Facebook Partners With AVG to Help Keep Social Networkers Safe
Poster: SySAdmin
Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:49:01 PM
Facebook Partners With AVG to Help Keep Social Networkers Safe
AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO, October 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
- AVG Technologies is latest member of Facebook's AV Marketplace -
AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG), the provider of Internet and mobile security to 128
million active users, announces its partnership with Facebook to help protect the world's
largest global online community from the latest security threats by providing data from
AVG LinkScanner to help users avoid malicious web links posted by users on Facebook. There
will also be the option to download the latest AVG AntiVirus FREE 2013 product, just
launched last month from the Facebook AV Marketplace [http://www.facebook.com/security ].
AVG AntiVirus FREE 2013 puts users in control of their Internet experience while
offering great protection for social networking and other online activities. In addition,
AVG's dynamic detection engine provides further protection by scanning links posted to
Facebook in real-time to identify if any of the links are malicious. AVG users are unable
to post such links that could infect their Facebook friends.
Facebook CSO, Joe Sullivan commented "With over one billion users, we are tireless in
our commitment to keep both our users and their data safe. We are proud to announce our
new partnership with AVG to better protect our users both on and off of Facebook. Starting
today, Facebook will be able to leverage AVG's feed of malicious URLs to prevent users
from navigating to harmful sites. Additionally, people can download AVG's anti-virus
software from the AV Marketplace to help secure their devices."
In the AVG Technologies Q2 2012 Community Powered Threat Report
[http://mediacenter.avg.com/en/press-tools/avg-threat-reports/avg-community-powered-threat-report-q2-2012.html ]
, AVG revealed how Facebook, due to its huge popularity, is a target
channel used by unscrupulous cybercriminals to scam users of the social network. Some of
the threats AVG protects Facebook users against includes spam messages and socially
engineered tricks to try to get personal and financial data from unsuspecting individuals.
In August this year, AVG Threat Labs
[http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/webthreats/info/blackholeexploitkit ] identified an explosion
of attacks
[http://blogs.avg.com/news-threats/million-avg-users-protected-day-long-wave-blackhole-infected-web-ads ]
using the notorious Blackhole Exploit kit that targeted Facebook users who
were unable to log-on to their accounts or access any games or applications.
Cybercriminals coordinated the attacks from multiple external advertising servers and used
the social media channel Facebook to reach vulnerable users through malicious
advertisements; these advertisements generated an exceptional increase from 250,000
attacks to over 1.6m recorded events within an eight hour period. AVG took swift action to
protect its customers and ensure the malicious content was blocked.
JR Smith, CEO, AVG Technologies, commented: "This partnership with Facebook marks our
continuing commitment to collaborating with major brands to help protect online
communities from cybercrime. Social platforms are today a vital part of our modern
communications networks, and it's important that people do not feel worried about using
them. We believe that consumers should have a choice of options they can use to secure
their connected world, giving them peace of mind to enjoy their digital experiences
whether through a computer, mobile device or tablet."
###
About AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG)
AVG's mission is to simplify, optimize and secure the Internet experience, providing
peace of mind to a connected world. AVG's powerful yet easy-to-use software and online
services put users in control of their Internet experience. By choosing AVG's software and
services, users become part of a trusted global community that benefits from inherent
network effects, mutual protection and support. AVG has grown its user base to 128 million
active users as of June 30, 2012 and offers a product portfolio that targets the consumer
and small business markets and includes Internet security, PC performance optimization,
online backup, mobile security, identity protection and family safety software.
http://www.avg.com
Keep in touch with AVG
- For breaking news, follow AVG on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/officialAVGnews
- For small business security trends analysis, follow the AVG small business
blog at small-business.blog.avg.com [http://small-business.blog.avg.com ]
- Join our Facebook community at http://www.facebook.com/AVGfree
- Join our LinkedIn community http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid'19797
AVG Technologies
CONTACT: Contacts: United Kingdom: Lennard van Otterloo, MSLGROUP for AVG, Lennard.vanotterloo@mslgroup.com; United States: Jeff Seedman, Finn Partners for AVG, seedmanj@ruderfinn.com; Investor Relations: Anne Marie McCauley, AVG Technologies, AnneMarie.McCauley@avg.com
AMSTERDAM and SAN FRANCISCO, October 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
- AVG Technologies is latest member of Facebook's AV Marketplace -
AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG), the provider of Internet and mobile security to 128
million active users, announces its partnership with Facebook to help protect the world's
largest global online community from the latest security threats by providing data from
AVG LinkScanner to help users avoid malicious web links posted by users on Facebook. There
will also be the option to download the latest AVG AntiVirus FREE 2013 product, just
launched last month from the Facebook AV Marketplace [http://www.facebook.com/security ].
