McAfee Launches VirusScan 3.0; Features New Hunter Virus Detection Engine, Office 97 Macro Virus Protection, and Free Automated Upgrades; VirusScan's New Hunter Anti-Virus Engine Detects 100% of Viruses in Latest Secure Computing Magazine Review

Business Wire, March 3, 1997

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 1997--McAfee (NASDAQ:MCAF), the world's leading vendor of anti-virus software, today announced VirusScan 3.0 for Windows 95 and VirusScan Deluxe 3.0. VirusScan 3.0 has been enhanced to provide higher virus detection rates, Office 97 application protection, automated updating via Internet "push" technology, and free electronic upgrades to new versions. According to market researcher IDC, McAfee's VirusScan is the world's most popular anti-virus software, selling more units than all other titles combined.

"VirusScan 3.0 raises the bar on virus detection rates, ease of updating and worldwide support for our customers," said Bill Larson, McAfee's president, chairman and CEO. "Our new Hunter engine technology has delivered 100% detection in recent tests and protects against new threats such as Office 97 macro viruses. We're not resting because we have scored 100% in our initial tests. We're investing aggressively in both development and virus research to maintain the best detection rates available."

VirusScan Detects 100% of Viruses in Key Tests

VirusScan's improved detection rates have been independently verified by Secure Computing magazine, a leading international computer security journal based in the United Kingdom. According to a review of the VirusScan 3.0 beta in the March issue of Secure Computing, VirusScan 3.0 detected 100 percent of all viruses in Secure Computing's standard testbed of viruses. As a result of VirusScan's strong showing, the product was awarded the "SC Recommended" seal of approval, Secure Computing's highest award for standalone product reviews. VirusScan 3.0's predecessor also scored 100% detection rates in a National Computer Security Association review of in-the-wild viruses and 100% of boot sector viruses in the November VSUM report.

"The McAfee VirusScan Hunter engine represents a significant advance for McAfee's anti-virus technology," said Paul Robinson, editor of Secure Computing. "Our testing has shown that VirusScan provides computer users solid protection against viruses, as evidenced by their 100% detection rate score in our test."

This high detection rate is enabled by McAfee's new Hunter engine. The Hunter engine employs a combination of sophisticated virus analysis technologies to detect all types of viruses, including Microsoft Word, Mail and Excel macros; boot sector infectors; file infectors; polymorphic viruses; multi-partite viruses; encrypted viruses and new viruses written in Microsoft Visual Basic. The Hunter technology includes over three thousand new virus detectors, including virus strings from Asian and European research centers, and specialized algorithms for detection of polymorphic viruses.

VirusScan 3.0 Protects Against Microsoft Office 97 Macro Virus Threat

Of the estimated 11,000 known computer viruses, only about 250, or 2%, are macro viruses, yet these macro viruses account for half of all virus infections. Macro virus outbreaks spread rapidly as Word or Excel documents are attached to e-mail messages. Macro viruses in Office 97 are written in a new common macro scripting language, Microsoft Visual Basic 5 (VB5). This new common scripting language poses a serious new virus threat.

"We view VB5 as the emerging platform for macro viruses," said Jimmy Kuo, McAfee's Director of anti-virus research. "With just a few simple macro code modifications, virus writers can take a macro virus written for Word documents and alter it to attack Excel spreadsheets. The applications of software vendors and VARs who have licensed VB5 as their standard scripting language can also be easily targeted by these macro virus writers."

While Office 97 contains some protection against macro viruses, McAfee anti-virus researchers have found that approximately 36% of all macro viruses written for previous Microsoft applications still operate in the new Office 97 environment. With the introduction of VirusScan 3.0, McAfee is one of the industry's first anti-virus software vendors to protect against Office 97 macro viruses and other viruses written in Microsoft's new VB5 scripting language.

McAfee the Only Anti-Virus Vendor with Global Anti-Virus Research Facilities

McAfee is committed to providing the industry's highest virus detection rates in VirusScan. To deliver the highest detection rates, McAfee has opened new anti-virus research centers in Japan and the Netherlands. These new laboratories join McAfee's existing facility in Santa Clara, Calif., to comprise McAfee's Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team (AVERT). AVERT is the only virus research team with professional virus researchers in North America, Europe and Asia.

AVERT researchers work 24 hours a day to analyze approximately 1,000 suspect new viruses submitted each month by McAfee customers. In order to provide rapid response to emerging virus threats, AVERT now posts hourly beta updates for detectors of new viruses on the Internet at beta.mcafee.com. McAfee is the industry's only anti-virus vendor to provide this level of protection.