IT Week: Offsite email virus scanning

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/24/ns-16084.html

By Martin Veitch
Mon, 19 Jun 2000 12:56:38 GMT

Offsite antivirus security to be offered by Network Associates

Network Associates (NA) will offer antivirus security to firms via an
offsite email scanning service. This could prove attractive to firms
affected recently by Love Letter and other viruses.

At the end of this month NA's MyCIO Web site will offer a
subscription-based service for checking viruses and guaranteeing
virus-free delivery.

NA's chief operating officer Peter Watkins said, "You can redirect
email to a site which will scan it for you and guarantee it's
virus-free." NA said it will soon detail a 30,000-seat UK scanning
contract.

Many IT directors welcomed the initiative. "We would definitely look
at this," said the IT director of a high-street pharmaceuticals chain.
"The real cost of downtime each time you have a big virus like Melissa
is horrendous and it's almost impossible to persuade users to follow
rules on opening email attachments," he added.

However, Watkins revealed that there would be a short time penalty -
about five minutes - for receipt of scanned email. Service providers
which offer additional services such as maintenance and upgrading of
software are also expected to gain new business as firms reassess
email strategies in the light of Love Letter.

A recent Gallup poll showed that 18 percent of US PC users interviewed
had received the virus. NA is currently building a series of
business-to-business services from MyCIO, including security checking
and VPN configuration. The firm says that its McAfee.com
business-to-consumer site is the largest paid-subscription site in the
world.

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