Look to the clouds for better content security

Trend Micro says that in-the-cloud security is the only long-term solution to web threats

Kuala Lumpur, June 25 2008 – Trend Micro, a global leader in Internet content security, says that it is expanding its “in-the-cloud” solutions as part of its multi-layered strategy that will provide companies with lighter, faster and stronger endpoint security capabilities.

Trend Micro says that by pushing security further into the network infrastructure, companies will be able to stop threats at their source in the cloud, while also embedding multi-layered protections more deeply into the network.

This new approach is designed to reduce reliance on time-consuming pattern-downloads on the client. Trend Micro expects this to become a key component of Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, a next-generation cloud-client content security infrastructure.

Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, which uses a number of patent-pending technologies, combines Internet-based (or “in-the-cloud”) technologies with lighter-weight, client-based methods to ensure customers have immediate access to the latest and strongest protection wherever and however they connect – from home, within the company’s network, or on the go.

It delivers the infrastructure behind Trend Micro’s solutions and services and demonstrates Trend Micro’s commitment to execute the company’s strategy and vision to move more security capabilities into the Internet cloud.

At the heart of the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network is the move beyond the conventional approach of blocking threats, towards a global network of threat intelligence that uses Trend Micro’s cloud-based technology to block threats before they reach a network or computer. This enables Trend Micro Smart Protection Network to take the fight against crimeware into the Internet cloud. It leverages the company’s on-premise products as well as hosted solutions that have effectively protected millions of customers since Trend Micro’s inception 20 years ago.

Raimund Genes, CTO of anti-malware for Trend Micro, said, “By storing the majority of pattern files in an Internet cloud database and keeping them at a minimum on the endpoint, Trend Micro helps stop Web, file and email threats before they reach the end-user or the corporate network. This new approach lightens bandwidth consumption on customers’ networks and endpoints and provides faster and more comprehensive up-to-date protection.”

He says that memory-consuming pattern files on PCs and networks have grown exponentially in recent years. In 2005, approximately 50 new patterns were added to the database on any given day.

“In 2008, that number has grown to 5,000 a day,” exclaims Raimund.

The Trend Micro Smart Protection Network correlates Web, email and file threat data using reputation technologies and continuously updated threat databases in the cloud to detect, analyze and protect customers from the latest threats.

These technologies have been successfully integrated within the company’s security solutions portfolio throughout the past 15 months and currently handle an average of 5 billion queries per day.

With its Web threat protection strategy, Trend Micro first staked the claim that traditional scan-based security solutions alone can no longer provide effective protection from insidious Web threats and that a multi-layered, multi-component set of flexible, adaptable techniques was needed.

Trend Micro expects to start integrating its new cloud-client file reputation technology into its portfolio of endpoint security solutions for consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as enterprises in 2009. The technology will become an integral part of the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network.

By introducing fast, real-time security status “look-up” capabilities in the cloud, Trend Micro reduces dependence upon conventional pattern file downloads on the endpoint, as well as the cost and overhead associated with corporate-wide pattern deployments.