McAfee Releases New Consumer Identity Theft Protection Products

August 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- McAfee, Inc., today announced that it has addressed consumers' concern for identity theft protection as well as social engineering attacks including spyware, spam and other malicious programs with the release of its next- generation security service suites now available for download at www.mcafee.com . Both McAfee Internet Security Suite and McAfee Total Protection offer market-leading identity theft protection that help to prevent the multiple scams that identity thieves use to target unprotected -- or under-protected -- consumers.

Identity thieves use a variety of methods to target online consumers. These include sending Trojan Horses or Potentially Unwanted Programs, which when downloaded to the PC, may monitor keystrokes, track Internet log-ins, transmit confidential information, or redirect a consumer's browser to fake Web sites. Phishing and spam techniques are also employed, using fraudulent emails and Web sites to lure consumers into disclosing private account or login information. In addition, any email, attachment, or transaction traversing over an unsecured wireless network can be intercepted and manipulated by a criminal.

"Consumers have grown increasingly concerned about protecting their personally identifiable information as they search, browse and transact online. With our new suites, McAfee arms consumers with improved and new technologies protecting them from traditional threats such as viruses, Trojans and spyware, as well as solutions for emerging threats such as rootkits," said Marc Solomon, Director of Product Management, McAfee Consumer. "In addition, McAfee continues its heritage of innovation by providing consumers with an entirely new and important layer of protection that's only available at McAfee: McAfee SiteAdvisor. Available in every new McAfee product, McAfee SiteAdvisor warns consumers that adware, spam and online scams may reside on a Web site with a user friendly rating scheme to help consumers stay safe online."

McAfee provides the most comprehensive solutions in the market, protecting consumers in three critical areas: the PC, the home network and online.

To protect the PC, McAfee has improved current technologies and offers brand new protections in its products. These include McAfee SystemGuards which look for malicious behavior to stop potential spyware, viruses and hackers, as well as McAfee X-Ray for Windows which detects and kills rootkits -- malicious hidden programs. McAfee also offers automatic back-up to securely preserve copies of valuable files on CD, DVD, or USB and external drives, and available in every suite are maintenance tools which optimize PC performance.

With consumers increasingly using home networks, McAfee has built capabilities to secure the networks and make networks easier to use. A network manager has been included in all products to let consumers monitor security weaknesses on all systems on the network -- not just the user's PC. About 40% of home wireless networks don't use encryption, and McAfee has answered this need with McAfee Wireless Protection which secures home networks in just a few easy steps. Included in Wireless Protection is McAfee EasyNetwork which provides automatic printer sharing and drag-and-drop file sharing across trusted computers on the home network.

To protect the millions of consumers online, McAfee has enhanced all of its existing technologies and added new protections, with a special focus on identity theft protection. The complete list of identity theft protections includes:

McAfee SiteAdvisor clearly identifies potentially dangerous sites that have engaged in "social engineering" attacks such as spyware, adware, spam, browser attacks, and online scams. The easy-to-use software summarizes these findings with intuitive red, yellow, and green icons that empower online users to decide what to browse and what to avoid.

New technologies for rootkits and stealth technologies:

McAfee X-ray for Windows detects and kills rootkits and McAfee SystemGuards watches the PC for specific behaviors that may signal virus, spyware, or hacker activity.

Best of breed anti-phishing technologies protect consumers from a) phishing emails b) other phishing scams online, which lure victims to known phishing Web sites c) in-person criminal snooping on a computer, protecting the consumer from others with access to the PC. McAfee conducts 9 different anti-phishing checks on Web sites and uses multiple feeds from professional corporations that specialize in tracking phishing Web sites so its anti-phishing database is always being updated.

Privacy service technology: Consumers are alerted before personally identifiable information is transmitted from their system.

Virus and Spyware Protection: McAfee identifies, blocks, cleans and removes viruses automatically, and if a user does download from a "bad" site, McAfee's anti-spyware proactively protects from the malware installing. In addition, McAfee is the first security company to block tracking cookies from installing on the PC. Tracking cookies can be installed without a consumer's knowledge and are used by hackers to monitor and report PC activity.

