TippingPoint Adds Spyware Protection to UnityOne Intrusion Prevention Systems
AUSTIN, Texas – Nov. 22, 2004 – TippingPoint Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: TPTI), the leader in intrusion prevention, today announced that it has extended the capabilities of its UnityOneâ„? Intrusion Prevention Systems to protect organizations from Spyware.
“Immediately after installing the UnityOne, we saw 900 Spyware packets blocked per hour,” said Bonnie Norman, system security engineer at WellStar Health System. “Despite the other tools we had in place to block Spyware, we had 95 machines that UnityOne showed us were seriously infected. The UnityOne helped us locate and remove the Spyware-infected computers on our network, and is now blocking Spyware installation attempts daily.”
According to the annual SpyAudit report jointly released by Earthlink and Webroot, over three million scans uncovered over 83 million instances of Spyware. Spyware is software that collects personal information about a computer user without their knowledge or permission. It often causes computers to act sluggish or crash, causes a bandwidth drain on organizations, and can be a conduit for security threats.
“Unfortunately, most organizations we’ve worked with do not realize they have Spyware installed on desktops throughout their network,” said TippingPoint’s Chief Technology Officer Marc Willebeek-LeMair. “By blocking Spyware at the network level, organizations gain the efficiency of one centralized solution that can protect desktops, increase uptime, optimize bandwidth and productivity, and proactively block Spyware threats.”
TippingPoint blocks the top Spyware threats, according to Webroot’s studies, including: Gator, Hotbar, Ezula, Cydoor, SaveNow, CoolWebSearch (CWS), Altnet, and BargainBuddy. TippingPoint plans to block installation attempts of hundreds more Spyware programs. In addition to blocking the installation of Spyware, TippingPoint’s new filters prevent computers that were infected prior to implementing UnityOne from uploading personal information to their collection servers, rendering the Spyware powerless. They also prevent the Spyware servers from updating the desktop agents with new functionality, and block the download of ads that get sent back from the master servers to the users’ desktops.
Spyware works by sending a variety of data from an infected PC to a third-party database without the knowledge of the user or business. At the most fundamental level, data that is automatically and unknowingly sent out of an organization is risky in a regulatory environment that includes Sarbanes-Oxley and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
TippingPoint’s Spyware protection is free to existing customers, and will be automatically delivered to their UnityOne systems through the Digital Vaccine remote update service.
According to John Jones, network supervisor at Utah Transit Authority, “By using TippingPoint’s UnityOne, we have removed Spyware from systems where it was unwillingly installed and have reduced Spyware installation attempts. In addition to its security benefits, blocking Spyware enables us to use our limited bandwidth for business-critical applications.”
TippingPoint’s UnityOne provides Application Protection, Performance Protection and Infrastructure Protection at gigabit speeds through total packet inspection. Application Protection capabilities provide fast, accurate, reliable protection from internal and external cyber attacks. Through its Infrastructure Protection capabilities, UnityOne protects routers, switches, DNS and other critical infrastructure from targeted attacks and traffic anomalies. UnityOne Performance Protection capabilities enable customers to throttle non-mission critical applications that hijack valuable bandwidth and IT resources, thereby aligning network resources and business-critical application performance.
About TippingPoint
TippingPoint is the leading provider of network-based intrusion prevention systems that deliver in-depth Application Protection, Infrastructure Protection, and Performance Protection for corporate enterprises, government agencies, service providers and academic institutions. Our innovative approach offers customers unmatched network-based security with unrivaled economics, ultra-high performance, scalability and reliability. TippingPoint is based in Austin, Texas, and can be contacted through its Web site at www.tippingpoint.com or by telephone at 1-88UNITYONE.