Panda Software nominated for the European Information Society Technologies Prize (EISTP)

TruPreventâ„? Technologies, developed by Panda Software, have been nominated for the European Information Society Technologies Prize (EISTP). Their nomination for the distinguished award has been proposed by Euro-CASE[1] experts.

Every year, EISTP awards groundbreaking products that represent the best of European Information Society Technologies. The latest edition, the twelfth, has received 213 innovative proposals from 29 countries. After evaluating these proposals, independent experts from 16 countries chose 66 nominees, including Panda Software. “The high level of the participants and the thorough process for selecting the nominees makes us extremely proud that TruPreventTM Technologies have been nominated this year,” says I?aki Urzay, Chief Technical Officer at Panda Software.

Unlike reactive antivirus products, TruPreventâ„? Technologies, the most intelligent technologies to combat unknown viruses and intruders, are proactive and can detect new threats through a set of behavioral analysis and advanced heuristic scanning techniques. They determine, in real-time and transparently to the user, if the processes run on a computer pose a threat and block them if they are suspicious. As these technologies do not need a signature file, they do not need updating in order to detect a new threat. For this reason, these technologies eliminate the “vulnerability window’, which is typical in reactive antivirus protection, and is the time that elapses between a new malware specimen appearing and the release of updates to combat it.

Panda Software has been working on the TruPreventTM Technologies, for three years. These technologies are in constant evolution, incorporating new technologies. Genetic heuristic scanning technology, the Genetic Heuristic Engine, has recently been included. The genetic scan is, at the moment, the maximum component of the technologies for detecting unknown threats. It integrates correlation of digital genetic signatures and deep code inspection in an algorithm created by Panda Software, which analyzes the code and characteristic DNA strings of threats: worms, spyware, Trojans, viruses, etc.

The effectiveness of TruPreventTM Technologies at combating unknown threats has been put to the test by ICSA Labs, an independent division of Ciber Trust. After running exhaustive tests on these technologies, the prestigious IT security laboratory has highlighted their capacity to detect malware with no need for advance updates, along with a lack of false positives and negligible impact on system performance. The German laboratory AV-Test.org has also carried out a study this year, directed by the well-known computer security expert Andreas Marx, which states that TruPreventTM Technologies were capable of neutralizing all variants of the Zobot and IRCBot worms -which in August 2005, caused havoc in important companies and institutions, mainly in the USA-, without knowing them beforehand.

The twenty finalists of the current edition of EISTP will be chosen by Euro-CASE and announced on October 6. Then, Euro-CASE will propose three grand prize winners to the European Commission who will collect their award in the ceremony that will be held on March 23, 2006 in Vienna.

About EISTP

EISTP (http://www.ist-prize.org/) is organized by the European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE) with the sponsorship and support of the Information Society Technologies Programme of the European Commission.

EISTP provides prestige and public recognition to companies that excel for offering innovative products with a high information technology component and a clear market potential.

About Panda Software

Panda Software (www.pandasoftware.com) is a leading developer and provider of integrated security solutions to combat viruses, hackers, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam and other Internet-borne threats. With the revolutionary TruPreventTM Technologies, Panda Software’s innovative solutions offer a greater return on investment, keeping clients protected even against new threats that have yet to be identified. PandaLabs, the fastest laboratory in the industry to provide complete updates to users, offers a worldwide response to malware 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round.

Panda Software’s centrally-managed security solutions protect servers, and gateways and all network entry points, ensuring a straightforward and highly effective line of defense against Internet threats for large organizations, SMBs and consumers. Panda solutions are backed by a team of expert support technicians in all countries where the company is present. Tech support services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For more information and evaluation versions of all Panda Software solutions, visit our website at: http://www.pandasoftware.com/