Kaspersky Debuts Updated Security Software

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 8/1/2007

Woburn, Mass. — Kasperksy Lab today released the second retail edition of its Internet security applications.

Kaspersky Labs Internet Security 7.0 and Antiv-Virus 7.0 are available immediately as an electronic download from the company’s Web site; next week it will hit Best Buy’s shelves and widely available in September, said Randy Drawas, Kaspersky’s marketing VP. Internet Security 7.0 will retail for $79.95 and Anti-Virus 7.0 for $59.95. Owners of the 6.0 version of the software can upgrade electronically for free.

Drawas said Best Buy is the latest retailer to pick up the software, which was introduced into retail in June 2006. The titles are now sold in about 10,000 storefronts up from 6,000 last year.

The NPD Group said Kaspersky Labs has less then half a percent of the anti-virus software market as of late 2006, but the fact that the company could break into an already very crowded market with what is a premium priced product is very impressive, said Chris Swenson, NPD’s director of software industry analysis. Internet Suite data sales were not available.

The titles did receive several upgrades, but the primary additions are Heuristic Analysis and real-time behavior blocking.

Heuristic Analysis isolates and analyses unknown programs that start running on a computer. The Heuristic engine grabs the malware and allows it to run in a sealed off area. Here it is inspected for negative qualities.

Real-time behavior blocking works to protect against the latest malware threat: those that come directly from a Web site and not from a download or email, said Lid Tadesse’s, Kaspersky’s assistant engineer. The software inspects the data flowing from every site visited checking for malware

Other changes include a redesigned user interface, better parental and privacy controls and a firewall that scans outgoing emails for data that, unknowingly to the user, might contain secure information.

The new versions continue with the company’s hourly anti-virus updates, a necessity Drawas said, because of the number of dangerous pieces of software being introduced into the Internet every day. He said about 86,000 bits of malware, and the more serious and prevalent crimeware that looks to steal PC-owners financial data, were released last year. This number is expected to rise to 100,000 in 2007.