On Message with Ben Gross

More Zero Hour Defense Products Hit the Market

February 28th, 2006

Zero-hour virus defenses offer protection during the first few hours after new viruses begin to spread, before traditional anti-virus signatures have been updated. Over the last few months, it’s become clear that zero-hour defense is a must have feature, with at least half a dozen companies making announcements about zero-hour products.

This week, Proofpoint shipped its Messaging Security Gateway 4.0 appliance, which includes the company’s new zero-hour anti-virus module. The company says its system “identifies new virus activity and takes preventive action an average of 10 hours before signature-based solutions even begin to respond.”

Traditional AV vendors might differ that characterization of their response times, but zero hour products are clearly the flavor of the month:

Mirapoint announced its RazorGate appliances would use Commtouch’s Zero-Hour Virus Protection.

Secure Computing Corporation announced its Zero-hour Attack Protections (ZAP) for its Sidewinder G2(r) Security Appliance.

Clearswift announced that its managed service would provide zero hour defense.

Finjan offered a new product roadmap, that among other things, emphasize the strengths of its zero-hour defense.

Symantec Corp. noted that its next generation security service, known as Genesis, will also feature zero hour defense.

Another month or two like this, and “zero-hour” will simply be assumed, and thus cease to be a meaningful differentiator.

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