Sourcefire, a leader in intelligent cybersecurity solutions, has introduced FireAMP advanced malware protection, a malware discovery and analysis solution that analyses and blocks malware by utilising big data analytics.

Designed for large enterprises, FireAMP delivers unprecedented visibility and the control needed to block threats missed by other security layers. It is the latest fulfillment of the company’s Agile Security vision for context-aware, adaptive, and automated security solutions.

Neil MacDonald, vice president, Gartner, said: “Test results consistently show that the endpoint protection platforms (EPPs) currently available still do not protect endpoints against mass-propagated consumer threats - and their performance is even more dismal when faced with handcrafted targeted attacks.”

“The dwell time of targeted threats can be measured in months or even years, in some instances. Gartner currently estimates that 4 per cent to 7 per cent of enterprise endpoints are infected at any given time, and that the next scheduled scan will catch only 1 per cent of threats,” said Peter Firstbrook, research director, at Gartner.

With the launch of FireAMP, Sourcefire is first to market with five new capabilities that amplify an organisation’s defenses against advanced malware. They are:

* FireCloud: Cloud-based infrastructure encompassing a number of advanced detection capabilities that leverage big data analytics to identify and score threats missed by other security layers.

* File Trajectory: Tracks file movement within the enterprise, allowing organisations to identify the entry point and propagation path of malware.

* File Analysis: Provides detailed information on malware behavior backed by the elite Sourcefire vulnerability research team (VRT) and the company’s collective security intelligence.

* Outbreak Control: Customer-defined detections that immediately block malware without requiring an update from your security vendor.

* Cloud Recall: Continuous in-the-cloud analysis of historical file activity to discover and remediate threats that were previously missed.

The software uses a lightweight agent to communicate with a cloud-based analysis engine and only leverages metadata for evaluation, requiring less storage, computation and memory than other security products. This minimises system impact and allows it to coexist with and supplement existing security layers without sacrificing performance or manageability.

“While developing this product, we spoke with more than 100 large enterprises and heard one common theme – while they have the latest security technologies with all of the latest updates, they still see malware infections,” said Oliver Friedrichs, senior vice president of Sourcefire’s cloud technology group.

“We developed FireAMP with sophisticated detection, visibility and control especially for enterprises whose primary solutions are lacking. Its discovery and analysis capabilities can help these companies quickly determine which systems are infected, how the infection occurred, the extent of the infection and how the malware behaves in order to both stop the malware and recover,” he added.

The product offers powerful reporting that delivers visibility into the state of malware in an environment. These reports detail high-risk computers, threat root cause, applications that are introducing malware, and advanced persistent threats, and list advanced malware that could be unique to a customer’s environment.

FireAMP also includes comparative reporting, so that users can evaluate activities within their environment in the context of their overall organisation or the larger, global installed base of its customers. – TradeArabia News Service