TMCnet News
Avinti Launches NEWT, a Free E-Mail Security Software Plug-in That Stops Blended Threat E-Mail AttacksLINDON, Utah --(Business Wire)-- Avinti(R), a proactive e-mail security solutions company, announced the free public beta program for NEWT (Neutralize E-mail-Web Threats), a freeware plug-in that stops new, malicious attacks launched using spam e-mail messages. NEWT plugs into the most popular e-mail gateways and blocks incoming e-mail that contains URLs or IP addresses that link to known malware Web sites. Those interested in participating in the public beta program should visit www.avinti.com/NEWT. Avinti is limiting the number of participants in public beta of the NEWT program, but plans to launch NEWT as an open, free service to the general public. Increasingly, hackers are using spam and targeted e-mails with embedded links to Web-based malware to bypass traditional antivirus (AV) products and Web-filters to infect computers with little user intervention. A recent study released by Computer Economics states 22% of all malware attacks now come from the Web, second only to e-mail-based attacks(1). Avinti's unique solution to this problem is its iSolation Server(TM) product, which proactively and safely blocks threats not detected by traditional security solutions. NEWT, which is a plug-in filter that runs on the most popular MTAs (Mail Transfer Agents), leverages the power of Avinti's iSolation Server to intercept and validate Web-based attacks by comparing the URLs or IP addresses in e-mails to known malware sites. Addresses of malicious Web sites, found by Avinti's iSolation Server and pulled from malware lists, are regularly forwarded to the NEWT filter, updating it with the latest list of malicious Web sites. "Avinti has tracked a large increase in blended threats that bypass gateway AV products by using plain text messages with URLs or IP addresses linked to Web-based malware. We thought it would be useful to provide a light-weight scanning-based plug-in for MTAs that would benefit from Avinti's database of threats," said William Kilmer, Avinti CEO. "With NEWT, each e-mail is reviewed for malicious URLs or IP addresses, and can be tagged, quarantined, or blocked on the user's e-mail server. In our own hosted network, our iSolation Servers are testing new URLs and adding to our database of known bad sites. Enterprises will immediately have a new, effective defense system against blended threat attacks, and Avinti will build a larger database of URLs that are blocked due to malware." As a freeware plug-in, NEWT works with Sendmail, and Postfix MTAs. The company plans to launch a solution for Exim in the near future and will consider other platforms. The user downloads and installs NEWT as a plug-in, which contains an updated list of known malware sites, and receives incremental updates of new malware signatures approximately every 30 minutes. NEWT is designed to leverage the network effect of its users by anonymously sending URLs back for review. "While NEWT is a Freeware product, it takes advantage of the patent-pending technology we've developed in our iSolation Server to detect threats in real-time, without having to rely on signatures," said Kilmer. "When the iSolation Server detects a malicious URL, we automatically create a signature for NEWT, and age older threats as they disappear, providing updates regularly. Additionally, Avinti's iSolation Server and NEWT are complementary technologies to existing signature-based AV products, only helping improve performance." For more information on NEWT, iSolation Server and Avinti, visit www.avinti.com. About Avinti Avinti is a proactive e-mail security solutions company that has taken a different approach to protecting enterprises from security threats. Avinti's iSolation Server proactively and safely blocks threats not detected by traditional security solutions. The company's investors include Sequel Venture Partners, Symantec, and vSpring Capital. (1) 2007 Malware Report: The Economic Impact of Viruses, Spyware, Adware, Botnets, and other Malicious Code, Computer Economics, 2007 |
