Fighting malware and spam

News round-up

February's goings on in the anti-malware industry.

Mobile security was something of a key theme last month, with a rash of new products released alongside updates to those already established in the market. Despite mobile malware still being a relatively minor problem, it is widely expected to become a more significant threat as the mobile market continues to grow and mobile devices become standard business tools. Indeed, last year, telecoms analyst Juniper Research predicted a steady rise in attacks on smart phones over the next five years, with an accompanying increase in the size of the mobile security software market - predicting revenues of $5 billion for security product vendors by 2011.

Vendors beginning their foray into mobile security last month included Sophos, with its Sophos Mobile Security product for PocketPC versions of Windows Mobile 5.0; Kaspersky Lab, with Kaspersky AntiVirus Mobile 6.0, covering mobile devices on both Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms; Panda , which revealed the beta version of Panda Mobile Security for smart phones based on Symbian Series 60; and BitDefender, which unveiled the full version of BitDefender Mobile Security for both Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms. Meanwhile, Symantec, rend Micro and F-Secure announced new versions of their respective mobile anti-virus products.

In what was Oscars month for the film world, AV vendors also received their share of accolades. McAfee kicked off the list of winners when its SiteAdvisor product was acknowledged by the US Department of Commerce with a 'Recognition of Excellence in Innovation' award. Eset, meanwhile, was named an 'Info Security Hot Companies 2007' winner by the Info Security Products Guide in recognition of the company's products, people, performance and potential. Finally, readers of VARBusiness - a magazine for solution providers and technology integrators - voted Grisoft's AVG Internet Security 7.5 the number one non-market-leading security software product.

A number of vendors secured significant new business deals last month. South Korean vendor AhnLab has set plans in motion for expansion into Latin America after securing a deal with Banamex, Mexico's largest bank. AhnLab will supply online security services for Banamex customers including anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall protection. Meanwhile, Norman entered into a contract to licence its Sandbox analysis products to an undisclosed 'major US-based IT company'. Although Norman has not revealed the name of the company, it has been identified as a global provider of IT security and services. Finally, F-Secure has announced a service agreement with cable TV operator Canal Digital Norway to provide security services for Canal's Norwegian broadband customers.

01 March 2007

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