LinkScanner 2.5 Runs Under Vista, Extends SearchShield Support to Firefox
Users
See Exploit Prevention Labs at Innovation Station Booth 1338, RSA
Conference 2007 February 5-8
ATLANTA and SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Exploit Prevention
Labs ( http://www.explabs.com ), a leading developer of safe surfing
software for protection against web-based exploits, today unveiled at the
RSA Conference in San Francisco the latest in its LinkScanner product line
with support for Windows Vista and the Firefox web browser. With the new
platform and browser support, LinkScanner now provides the industry's
broadest and most effective protection against malicious web sites,
phishing, social engineering and other web-based exploits.
LinkScanner Pro(TM) is a $19.95 Windows application that provides
real-time, automatic protection against malicious web sites, drive-by
downloads and other crimeware exploits encountered through search engine
results, hyperlinks, and manually-entered URLs. LinkScanner Lite is a free
application that provides Internet Explorer and Firefox users with
real-time scanning of Google, MSN and Yahoo search results for web-based
threats, as well as on-demand scanning of individual links. LinkScanner
Online provides a free on-demand service for scanning individual links.
"Vista is the most secure Windows operating system Microsoft has
produced, yet it remains vulnerable to exploits, as recent proof-of-concept
exercises have demonstrated," said Roger Thompson, co-founder and CTO of
Exploit Prevention Labs. "All indications show that consumers will adopt
Vista before corporations do, giving cybercriminals plenty of time to hone
their exploit development skills before going after the enterprise. But of
course, previous generations of Windows will continue to be in use for
years to come, with the bad guys still targeting all versions of Windows."
LinkScanner Delivers Industry's Most Reliable Protection Against
Web-based Exploits
The LinkScanner family of safe surfing software and services delivers
the industry's most reliable real-time protection against web-based
exploits and malicious web sites. LinkScanner works by monitoring the web
browser's data stream in real time, blocking web-based exploits and
malicious web sites before they can gain access to the user's computer.
Building on Exploit Prevention Labs' patent-pending anti-exploit
technology, the LinkScanner family offers SearchShield(TM) functionality to
protect users against malicious hyperlinks in search engine results. The
products also protect against malicious phishing, social engineering, and
warez web sites that distribute cracked software, and advertising networks
known to distribute malicious text and banner ads.
Conventional safe surfing applications such as McAfee(R) SiteAdvisor,
which judge web site safety based on historical data, are recognized as
delivering results that are up to 50% inaccurate. SiteAdvisor's static,
database-centric approach is simply inadequate to deal with the highly
dynamic nature of today's web environment. LinkScanner's real-time
approach, by contrast, delivers definitive information about the threats
present on any web site at the only time that matters -- the time the user
is about to click through to that site.
LinkScanner Backed by Exploit Prevention Labs' Patent-Pending
Intelligence Network
LinkScanner is powered by Exploit Prevention Labs' patent-pending
Intelligence Network, which brings together a unique combination of
research techniques:
* Exploit Intelligence is an extended network of human researchers,
automated probes, "hunting pots" (proactive honeypots), and search
bots focused on discovering new vulnerabilities and exploit examples.
* The Reputation Filter creates an intelligent filter for known and
suspected exploit distribution sites.
* Community Intelligence is the community of LinkScanner users who allow
information about attempted exploitation of their computers to be
collected as part of the Intelligence Network. This allows
LinkScanner users to serve as an extension of Exploit Prevention Labs'
research efforts. This community of users serves as a virtual
"Neighborhood Watch for the Web" -- their systems automatically report
new malicious web sites, hyperlinks and exploits back to Exploit
Prevention Labs researchers.
* SiteID digs beneath the surface of any site's publicly-stated
ownership to determine whether a site is actively in use by a
recognized individual or entity, or whether the site is really
operated by the individual or entity that claims to own it.
* The Correlation Engine aggregates intelligence gained through this
research, assembles it in real time, and distributes it transparently
back to the community, providing exploit-specific protection within
minutes of a zero-day exploit discovery.
LinkScanner Provides Reliable Protection against Web-based Exploits in
a Lightweight Application
Unlike many security software products that sap memory, disk space and
computing resources, LinkScanner products are extremely lightweight.
LinkScanner Pro requires only 10MB of RAM and 4MB of hard disk space, and
LinkScanner Lite requires even less. Both products support Windows 2000, XP
and Vista and require minimal computing resources to operate.
The LinkScanner family provides a critical layer of security that
complements and extends the defenses provided by traditional security
solutions. Firewalls cannot stop exploits because exploits use the trusted
communications stream of the browser connection to gain access to the
user's computer. Anti-virus and anti-spyware applications can't protect
against exploits because they must wait for the malware code to hit the
hard disk in order to detect it, by which time the exploits have already
executed their payload. Patch management systems can't distribute a patch
until the application vendor releases it, often weeks or months after the
discovery of a security vulnerability. And patching as a general practice,
while critical, is itself vulnerable because it frequently relies on users
taking action of their own volition.
Pricing and Availability
LinkScanner Pro and LinkScanner Lite are now available from Exploit
Prevention Labs' web site at http://www.explabs.com and through the
company's network of resellers and affiliates. Both products run under
Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.
LinkScanner Pro is priced at $19.95, including a one-year subscription
for unlimited updates and online technical support. A fully functional
30-day evaluation can be downloaded from
http://www.explabs.com/downloads/LSP Licensed LinkScanner users will
receive an automatic upgrade to LinkScanner 2.5 as part of their current
subscription.
LinkScanner Lite, which offers many of the same features as LinkScanner
Pro but without the convenient automation, is free and can be downloaded
from http://www.explabs.com/downloads/LSL
LinkScanner Online, available at http://linkscanner.explabs.com , is a
free real-time online URL scanning service that lets users know whether any
individual site they intend to visit has been poisoned by an exploit
distribution network. LinkScanner Online supports all major web browsers
and is freely available for incorporation into third-party websites.
Interested webmasters can request the code through Exploit Prevention Labs'
website at http://www.explabs.com/LinkScanner/MyLinkScanner/ .
The LinkScanner Software Development Kit (SDK) enables third-party
developers to incorporate LinkScanner technology and research into their
own applications and services.
About Exploit Prevention Labs
Founded by information security veterans Bob Bales and Roger Thompson
in 2005, Exploit Prevention Labs develops the LinkScanner family of safe
surfing software and services. LinkScanner Pro, LinkScanner Lite and
LinkScanner Online provide patent-pending protection against malicious web
sites and web- based exploits during the critical risk window between the
announcement of a security vulnerability and the provision of a patch by
the vendor. More information about Exploit Prevention Labs and LinkScanner
may be found on the company's website at http://www.explabs.com .
Media Contact:
Tim Shisler/Julie Parayno
Dovetail Public Relations
408.395.3600
xpl at dovetailpr.com
SOURCE Exploit Prevention Labs
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Related links:
http://www.explabs.com
CONTACT:
Tim Shisler or Julie Parayno, both of
Dovetail Public Relations, +1-408-395-3600, or xpl at
dovetailpr.com, for Exploit Prevention Labs
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