AVIEN Creates New On-line Security Group, Announces AV Want Ads
The Anti-Virus Information Exchange Network (AVIEN), a grassroots community of corporate and government security professionals representing more than 5 million users, has created a new group called the Anti-Virus Information and Early Warning System (AVI-EWS) to meet the needs of smaller companies and to include professionals from the software vendor community.
Membership in AVIEN is limited to non-vendor specialists dealing with more than 1500 PCs, but the new AVI-EWS group has no size restrictions. Members of AVI-EWS already include small companies, consultancies and numerous representatives of anti-virus software vendors.
Steve Clark of Clark Systems Support, LLC, commenting on his involvement with AVI-EWS, says “Small companies usually cannot afford the high-priced relationships required to be first in line for virus/ security alerts and warnings, relying instead upon public channels such as the media or through “a good friend” in a large company. Unfortunately, in many cases, the “alerts” they receive are either non-credible or hoaxes.”
“At the same time, a small company can be a significant threat to the security of other companies as a considerable number of worms are spread by their turnkey systems and minimal security measures. Many small companies contract viruses/worms and send them on to larger companies without realizing their systems have been compromised.
“By utilizing AVI-EWS, I’m able to secure and notify smaller companies without incurring the gold level support cost required by most of the anti- virus manufacturers. AVI-EWS has been a life-saving product in my business and a value added service that my customers rely upon.”
All major developers of Anti-Virus software and most of the other players in this market have representatives in AVI-EWS. As new threats appear, they are discussed in a professional manner by members.
Alex Shipp, Senior Anti-Virus Technologist at MessageLabs in the UK, says “The AVI-EWS system has been a great help to our organization in keeping abreast of current threats. Expert opinions and comment from both AV vendors and corporate AV researchers have proven very useful.
Members of AVIEN receive all the AVI-EWS services as a component of their membership. Ron Baklarz, Chief Information Security Officer of The American Red Cross, says “Membership in AVIEN has become an integral component of my Incident Prevention Program. Since joining AVIEN we have advance knowledge of viruses and worms anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Any foreknowledge of these types of events is critical.”
Want Ads Section
A service recently offered to members of AVI-EWS is the Want Ads section, where people looking for jobs in the Anti-Virus field or offering positions can post small advertisements. Currently, access to this section is restricted to members, but the intention is to open up an area on the AVI- EWS website where recruiters can also participate.
More information on AVI-EWS and AVIEN can be found at the www.avi-ews.org or www.avien.org website.