F-Secure announces support for Network Access Protection Technology from Microsoft
Helsinki, Finland – December 13, 2004 – F-Secure Corporation [HEX: FSC] today announced its support of Network Access Protection technology from Microsoft, a set of network technologies that allows network administrators to enforce workstation and laptop security policies and access to corporate networks. F-Secure will develop Network Access Protection supporting features into its present F-Secure Anti-Virus Client SecurityTM to take full advantage of Microsoft Network Access Protection, helping network administrators keep corporate networks free of viruses by isolating machines with out-dated security settings.
F-Secure Anti-Virus Client Security is designed to protect company desktops and laptops against today’s complex threats. The product offers unique protection against viruses, hackers, network worms as well as the use of networking software that violates corporate security policies.
For network administrators keeping workstation software updated has become one of the biggest challenges because the time between the release of an operating system patch and an attack using the vulnerability has gone down radically over the last years. The window of keeping hosts updated is getting shorter day-by-day.
“One of F-Secure’s key strategies is to offer proactive protection coupled with the industry’s fastest virus definition updates to our customers”, says Kimmo Alkio, Chief Operating Officer at F-Secure. “By working closely with companies like Microsoft, we can help our joint customers to keep their network free of viruses by monitoring the security status with automated security checks like Network Access Protection.”
Network Access Protection from Microsoft is technology that will automatically check the policy compliance of the workstation or laptop trying to connect to the network. If the connecting host does not fulfil the policy requirements the host will have only restricted access to the network until the host is updated to comply with policy. As an example, when a laptop with outdated virus definitions is connected to an office network the laptop is put into a restricted network until the host has downloaded the updated definitions. The initial version of Network Access Protection will be delivered in Windows Server codenamed “Longhorn”, the next version of Windows Server operating system.
“IT professionals need to assure health of connecting devices to their networks,” said Steve Anderson, director in the Windows Server Group at Microsoft. “F-Secure’s support of Network Access Protectiontechnology is very important for our mutual customers.”
About F-Secure Corporation
F-Secure Corporation protects individuals and businesses against computer viruses and other threats coming through the Internet or mobile networks. Our award-winning solutions include antivirus, desktop firewall with intrusion prevention and network encryption. Our key strength is the speed of response to new threats. For businesses our solutions feature centralized management. Founded in 1988, F-Secure has been listed on the Helsinki Exchanges since 1999. We have our headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, and offices in USA, France, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Japan. F-Secure is supported by a global ecosystem of value added resellers and distributors in over 50 countries. F-Secure protection is also available through major Internet Service Providers, such as Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.