McAfee unveils 2005 range of computer security products in the Saudi Arabian market

The new solutions that include a range of firewall, anti-virus, anti-spam and anti hacking applications were launched at a press conference held today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The new solutions, McAfee VirusScan Home 9.0 McAfee VirusScan Professional 9.0, McAfee Personal Firewall Plus 6.0, McAfee Spamkiller 6.0, McAfee Privacy Service 7.0, McAfee Internet Security Suite 7.0 and McAfee QuickClean 5.0, are considered to be the most comprehensive defence tool available in the market to help in computer integrity and protection against security compromises.

Speaking at the press conference, Abdulrahman Gorashi, General Manager SMB & Consumer, Middle East & Pakistan, McAfee said, "Saudi Arabia has expanded rapidly over the last few years and there is an increased dependency on computers and the Internet. This creates an environment where a single internal or external breach can compromise sensitive information. As computer attacks are getting more sophisticated, data integrity and computer security have become a bigger concern for enterprise and home users worldwide and McAfee has been constantly coming up with solutions to deal with this."

Commenting on the release of the new products, Mohammad Suleman, Product Manager, Aptec, distributors for McAfee in Saudi Arabia, said: "The rapid growth of internet in the region and the use of IT tools and the corresponding rise in the incidents of computer security compromises have prompted the need to use the most up to date applications. As the leading edge solutions provider in computer security, McAfee is rightly placed to offer the most advanced and relevant, reliable and affordable security solutions. The new line of products from McAfee gives the customer a full range of options in protecting their computers."

"Computer security in an online world is extremely important. As applications such as online banking and shopping are taking the region closer towards an eSociety, the importance of computer security, privacy and data integrity is underscored," said Mohammad Al Shafi, Business Development Manager SMB & Consumer, Mindware, distributors for McAfee in Saudi Arabia. "The product line up of McAfee reflects the needs in various aspects of digital security. These applications ought to be invaluable and central for businesses and individuals while pursuing an online security strategy."

At the press conference, Gorashi introduced the latest line up of McAfee products to the Saudi market, starting with McAfee VirusScan Home 9.0 that offers some of the most refined virus scan processes in the market. With an enhanced user interface, VirusScan Home 9.0, offers full integration with the Anti Virus engine resulting in faster scanning and less chance of system degradation. The VirusScan Home 9.0, new features include; detection of web diallers; improved scheduled scan features that now detect both viruses and spyware; automatic updates scan for spyware signature files and detection of Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP) as well as inbound and outbound email and Instant Message (IM) scanning for the most popular email clients, including Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Mail, Eudora among others. The McAfee VirusScan Professional 9.0 is an advanced version of VirusScan and offers a two-user licence in addition to bundling McAfee SpamKiller 6.0 and McAfee Shredder.

The McAfee Personal Firewall Plus 6.0 is an essential tool for computer users today as it continually safeguards online communications, protecting against unauthorized access of PCs and personal data, in the backdrop of increased broadband and high-speed Internet usage. The new version has improved intelligent application handling features, that automatically denies outbound Internet access to malicious applications that might secretly transmit personal data to hackers, while allowing trusted programs to connect without unnecessary alerts or false alarms. In addition, the advanced worm protection features in the McAfee Personal Firewall, helps stop virus-like worms from spreading by adding it to the list of known applications that can't be trusted.

McAfee Spamkiller 6.0 uses a multi-layered filtering engine to detect and delete unsolicited, fraudulent, inappropriate and offensive emails being distributed in record numbers. Improved layered security strategy of Spamkiller 6.0 is complemented with invisible text and image filtering that zeroes in on colourless content and telltale code inside image-only or image-heavy emails that spammers use to evade anti-spam engines. Additional features include improved white-listing and intentional misspelling filtering features that help stop spam with camouflaged content offering fine tune spam traps for the customer.

McAfee QuickClean provides a set of efficient and easy-to-use tools that safely removes digital debris, while keeping sensitive data private. McAfee QuickClean ensures unwanted personal information is safely removed to optimise security and performance. The major feature of the new and improved version of Quick clean us Application Remnant Cleaner (ARC), that ensures that all remaining files and folders and remnants of uninstalled applications are cleaned.

The McAfee Internet Security Suite is the most comprehensive and integrated Internet defence available in the retail market. The security suite is built upon McAfee's award-winning technologies and safeguards personal data, prevents viruses, prohibits unauthorized computer access, blocks hackers and spammers, and helps block pop-up ads. The suite contains, McAfee VirusScan, McAfee Personal Firewall Plus, McAfee SpamKiller, McAfee Privacy Services (only available online) and McAfee Parental Controls. The suite also helps prevent phishing and identity theft and contribute a great deal to preventing online child abuse. The suite offers, improved integration points and greater product interoperability. The suite is also available in a two-user licence version.