Malware Radar, just launched by Panda Software in the USA at Interop 2007, finds malicious code on systems otherwise protected by resident, traditional anti-virus software

According to Gartner, “by the end of 2007, 75 percent of enterprises will be infected with undetected, financially motivated, targeted malware that evaded their traditional perimeter and host defenses.” (Gartner, Inc., Highlights Key Predictions for IT Organizations in 2007 and Beyond by Neil McDonald, Dec 06.)

Malware Radar is the first web-based, automated malware audit service for companies from five to thousands of seats that addresses this serious problem. It can be used to:

* Search networks for malware (even the malware that the current installed
solution does not detect)

* Evaluate the state of the current PC protections

* Find critical vulnerabilities on computers in the network

Malware Radar is fully compatible with any current security solution already installed on the network, regardless of its vendor. Also, Malware Radar needs no installation. After the network has been audited nothing is left installed.

Malware Radar’s main benefit is that it is capable of detecting more malware than traditional security solutions due to:

* Its extended signature file, composed of more than 950,000 signatures
(traditional AVs normally have around 300,000-400,000 signatures)

* Its advanced genetic heuristics capable of detecting unknown malware

Malware Radar has this extra signature file because it benefits from Panda’s new technology called the “Collective Intelligence”.

Collective Intelligence was born in the second half of 2006 with the sole objective of being able to reliably detect over 10 times more malware than traditional means with 10 times less effort. Collective Intelligence functions as an online and real-time Security-as-a-Service platform. Behind the Collective Intelligence platform are over two years of research and development and millions of dollars in investment efforts.

With this Collective Intelligence approach, over 95% of new malware samples received at PandaLabs can be analyzed and classified automatically in a manner of seconds.

An audit by Malware Radar can and should be performed routinely on any system, no matter which resident anti-virus software program is already being run on the system.

While virtually all companies have some software installed on their systems to protect them from malicious code attacks — the harsh reality is that traditional anti-virus technology just cannot handle the enormous volume of attacks through Trojans, hacker tools, root kits and other malware that have surged in the past year. Meanwhile, with no warning to system administrators, malicious code is active or waiting to pounce on corporate systems stealing identities, wiping out bank accounts and infiltrating corporate secrets.

Last month alone, PandaLabs received 80,000 individual malware variations — more than the total previous five years combined. Anti-virus labs are being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of malware that needs to be processed. Automation, such as the technology developed in PandaLabs that is utilized by Malware Radar, is the only viable solution.