AOL Launches Major Campaign Against Unprotected Broadband.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 2003 America Online See AOL. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. )-- -- To Help Members Practice Safe Broadband, AOL 9.0 -- Available This Summer to Members -- Includes Tools Such As Adaptive Spam Filtering, Customized Firewall, E-mail Anti-virus Scanning, and Enhanced Parental Controls This article is about computer options. For the television show, see Parental Control (TV series). Parental controls are options, typically included in digital television services, computer and video games, or computer software used to access the Internet, that -- AOL's Automatic E-mail Attachment A file that rides along with an e-mail message. The attached file can be of any type. E-mail programs make it easy to attach a file. For example, in Eudora, all you do is select Attach from the Message menu, browse through the folder hierarchy to find the file you want and then double Scanning Now Removing or Blocking More Than One Million Viruses from Members' E-mail Each Day America Online (NYSE: AOL), the world's leading interactive services company, today launched a major educational and marketing campaign to inform high-speed users about the dangers of an unprotected broadband connection See broadband and wireless broadband. . The campaign is based in part on recent research showing that the overwhelming majority of broadband consumers do not have the core elements of a safe broadband connection: regularly-updated anti-virus software anti-virus software n → Antivirensoftware f , a properly configured and secure firewall, and, if children are in the household, active parental controls. The campaign will include both online and offline educational and marketing efforts, free media outreach, and briefings for policymakers and consumer groups. In addition, the Company today highlighted several cutting-edge safety and security features enabled by its upcoming AOL 9.0 software that will help its members practice safe broadband, including adaptive spam filtering, a customized firewall, advanced anti-virus scanning, and enhanced Parental Controls. Those features -- which could cost up to $17 per month if purchased separately -- are available at no additional charge to AOL members and work on any DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary or cable connection regardless of whether they use AOL's bundled or BYOA BYOA Bring Your Own Access (AOL) BYOA Bring Your Own Alcohol BYOA By Your Own Admission service. (AOL's integrated premium anti-virus offering costs an additional $2.95 per month.) AOL 9.0 will be available as an exclusive members-only download later this summer. The company also said that it is now automatically blocking more than one million viruses each day from reaching its members' e-mail inboxes. This spring, as a free service for members, AOL began automatically scanning all incoming and outgoing attachments to members' e-mail each day for known viruses at no additional charge. If a virus is detected, the attachment is automatically cleaned of the virus, or, if the virus cannot be fixed or quarantined, the e-mail is returned to the original sender with a notice that their attachment was infected. The virus definitions are regularly updated and provided by McAfee Security. A landmark study from the National Cyber Security Alliance last week showed that the vast majority of basic broadband households do not have the protections they need against the dangers of an always-on connection, and most consumers do not realize that they are at risk. Two-thirds of the households in the NCSA (1) (National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Urbana-Champaign, IL, www.ncsa.uiuc.edu) A high-performance computing facility located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. study (67%) lacked properly configured firewalls; 62% did not have recently-updated anti-virus protection; and 97% of broadband households with children did not use parental controls. Only 11% of the households surveyed had all of the elements of a safe broadband connection. Despite those vulnerabilities, the vast majority of broadband consumers (86%) say they keep sensitive financial, medical, or personal information on their home computers. Lisa Hook, President, AOL for Broadband, Premium and Platform Services, said: "The broadband world is full of wonderful things, but -- just like the offline world -- it can also be dangerous. That's why AOL for Broadband offers our users an easy and convenient package of features that can help protect them from the hazards of an always-on connection. With built-in defenses to help guard against viruses, Trojan Horses It may never be fully completed or, depending on its its nature, it may be that it can never be completed. However, new and revised entries in the list are always welcome.
