IMSecure Pro by ZoneLabs

[BLACK HAT]

San Francisco, CA. - August 12, 2003 - Zone Labs Inc., a leading creator of endpoint security solutions, today announced the immediate availability of a new product, Zone Labs IMsecure Pro, the first comprehensive instant messaging (IM) security solution for any program that accesses the most popular IM services such as AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. IMsecure Pro ensures that IM conversations are private and secure, protecting PCs and valuable personal information from spammers, identity thieves, hackers and predators who exploit vulnerable IM connections. IMsecure Pro protects the PC transparently, regardless of service or client used, requiring no change to existing habits or software.

A recent study conducted for the National Cyber Security Alliance by America Online discovered that 86 per cent of users store sensitive personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account information and social security numbers on their PCs, making any unprotected PC an attractive target for hackers and online predators. Highlighting this expanded risk is the rapid growth of instant messaging for both personal and business use; Ferris Research predicts that instant messaging will grow from 54 million unique consumer users in 2002 to 341 million unique consumers in 2007.

"Instant messaging is quickly becoming a key communication tool, equal in importance to email and the telephone," said Frederick Felman, vice president of marketing, Zone Labs. "Because instant messaging provides a persistent and direct connection to the outside world, it can be exploited by hackers to gain entry to a PC. IMsecure Pro was built based on Zone Labs' core philosophy that security must be both powerful and easy to use for maximum protection."

By design, IM programs seek any open PC communications port to communicate, which can put individual PCs and any network to which they are connected at risk if the user has selected an IM security solution that relies on traditional methods like monitoring specific ports or IP addresses. While the IM clients are regularly updated, the client protocols that they use are rarely changed. Because IMsecure Pro secures by protocol, it offers always-current, dependable and flexible protection for the most popular IM clients.

Further underscoring the need for IM security, IM threats are evolving rapidly. Gartner analysts recently identified instant messaging as one of the top 11 security issues for 2003, stating that the ubiquity of instant messaging is creating worrisome holes in security. IM protocols and applications make them inherently vulnerable to traditional hacking exploits such as scripting and buffer overflows. Additionally, IM users are often tricked through IM-based spam to visit harmful web sites or accept virus-laden file transfers. IMsecure Pro's combination of both Inbound and Outbound Threat Protection reduces exposure to malware as well as prevents eavesdropping, impersonation, and theft of personally-identifiable information, intellectual property and other confidential data stored on the PC.

Features and Benefits in IMsecure Pro 1.0

Key features and benefits in IMsecure Pro include:

Universal, Client-Independent Protection
IMsecure Pro secures the three major IM services --AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger -- which carry the majority of IM traffic. In addition, IMsecure Pro secures the most popular third-party clients such as Trillian, EasyMessage, Imici and Meca. Unlike competitive products, IMsecure Pro secures IM protocols rather than specific IM clients' ports or IP addresses, thereby protecting all IM traffic. As a result, users can continue to communicate with their existing IM product while gaining the benefits of increased security.

Instant Protection
With pre-configured Smart Default settings, IMsecure Pro offers 'out of the box protection'. A Security Log records IM security events as they occur and displays them in a configurable view so users are aware of IM-related security events that occur on their PCs and can take follow-up actions, if necessary.

Inbound Threat Protection
IMsecure Pro follows Zone Labs' "guilty until proven innocent" security philosophy, protecting against both known and unknown IM vulnerabilities. It guards the PC from infiltration by hackers introducing malicious code through invalid messages, buffer overflow attacks or dangerous IM-borne scripts. An additional benefit of Zone Labs' "guilty until proven innocent" approach to security is the Spam-Blocker, which shields users from inappropriate content and wasted time by blocking unsolicited messages.

Outbound Threat Protection
ID Lock prevents users from inadvertently sending personally-identifiable information such as a social security number, bank account or credit card information. This is especially useful for families who wish to ensure that their children do not share sensitive information, like their home or school address, to strangers. In addition, Message Encryption protects IM traffic from being intercepted and read by others so that IM conversations remain private and free from monitoring. IMsecure Pro encrypts IM communication between any two IMsecure Pro-protected client programs that are communicating via the same service, e.g., a Yahoo! Messenger user communication with a Trillian user over Yahoo!.

Ultimate Control
IM Lock provides granular control over IM in the case of misuse, allowing the instant shut down of any or all IM communications in or out of the PC. In addition, Feature Control lets users block specific IM capabilities, including file transfers, voice or video, conserving bandwidth as well as preventing users from unwittingly revealing too much about themselves to strangers. In a family setting, parents can use Feature Control to safeguard their children from sending photos or videos of themselves, or even having a voice conversation via IM with strangers. As an extra measure of protection, IMsecure Pro can be configured to require a password to change settings, thus protecting security settings from inadvertent, or inappropriate, changes.

In keeping with Zone Labs' philosophy that basic security should be free, the company also announced a basic IM security product, IMsecure, which will be available the end of August 2003. IMsecure offers simple inbound threat protection from buffer overflow attacks as well as Message Encryption for one IM account to protect instant messages from being monitored. IMsecure is free for personal and non-profit use.

Availability Information
IMsecure Pro 1.0 is available immediately for purchase and download from the Zone Labs web site at www.zonelabs.com for $19.95, including one year of security updates. A 15-day trial version of IMsecure Pro also is available on the Zone Labs site.

For those users who want only basic IM security, IMsecure 1.0 will be available from the Zone Labs web site at no cost for personal and non-profit use at the end of August 2003.

Zone Labs will also incorporate IM security into its enterprise endpoint security solution, Zone Labs Integrity, by year-end 2003.

About Zone Labs, Inc.
Zone Labs(r), one of the most trusted brands in Internet security, is a leading creator of endpoint security solutions protecting millions of PCs and the valuable, personally-identifiable information on those PCs, from hackers, spyware and data theft. The company's award-winning endpoint security product line is deployed in global enterprises, small businesses and consumers' homes, protecting them from Internet-borne threats. Zone Labs Integrity(r) is an endpoint security management platform that protects corporate data and productivity. ZoneAlarm(r) Pro, ZoneAlarm Plus and ZoneAlarm are among the most popular and successful Internet security products available today while IMsecure(tm) Pro and IMsecure offer essential security for instant messaging.

Founded in 1997, Zone Labs is a private company headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, with European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. For more information, please visit Zone Labs at www.zonelabs.com.

[Jeff]

This information was also available on our home page yesterday. Be sure to check there first for the latest news, or if you have breaking news, you can submit it for review using our story submittal form. If approved, it'll go up on our front page.

As for this particular story, it's been getting a lot of free press, mainly because of Zone Alarms' name recognition. I think the "problems" of IM security are overstated, at least in terms of the saavy computer user. If you exercise discretion in managing your privacy settings, scanning received files, not wontonly clicking every link or file Joe Somebody sends you; you'll probably be fine.

[rustedtight]

I tend to agree that a forum is no place for a press release, particularly one without reference to a source or an acknowledgement of possible copyright.