AVG AntiVirus FREE 2013 puts users in control of their Internet experience while
offering great protection for social networking and other online activities. In addition,
AVG's dynamic detection engine provides further protection by scanning links posted to
Facebook in real-time to identify if any of the links are malicious. AVG users are unable
to post such links that could infect their Facebook friends.
Facebook CSO, Joe Sullivan commented "With over one billion users, we are tireless in
our commitment to keep both our users and their data safe. We are proud to announce our
new partnership with AVG to better protect our users both on and off of Facebook. Starting
today, Facebook will be able to leverage AVG's feed of malicious URLs to prevent users
from navigating to harmful sites. Additionally, people can download AVG's anti-virus
software from the AV Marketplace to help secure their devices."
In the AVG Technologies Q2 2012 Community Powered Threat Report
[http://mediacenter.avg.com/en/press-tools/avg-threat-reports/avg-community-powered-threat-report-q2-2012.html ]
, AVG revealed how Facebook, due to its huge popularity, is a target
channel used by unscrupulous cybercriminals to scam users of the social network. Some of
the threats AVG protects Facebook users against includes spam messages and socially
engineered tricks to try to get personal and financial data from unsuspecting individuals.
In August this year, AVG Threat Labs
[http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/webthreats/info/blackholeexploitkit ] identified an explosion
of attacks
[http://blogs.avg.com/news-threats/million-avg-users-protected-day-long-wave-blackhole-infected-web-ads ]
using the notorious Blackhole Exploit kit that targeted Facebook users who
were unable to log-on to their accounts or access any games or applications.
Cybercriminals coordinated the attacks from multiple external advertising servers and used
the social media channel Facebook to reach vulnerable users through malicious
advertisements; these advertisements generated an exceptional increase from 250,000
attacks to over 1.6m recorded events within an eight hour period. AVG took swift action to
protect its customers and ensure the malicious content was blocked.
JR Smith, CEO, AVG Technologies, commented: "This partnership with Facebook marks our
continuing commitment to collaborating with major brands to help protect online
communities from cybercrime. Social platforms are today a vital part of our modern
communications networks, and it's important that people do not feel worried about using
them. We believe that consumers should have a choice of options they can use to secure
their connected world, giving them peace of mind to enjoy their digital experiences
whether through a computer, mobile device or tablet."
###
About AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG)
AVG's mission is to simplify, optimize and secure the Internet experience, providing
peace of mind to a connected world. AVG's powerful yet easy-to-use software and online
services put users in control of their Internet experience. By choosing AVG's software and
services, users become part of a trusted global community that benefits from inherent
network effects, mutual protection and support. AVG has grown its user base to 128 million
active users as of June 30, 2012 and offers a product portfolio that targets the consumer
and small business markets and includes Internet security, PC performance optimization,
online backup, mobile security, identity protection and family safety software.
http://www.avg.com
Keep in touch with AVG
- For breaking news, follow AVG on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/officialAVGnews
- For small business security trends analysis, follow the AVG small business
blog at small-business.blog.avg.com [http://small-business.blog.avg.com ]
- Join our Facebook community at http://www.facebook.com/AVGfree
- Join our LinkedIn community http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid'19797
AVG Technologies
CONTACT: Contacts: United Kingdom: Lennard van Otterloo, MSLGROUP for AVG, Lennard.vanotterloo@mslgroup.com; United States: Jeff Seedman, Finn Partners for AVG, seedmanj@ruderfinn.com; Investor Relations: Anne Marie McCauley, AVG Technologies, AnneMarie.McCauley@avg.com