ESET have launched the 7th generation of its flagship consumer products: ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security, at GITEX Technology Week in Dubai. New technology features, including Exploit Blocker, Advanced Memory Scanner, Vulnerability Shield and ESET Social Media Scanner provide a great balance of protection and usability without compromising system performance.
“GITEX is the ideal platform for us to launch new technologies, given the immediate impact that they can create on both end users and IT channel players,” says Neo Neophytou, Managing Director, ESET Middle East. “The newly launched products products retain the same low system footprint ESET is known for, while offering even greater protection from new and yet undiscovered malware thanks to unique core technology improvements.”
“These days’ cybercriminals often deploy heavily-encrypted malware designed to evade detection. To further increase the probability of infection and damage, malware is typically being distributed by exploiting vulnerable applications such as web browsers, PDF readers, email clients or MS Office components,” states Anish Kuruvilla, Technical Support Engineer, ESET Middle East.
To deal with these threats, ESET has conducted extensive research and extended its core detection technology in version 7 products with three new features:
- Exploit Blocker, the brand new feature targets the very process of exploitation of vulnerable applications, thus it is generic and independent of the payload/malware that finally infects the machine. It provides protection against new and undiscovered malware, also known as zero day threats.
- Advanced Memory Scanner steps in as a post-execution method, aiming to detect the outstanding malware sets that other technologies haven’t spotted. The Scanner helps to protect against malware actively trying to evade detection by employing obfuscation techniques.
- Vulnerability Shield, an extension of Personal Firewall in ESET Smart Security, it operates on the network level and protects against misuse of known vulnerabilities in network protocols.
Considering the growth of social media cyber threats in the Middle East including Twitter spam and malware, the new version 7 products have various product enhancements to boost their security and pack an improved ESET Social Media Scanner (version 2). It monitors and keeps the user and their friends’ social network accounts away from threats, allowing the user to choose from on-demand and automatic scans for malware detection. Apart from better scanning of Facebook it also extends protection to the user’s Twitter account. The Security Center displays the current privacy level on Facebook and Twitter, with suggestions for changes to improve privacy settings. All these improvements are part of the my.eset.com. By creating an account at my.eset.com, the user can manage the protection of their social media profiles and protect an unlimited number of accounts, including those of friends and family.
Latest research results by Harris Interactive1 shows that there is a growing number of adult Internet users connecting to multiple networks on a daily basis. On average, these users have at least 2 social media accounts and two-thirds of them do not feel that websites do a good job of screening for malicious content. The report states, “Receiving suspicious messages has become the norm, with 4 in 5 social media users having ever received one; of them, 91% received one this year, most commonly by e-mail, then text.”
“During the BETA phase of version 7 products, Advanced Memory Scanner was able to detect and collect a number of samples belonging to malware families that often cause issues such as Win32/TrojanDownloader.Wauchos, a disreputable vehicle for further malware delivery, or high-profile Trojans such as Win32/Fynloski, Win32/Wigon or Win32/Zbot2 and last, but not least, the technology has proven to help against ransomware Trojans, too,” adds Kuruvilla.
ESET Research and Development teams have paid close attention not only to detection, but also to malware cleaning. The Cleaner Module has been improved specifically to address rootkits removal and a Specialized Cleaner has been added to help with the most resistant malware.
Both, ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security are officially certified for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. To download the new version 7 products and to find out more on the new technology and core features, visit ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security product pages.
ESET’s stand at GITEX Technology Week is located in the Network & Security section of GITEX at Hall 1, A1-5.
