Authentium Reports Computer Virus Outbreaks Doubling Every Twelve Months

Number of known computer viruses tracked by Authentium, a leading security software company, now exceeds 200,000; could hit 1 million by 2008.

West Palm Beach, FL (PRWEB) August 29, 2005 -- Authentium, Inc., the world's leading end point security technology aggregator and integrator, and developer of the Authentium Extensible Security Platform, today announced that their computer virus database protection list now contains identifying data on more than 200,000 individual computer viruses.

"Our analysis confirms that the number of viruses in circulation has doubled every twelve months, every year for the past fifteen years," said Robert Sandilands, head of the Authentium Virus Research Lab. "Back in 1991, there were less than 200 viruses worldwide. This week, the number of separately identified threats in our database reached 201,554. At this rate the number of computer viruses will hit one million by 2008, and five million by 2010."

Back in 1991, there were less than 200 viruses worldwide. This week, the number of separately identified threats in our database reached 201,554. At this rate the number of computer viruses will hit one million by 2008, and five million by 2010.

The Authentium Virus Research Lab database, a collection of virus definitions or "signatures", is updated whenever a new threat is found -- often within minutes of the outbreak -- by a team of researchers and analysts spanning the globe. Authentium's list of viruses easily outpaces many of its better-known competitors, such as McAfee (130,000), and Symantec (70,000), the maker of Norton Antivirus.    

"You can't just concentrate just on the viruses you hear about on the evening news," said John Sharp, Authentium's Chairman & CEO. "We find a surprisingly high number of computer infections result from viruses introduced into the world years ago. With over 200,000 virus signatures, Authentium now casts the widest safety net in the antivirus business. Our customers are some of the biggest mail service providers, security software developers, and Internet Service Providers in the world. They, and their customers, expect full protection."

According to recent FBI and Computer Science Institute reports and other industry analysts, an increasing number of computer viruses and other threats, such as spyware, are being produced by organized crime organizations. Many threats now present themselves to organizations as "blended threats," and combine stealthy behavior along with advanced virus, spyware, Trojan, spamming, and phishing techniques.

Authentium has developed a range of integrated applications and techniques designed to protect against these emerging blended threats, including sophisticated heuristic techniques, end point threat emulation, and service hardening technology, which provides protection against threats designed to target antivirus scanning engines.

Two weeks ago, Authentium's Command Antivirus technology was 100% successful in blocking the widely-reported Zotob threat, responsible for attacks on CNN, ABC, and other large news organizations, prior to its identification. None of Authentium's customers reported infections.

"To catch a problem like Zotob and stop it infecting an organization, having the largest database working for you is a great start", stated Mr. Sandilands. "However, to ensure full protection, you need frequent updates, you need great heuristics, and you need end point service hardening. In that sense, nothing about this business has changed -- preparation is still the most important thing. In fact, it is everything."

About Authentium, Inc.

Based in West Palm Beach, Florida, Authentium develops core operating system encapsulation, file and application defense, data interception and data analysis technologies for inclusion in its flagship Extensible Security Platform.

Authentium is the leading provider of security software development toolkits to independent software vendors, software publishers, and security appliance manufacturers, and one of the fastest-growing privately-held companies in the security software industry, providing services to more than 2,200 enterprise and government organizations, millions of ISP customers, and more than 25,000 education customers worldwide.

For more information about Authentium, please visit www.authentium.com.

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