Wireless Developer's Journal

Internet and PC security specialist Prevx today launched a free security program designed to protect websites and internet users from the risks of online fraud without impacting the user experience. Banking, government, and e-commerce sites can now sign up to the Prevx SafeOnline Business Partner Program and receive free protection against malware that compromises their customers' confidential account numbers or passwords. This unique program boosts confidence in online transactions with free customer support, free real-time reports highlighting threats affecting a company's website and free customer use of Prevx's new SafeOnline technology. This powerful technology, successfully tested by Immunity Inc., protects a PC user from threats such as phishing, DNS poisoning, screen grabbing, man-in-the-browser and key stroke logging. Prevx SafeOnline can be downloaded and active in seconds, does not impact the user experience, requires no website changes, complements existing security products and even prevents infected PCs from compromising an online transaction.

"Despite the fact that private and public sector organizations across the world are taking every possible step to protect their customers, online fraud grows unabated. This is because persistent cybercriminals are simply becoming smarter, with the ability to launch attacks the second a person goes online. The technology they use is far more powerful than the vast majority of popular PC antivirus and security products on the market, which is one of the key reasons for the rising tide of crime," said Mel Morris, CEO at Prevx. "Even if other security vendors had products that could address this problem, they would most likely charge business and government customers to deploy it. We feel this creates an unnecessary barrier to addressing what are probably the most common online security threats affecting society today. Prevx SafeOnline is our approach to targeting the multiple faces of e-crime by giving all parties greater confidence in online transactions."

According to a June 2009 survey by Gartner, 41% of U.S. and 38% of U.K. consumers say security is the most important reason for not banking online. Prevx SafeOnline protects information such as passwords, session credentials, addresses, credit card details, or account numbers that are entered into or displayed by an internet browser during an online transaction. This is possible because the product completely locks down the PC operating system and browser to render malware blind to the transaction, enabling secure online transactions even on infected machines. As a result, attacks such as key stroke loggers are prevented from intercepting any information that a person types into a keyboard. Similarly, information on a screen is hidden from the eyes of malware used for screen grabbing. The product also ensures that an individual is connected to the true website of a bank, government department or online shopping portal and is not inadvertently passing their personal information to a phishing site.

According to Avivah Litan, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst at Gartner: "Perpetrators of e-crime can quickly change the behavior of malware and also the types of phishing scams they run, rendering even the most popular consumer security products ineffective. Simply stated, online service providers ranging from banks to government agencies can no longer rely on the integrity of transactions coming from their customers' PC browsers. As a consequence, businesses and governments remain financially and politically exposed to the often inadequate PC protection deployed by their customers and users."

Immunity Inc., the world leaders in security and vulnerability testing, assessed Prevx SafeOnline's ability to combat powerful malware Trojans that are targeted toward banks, the largest victims of e-crime. The test reported that Prevx SafeOnline was 100% effective at protecting web transactions from a selection of prevalent and voracious threats such as the Zeus, MBR, Goldun, and Silent Banker groups of Trojans and credential stealers. Prevx SafeOnline Business Partners are not only able to offer this technology free to their customers, but can do this without having to make any changes to their website or web application. In addition, all customer support is provided directly by Prevx for free, thereby avoiding additional investment in responding to customer enquiries related to Prevx SafeOnline.

Prevx SafeOnline Business Partners' customers also have access to two powerful features that are standard to Prevx's updated flagship anti-malware product, Prevx 3.0.5. Firstly, a fast and powerful scanner can quickly scan a PC for potential threats and alert a person about potential risks. This scanner then works with a malware detection system that tracks more than 15 million known, evolving and emerging malware threats in real time. Prevx is able to collate this data and provide Prevx SafeOnline Business Partners free, real-time reports about the major threats affecting their websites so they can better manage the risk.

Banks, government departments, and business organizations that want to protect their websites and customers' credentials can do so by emailing Prevx at safeonline@prevx.com and signing up to the Prevx SafeOnline Business Partner Program. Alternatively, individual users can either purchase the full Prevx 3.0.5 product, which now includes substantial improvements in real-time malware detection, malware removal, and protection, as well as the Prevx SafeOnline technology, or purchase the stand-alone Prevx SafeOnline component to ensure all online transactions including those with organizations that have not yet subscribed to the Prevx SafeOnline Free solution are protected. For more information and pricing, see: http://www.prevx.com.