Password vault: This new feature allows the consumer to securely store confidential passwords on their machines, preventing others from viewing them.

McAfee Shredder: Allows the user to digitally "shred" confidential files, effectively removing virtually all traces of files from the PC.

The next-generation McAfee security services now available for download include:

McAfee Total Protection offers the most advanced security in the market today by protecting users from emerging, complex, and multi-faceted threats on their PCs, wireless home networks, and Internet browsing. It is designed for families with children and a wireless home network that links multiple computers. An annual subscription costs $79.99.

McAfee Total Protection offers the following benefits:

• Identifies, blocks, cleans and removes viruses automatically
  
• Blocks spyware before it installs on a PC and removes existing spyware
  
• Protects consumers' online identities so they can shop, bank, e-mail and instant message
  
• Shields and conceals online access of PCs from hackers
  
• Monitors incoming and outgoing Internet activity automatically, looking for suspicious applications and data
  
• Prevents spam and phishing scams
  
• Filters offensive content, pictures and Web sites so children can be safe when online
  
• Manages Wi-Fi network security, blocks hackers from attacking Wi-Fi networks and monitors PCs across home networks for security weaknesses
  
• Monitors and manages security on PCs connected to the home network
  
• Helps consumers easily share files and printers on a home network
  
• Cleans clutter off PCs to keep them running smoothly
  
• Provides advanced warnings using SiteAdvisor's patent-pending technology to help consumers avoid sites which send spam, install adware or attempt online scams
  
• Automatically backs up consumers' most valuable files by encrypting and compressing these on a CD/DVD, USB, or external or network drive
  

McAfee Internet Security Suite offers all of the features and benefits included with McAfee Total Protection, minus the wireless network protection. An annual subscription costs $69.99.

McAfee PC Protection Plus is designed for consumers who use their computer for Web-based email, surfing the Web, downloading files and storing photos, music, videos and other files. It includes all of the protections listed in McAfee Internet Security Suite except for identity theft protection, parental controls, and spam filtering. An annual subscription costs $49.99.

McAfee VirusScan Plus has been designed for consumers who use their computers to surf the Web, use Web-based email, and download files. It uses behavior-based technologies to monitor PCs for specific behaviors that may signal virus, spyware, or hacker activity. It contains all of the protections listed in PC Protection Plus, but does not include back-up and restore features. An annual subscription costs $39.99.

McAfee Wireless Protection blocks hackers from attacking and connecting to wireless home networks, while making it easier to add secure wireless access to trusted computers for the 65% of US households who have wireless networks. It is available for download for $29.99.

McAfee Wireless Protection offers the following benefits:

• Secures wireless home networks from hackers with strong wireless encryption and automatic wireless key rotation
  
• Monitors and manages security on PCs connected to the home network
  
• Helps consumers easily share files and printers in a home network
  
• Provides advanced warnings using McAfee SiteAdvisor's patent-pending technology to help users avoid sites which send spam, install adware, or attempt online scams
  

In addition to all the benefits derived from the new protections offered with this launch, McAfee has focused on the customer experience and completely redesigned how users interact with its services: New iconography makes it easy for consumers to understand status, alerts, and information; consumers can now view security status and manage PC security with one product instead of many; and security is now categorized by a consumer's goal -- not by a product. All of the default settings are already optimized so there's virtually no set-up; the McAfee SecurityCenter, where users can run a scan, check security status, and fix security issues, is now simplified and streamlined; and the entire installation process is automated through a download manager and installer. In addition, McAfee now supports both FireFox as well as Internet Explorer.

A recent Harris Interactive survey reported that while 88% of computer users have antivirus software on their PCs, 65% of them have postponed updating the programs. To address this issue, all of the McAfee suites are offered via subscription and provide automatic updates and upgrades which download seamlessly so consumers' activities are not disrupted. As new features are developed and introduced for each suite, McAfee automatically downloads and installs them on the PC, ensuring that users always have the most advanced security.

Current subscribers of McAfee's online subscription services will get the new upgraded technologies via a phased roll-out.

For more information visi. www.mcafee.com.

SOURCE McAfee, Inc.