, 65% of them were hit by viruses in the past 12 months(2).

"Unlike traditional security software which tends to be reactive, requiring patches and signatures, Websense is proactive. Our users are never able to reach malicious Web sites, so we don't have to worry about being infected in the first place," concluded Porter, Network Specialist, Foote Hospital. "In fact, since we implemented Websense Web Security Suite we've seen spyware incidences drop to zero."

Websense ThreatSeeker has allowed Websense to identify several high-impact threats and is the reason that security-experts look to Websense for answers on emerging Web threats. In fact, Microsoft has acclaimed Websense for research assistance on recent zero-day attacks such as the WMF and VML zero-day exploits.

For further information, please contact Willem Barnard at telephone +27 11 257 8600; fax +27 11 257 8699; e-mail willemb@securedata.co.za.