Signature and scan-free virus protection hits the channel

NSW reseller Base IT has signed signature-free and scan-free virus protection from Sana Security to plug a hole in its security portfolio.

Base IT director, Bruce Allan, said the US vendor's Primary Response SafeConnect virus protection, which doesn't need constant signature updating or regular malware scanning, would stand out in the Australian market.

"We looked around the market and other people toy with this [technology] but they don't do it as a primary thrust of their product," Allan said. He said plenty of demand existed for improved security products.

Most savvy businesses and consumers had already installed broadbased Internet security packages or, at the very least, anti-virus software. Yet none of that protected against threats for which signatures had not been released, Allan said.

Primary Response SafeConnect could detect those attacks by monitoring the behaviour of Internet traffic, then quarantined and removed the threats, he said.

Base IT expected to do about $500,000 on the Sana Security account in the first year, mainly from retail, he said.

"We do see a lot of enterprise customers, particularly tier-twos, looking at it as a way to guard themselves against the kind of attacks they're not currently protected from," Allan said. "Other products usually protect users from 50-87 per cent of attacks. It's the remaining threats that are the problem."

Sana Security head of worldwide marketing, Joe Digiovanni, said even smaller businesses and home users could benefit from Primary Response SafeConnect, Sana's flagship anti-malware application.

The cost is US$29.95 per annual license.

"This is very useful for what we call the tech bench market, companies that provide tech support to customers," Digiovanni said. "When people call tech support, often it is some kind of virus, rootkit or trojan horse slowing down their PC."

Primary Response SafeConnect could reduce the average handling time for support calls, because it targeted threats that were difficult to detect using conventional security packages, he said.

Resellers could also bundle Sana Security products with systems or other software applications, such as standard anti-virus or Internet security.

"We run with more than 40 of the main security applications - including Trend Micro, McAfee, Kaspersky and Sophos," he said.

In the US and UK, Sana comes with particular Lenovo SKUs. It was hoped that a similar arrangement would be worked out for Australia, Digiovanni said.

Primary Response SafeConnect had been deployed around the world nearly a million times, with its US customers including large ISPs such as Earthlink, Digiovanni said.