PC Tools Cracks Hacker Code in Seconds With New Secret Weapon — Threat Expert™

Business Wire, Feb 1, 2007

Content Sharing Organizations Have New Tool to Protect Users

SAN FRANCISCO -- PC Tools today unveils Threat Expert(TM)--an automated technology that decodes suspected malware providing security companies, search engines, content sharing organizations with information to stop potential threats quickly.

"This sophisticated technology makes a significant difference in fighting emerging spyware and virus threats for both consumers and security vendors," said Simon Clausen, CEO of PC Tools. "We radically save time cracking complex spyware and virus codes by automating this detection process and giving real-time threat information to consumers and vendors."

Suspected threats require a thorough evaluation to determine if they pose a real threat to users. Once a threat is identified, it can take hours, or even days, to reverse engineer that threat and later produce a report and develop a solution. "With Threat Expert a sophisticated analysis can typically be completed in less than 5 minutes. Our team of highly-trained analysts can then offer signature updates to our customers in less than an hour," Clausen said.

"We are seeing an explosion of new threats and variations that major anti-spyware and anti-virus companies can't handle. The time it takes to manually decode these dangerous threats means consumers and social networks are vulnerable until threats are decoded and fixes are made," Clausen said.

"At the PC Tools Malware Research Center, each server processes up to 1,000 samples a day. It would take more than 125 highly-trained analysts to perform the same work of just one of our Threat Expert servers."

Clausen said Threat Expert, a patent pending technology, will initially be offered free to security vendors, search engine companies, and content sharing organizations to battle emerging threats so vendors can test its effectiveness. Vendors or individuals can simply send suspected threats to PC Tools through a special website portal where Threat Expert will quickly provide a detailed report so vendors can then create the patch to eliminate these threats.

"We see a clear opportunity to balance the security equation when combating these threats," said Clausen, who added this robotic detection and analysis technology is the first to offer a truly scalable way to instantly crack spyware and viruses and relay this information to users.

"This is why our research is substantially better than even the largest competitors in the Internet security space. It also shows how -- through innovation and intelligent design -- even a medium-sized security vendor can challenge those large companies at the top."

"Historically, the battlefield for anti-malware vendors has been the collection of threat samples, leading to the development of 'honey pots' and 'malware crawlers,' but with the massive growth in spyware and viruses the challenge today is rapidly processing the enormous data and providing solutions to end users instantly before damage is done," said Michael Greene, Vice President of Product Strategy.

"Threat Expert is embedded with sophisticated behavioral search technology that analyzes previously unknown threats, including rootkits," Greene explained. "It knows the specific behavior of spyware, malware, adware, dialers, downloaders, worms, viruses, etc. It even looks for virus-like behavior that includes: mass mailing, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), exploiting Windows bugs, backdoors, and network distribution/replication."

Learn more about Threat Expert at: http://www.pctools.com/threat-expert/

ABOUT PC TOOLS[TM]

PC Tools is a global software leader with a cache of security and utility products, including the multi award-winning Spyware Doctor(TM). PC Tools is an industry leader in real-time anti-spyware and has a number of key patents pending.

The PC Tools Malware Research Center monitors trends and emerging spyware issues and provides security solutions for the consumer and enterprise marketplace. The malware database is highly integrated with Spyware Doctor's broad range of scanning and real-time system protection tools, making Spyware Doctor one of the most effective anti-spyware products on the market today. PC Tools is headquartered in Sydney, with offices in San Francisco, London, Dublin, Melbourne, and Kiev. PC Tools has a global network of distributors, resellers, and retailers.