Monthly Main Meeting Highlights
Welcome to the August Main Meeting
Tonight we were joined by Daniel Osborne from Trend Micro.
Trend Micro is one of the leading Internet Security Companies in Japan.
Daniel started his talk with a look at the Trend Micro Live Threat Tracker showing the current known threats on Trends remote servers.
We then went on to look at Trend Micro's Maximum Security.
Trend has a unique perspective on internet security. Given that most attacks occur while you are on the net, Trend took the idea that their security measures should be on the net also. Their idea is:- rather than keep vast amounts of security data on our computers, slowing response times, why not store it remotely? This means that Trend will stand between you and that infected site by scanning it remotely from their own servers before you download anything. This gives the client live, and literally "up to the minute" protection from any malicious site even if no one has seen the site before.
When you go into your favourite browser you will see green ticks against known safe sites. By simply hovering over a link without a tick, you tell Trend to check that site. If it's OK you see a green tick, if not the big red X appears.
If it is a site new to Trend then their servers are immediately updated and the protection is extended to all subscribers, no waiting for the next security update to download.
Trend Micro also has what I would call a "multi device approach" to protection. The smart phone the tablet and the desktop are now all connected to the internet and therefore all vulnerable to attack. Trend has recognised the huge growth in mobile communications and that one person will have different operating systems on different devices.
To cover all your devices, Trend has made their Security products," cross platform" so any device, be it Mac, Android or Windows will be protected, in one licence. For the smart phone and tablet, Trend has an app scanner, surfing security to protect children and a remote "find and lock" application if you lose the phone.
The idea of using a remote server to stop rogue sites from going on phishing expeditions and attacking your computer is great, but what about vulnerabilities when you don't have a connection? Daniel spoke about this by describing how a small but complete set of virus definitions was stored on the device so any malicious program from, say, your friend's USB stick will be found.
Here are the Maximum Security details
Backup is a fundamental tool most security programs use. Like a lot of Security companies, Trend Micro offer a ten gigabyte remote storage for that purpose but Trend have a unique way of using it.
Most security programs only use the storage to backup and restore your data. The security program will copy your chosen files to their server and restore it if needed. Your only access to that storage is through the programme. Trend allows you to use the space not only to backup but to share your files. Its similar to Microsoft's Skydive or Dropbox. To demonstrate, Daniel grabbed a photo of the meeting on his mobile.
He uploaded it to his SafeSync site and set it as a shared file. Then using his computer he displayed it on the screen.
If ten gigabytes is not enough you can buy more storage.
Here is a link to the Trend Micro site.
The basic Cost
Maximum Security $129.95, Internet Security $99.55 and Smart Surfing at $59.95.
If you missed out on the raffle you can download a thirty day trial here.
The Raffle.
Thanks to Daniel and Trend Micro for tonight's prizes which were three Maximum Security programmes.
They were taken home by
John
Roger and
Paul with
Elizabeth taking home the door prize.
