AVG releases Internet Security 8.0 with re-engineered engine

Targeted at businesses of all sizes, AVG claimed LinkScanner is designed to protect users of Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers against the emerging attack trends such as drive-by downloads from poisoned web pages, and to flag dangerous search results in Google, Yahoo and MSN search engines.

"The rapid rise of web exploits threatens to undermine the very fabric of Internet trust," said Roger Thompson AVG Chief Research Officer. "Five years ago, if you visited web sites for pornography or illegal file sharing, you expected to run across adware and spyware, but you seldom had reason to fear legitimate web sites.

“Today, the situation has changed. Google, Facebook and MySpace - some of the Internet's most popular and trusted destinations - are increasingly the unwitting distributors of drive-by downloads," Thompson said.

In addition to LinkScanner, AVG has re-designed the user-interface and said the new scanning engine was ‘built from the ground up’. Furthermore, AVG Internet Security 8.0 contains a new Web Shield module to scan files during download or exchange over ICQ or MSN instant messaging to ensure they are safe and free of malicious content.

Anti-rootkit technologies, a new firewall, and anti-spam capabilities, have also been tweaked, said AVG.

"Today's Internet is like the Wild West of old. While it's packed with new and exciting places to go and things to do, it's also rife with hidden threats," said Karel Obluk, chief technology officer of AVG Technologies and the chief architect behind AVG 8.0.

Brian Burke, program director, Security Products at IDC said: "Consumers and businesses would be well advised to consider real-time protection against drive-by downloads and other infective methods that require no user interaction."

Earlier this week Thompson discovered that the website of the St Kilda Football Club was being branded by Google as a site that "may harm your computer". It is likely the site was hacked in the past and although now clean, anyone searching for the club's website using Google will be blocked from reaching the site.

AVG Internet Security 8.0 is scheduled to ship on 28 February 2008 and is priced at $101.95 for a two year, single user license including unlimited signature updates and program upgrades.

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