Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and
viruses, today announced that it has joined the Virus Information
Alliance, an industry initiative founded by Microsoft Corp. and
consisting of ten leading anti-virus vendors. The alliance aims to
provide Microsoft customers with accurate and relevant information
about the latest virus threats affecting Microsoft technology.
As part of the initiative, virus researchers in Sophos labs
around the globe will share timely analyses of new virus threats
with Microsoft and other members of the alliance. The alliance's
findings will be made available to Microsoft customers and will
include details about how a new attack is propagated, what targets
are being attacked, and how customers can reduce exposure and
minimise impact.
"An industry-wide effort informing customers about new threats
and how to protect against them is a great step forward," said
Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos. "We are delighted
to have joined the alliance and look forward to sharing technical
information."
Exchanging its anti-virus expertise with alliance members means
Sophos, whose award-winning anti-virus software protects more than
25 million computers against viruses, is able to better serve
Microsoft customers, and help reduce businesses' exposure to
emerging threats.
Sophos has a network of virus and spam labs around the world,
ensuring businesses globally are protected from the latest virus
and spam threats. Sophos analysts in the UK, Australia, USA, and
Canada, maintain a round-the-clock vigil monitoring new internet
threats as they emerge and producing rapid response protection.
"Security is a global, industry-wide issue and we look forward
to working together with Sophos and other VIA members to help us
continue to provide customers with timely and prescriptive security
information," said Mark Miller, security incident response manager
at Microsoft.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.