F-Secure Partners with L-Soft
New product will safeguard 60 million subscriptions
Helsinki, October 29, 2001 – L-Soft, creator of the industry’s most widely used e-mail list management software, and F-Secure (HEX: FSC), a provider of managed security for enterprises, today announced an agreement to integrate F-Secure’s Anti-Virus technology into L-Soft’s LISTSERV® product line. The added functionality will make LISTSERV® the industry’s first e-mail list management software to provide critical virus protection for subscribers.
When integrated with LISTSERV®, F-Secure Anti-Virus checks each e-mail attachment sent via mailing lists, providing protection from harmful computer viruses. If a virus is detected, LISTSERV® will reject the propagation of the message containing the virus. L-Soft will offer this additional security free of charge to its Windows 2000® and Linux customers within their standard maintenance contracts.
Viruses such as last September’s Nimda have taken advantage of the speed and prevalence of e-mail lists to infect tens of thousands of victims in a matter of hours. “We want to protect as many of the 60 million subscriptions stored on platforms supported by the anti-virus system as possible, and this means giving the functionality away for free. In today’s economy, anything that is not in the budget gets delayed, and we want quick adoption. We want virus writers to know that they will not succeed in changing the way people use e-mail. Mailing lists are and will remain an effective, time saving communication tool,” said Eric Thomas, L-Soft’s CEO and founder.
F-Secure Anti-Virus is engineered for fast, automatic virus database updates – a key advantage in the e-mail virus protection market. In addition, it is the only anti-virus software with multiple scanning engines, reducing the risk that any harmful viruses could escape detection.
“We are proud to see the technical advantages of our products recognized by L-Soft and used to protect such a large user base. We are also pleased to note that security is being integrated more and more into applications and service offerings,” said Risto Siilasmaa, President and CEO of F?Secure Corporation.
“Over the past few months, CGI has been increasingly concerned about the impact of computer viruses on Bell Canada’s mailing lists,” said Bill Attia, Senior Consultant at CGI Inc., dedicated consultant for Bell Canada. “As a long-time customer of L-Soft’s advanced product line, we are excited that the company is adding F-Secure’s anti-virus functionality and are looking forward to using this new technology in our marketing campaigns.”
LISTSERV®, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, was the first e-mail list management software on the Internet and is still the most widely used today. L-Soft’s LISTSERV® software enables users to create and maintain e-mail lists and is currently used to manage more than 190,000 lists worldwide.
About L-Soft
L-Soft develops and sells software and outsourcing services for managing and delivering e-mail marketing campaigns. Founded in 1994, L-Soft pioneered the e-mail marketing industry with its flagship product LISTSERV®, the first and most widely used software for e-mail list management. Since then, L-Soft has expanded its portfolio of products and services to include e-mail delivery, outsourcing and consulting services.
Recognized in 2000 as Maryland’s 17th fastest-growing technology company by Deloitte & Touche, L-Soft delivers more than 30 million messages a day to more than 100 million list subscriptions. With offices in the U.S. and Europe, the company serves more than 2,500 customers across the globe including AOL, British Airways, Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal, The United States Senate and the United Nations. More information on L-Soft can be found at www.lsoft.com
About F-Secure
F-Secure Corporation is a leading provider of centrally managed security for today’s mobile, wireless enterprise. The company offers a full range of award-winning, integrated anti-virus, file encryption, distributed firewall and VPN solutions for workstations, servers, gateways and mobile devices. F-Secure products are uniquely suited for delivery of Security as a Service(tm) which provides invisible, reliable, always-on, and up-to-date security for the most widely distributed user base. Whether provided by corporate IT or delivered by service providers, F-Secure solutions extend policy-based security and instant alerts to all devices where information is created, stored or accessed. Founded in 1988, F-Secure Corporation is listed on the Helsinki Exchanges [HEX: FSC]. The company is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland with North American headquarters in San Jose, California, as well as offices worldwide.