Malware prevention for Skype

FaceTime Communications announced enhancements to its Greynet Enterprise Manager including detection of malicious URLs entering the enterprise network via Skype instant messaging conversations. Skype is encrypted using a proprietary method, making it impossible for traditional security products to view the content of a Skype text conversation.

Working in partnership with Skype over the last year, FaceTime is the only security vendor with the ability to examine the content of a Skype instant message as it enters the network. Using its leading malware signature database maintained by FaceTime Security Labs, FaceTime’s products verify that content is safe and free of malicious URL links before entering the network.

Malware entering enterprise networks via real-time communications such as instant messaging and Skype costs businesses nearly $289,000 annually on average, according to the 2007 survey “Greynets in the Enterprise: Third Annual Survey of Trends, Attitudes and Impact,” conducted by NewDiligence Research and commissioned by FaceTime. The survey revealed that IT managers experience nearly 39 incidents per month, on average, that require some kind of repair or remediation to end user PCs, and each repair requires, on average, about nine hours of work.