Trend Micro offers Internet security assessment

New Delhi: A risk-free, two-week security assessment by Trend Micro that allows Trend Micro to monitor an enterprise's security environment and help them discover how, why and where security threats happen was taken by various enterprises.

Enterprises that thought they were secure discovered otherwise: The security threat assessment uncovered active malware and threats that had slipped through existing security infrastructures, and were residing undetected on corporate networks and endpoints on 100 percent of all participating companies from North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. On average, these companies have over 11,000 employees and include those from the finance, healthcare, government, education and manufacturing industries.

“The results garnered from our security threat assessment prove that as threats become more numerous and sophisticated, conventional security technologies such as endpoint anti-virus, Web security gateways, email security gateways and IPS solutions are struggling to keep up,” said Jai Balasubramaniyan, Director-Product Management and Marketing, Trend Micro. “The types of malware we found were more than just a nuisance, they were malicious and designed to steal data,” he added.

Between October 2008 and June 2009, Trend Micro performed over 100 assessments on enterprises worldwide and discovered that:

• 100 percent of them were infected with active malware
• 50 percent had at least one data-stealing malware hidden in their networks
• 45 percent had multiple data-stealing malware infections
• 72 percent had at least one IRC bot
• 50 percent had four or more IRC bots
• 83 percent had at least one malware Web download
• 60 percent had more than 20 malware Web downloads
• 35 percent had at least one network worm

Trend Micro security threat assessment utilizes a non-invasive, listen-only appliance that doesn't interfere with network operations.

The assessment appliance monitors network traffic to detect resident malware activities, such as botnets and also monitors inbound e-mail and Web traffic to detect potentially infected messages and suspicious Web sites.

At the end of the two-week assessment, Trend Micro will issue an enterprise-specific report that

examines potential vectors of infection, identifies malware, information stealers, affected assets, infection sources, and disruptive applications. Also, pinpoints specific problem areas by IP address

and increases visibility into the company's security network for better understanding of how the threats occurred, where they entered the network, and how to fill security gaps.