Tatiana Gau, AOL's Senior Vice President for Integrity Assurance and Chief Trust Officer, said: "Getting a basic broadband connection without AOL for Broadband is like buying a fast sports car without seatbelts. Why take the risk? AOL for Broadband includes core features like a customized firewall, anti-virus e-mail attachment scanning, and award-winning parental controls to help inoculate in·oc·u·late v. 1. To introduce a serum, a vaccine, or an antigenic substance into the body of a person or an animal, especially as a means to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease. 2. our members against some of the worst of the Broadband Transmitted Dangers -- BTDs -- on the Web." Safety and Security Features in AOL 9.0 Help Members Practice Safe Broadband AOL 9.0 builds on the existing security protections in AOL for Broadband with many new and enhanced features to guard members against the dangers of unprotected broadband. Some of the features in AOL 9.0 will include: New spam protections: AOL's proprietary server-side anti-spam filters block up to 2.4 billion pieces of junk mail See spam and junk faxes. every day. In addition, AOL's antispam team is constantly working to develop deploy new technologies to help our members stop spam. AOL 9.0 introduces a broad range of new software features to help our members protect their in-boxes even better from unsolicited e-mail, including: * Adaptive spam filtering -- that learns and seamlessly adapts to the type of e-mail that each individual member considers spam. For example, if a member consistently reports as spam e-mails offering deals on mortgages, AOL Mail will learn to automatically route bulk mail of this nature to the member's spam folder The location for storing unwanted e-mail as determined by a spam filter. Also called a "junk folder," spam folders are created by mail servers as well as the user's e-mail program. . Members can override AOL's automatic classification by clicking either the "Spam" or "Not Spam" buttons as necessary or choose to opt out of using this feature completely if they wish. * New "spam" folder -- where suspected spam and unwanted mail is automatically routed, separating spam from a member's regular incoming e-mail and making it easy for members to review, report and delete their spam. E-mail marked by a member as spam will help the adaptive filters learn to automatically route similar e-mails in future into this folder. * Word-specific and URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. filters -- that allow members to choose specific words that, if found in incoming e-mail, will be automatically sent to the spam folder. For members wanting even more aggressive spam filters, they can also opt to have all e-mails containing clickable clickable adj (COMPUT) → cliqueable clickable adj → cliccabile URLs directed to their spam folder, as well as opt to view only mail from contacts listed in their Address Book or Buddy List A list of colleagues, workgroup members, friends, etc., that you might wish to communicate with via instant messaging. See instant messaging. . * Blocking images and URLs from unknown senders -- prevents images or web links from displaying in e-mails unless a user chooses to see them. This feature ensures that spammers cannot force members to see inappropriate or unwanted images or links just by opening the spammer's e-mail. It also limits a spammer's ability to tell who has read their e-mail by using hidden "Web beacons". * IM Catcher -- helps members control "SpIM" (instant messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or spam) as well as spam. AOL's new IM Catcher feature will capture all instant messages sent from people not listed on a member's Buddy List and add them to a small list box for the member to manage at a later time. Particularly useful for members participating in chat rooms, the IM Catcher lets members decide if and when they want to view the messages or ignore them all together. Customized Firewall: AOL has teamed with Network Associates to provide members connecting via broadband with a customized firewall at no additional charge. AOL's McAfee Personal Firewall Express helps members guard against hackers and unauthorized intruders by helping them build a barrier between the Internet and their computer. Options allow members to block access to sensitive files, financial records and personal data, with on-demand traffic blocking from specified applications, and the creation of an event record of intrusion attempts and unsolicited Internet traffic Internet traffic is the flow of data around the Internet. It includes web traffic, which is the amount of that data that is related to the World Wide Web, along with the traffic from other major uses of the Internet, such as electronic mail and peer-to-peer networks. involving the member's personal computer. Automatic Anti-virus Scanning: AOL automatically scans all attachments to incoming and outgoing e-mails to detect viruses and fix or block infected attachments before they reach a member's computer. The service is offered at no additional charge as part of AOL membership for both broadband and narrowband subscribers. For added computer security, AOL also offers a premium integrated service with McAfee Security that extends virus protection beyond e-mail to the PC's hard drive to help guard members against infection from peer-to-peer file sharing Copying files from one computer to another. See peer-to-peer network, file sharing protocol and file and printer sharing. , Web site downloads, infected CD-ROMs and disks, multi-media files, and more. Parental Controls: AOL's award-winning Parental Controls offer a robust and flexible set of tools for parents to monitor and regulate what their children see and do online. AOL's Parental Controls allow parents to specify whom children can communicate with in email, whether or not they can send and receive Instant Messages and what kinds of Web sites children can browse. AOL 9.0 also includes several enhancements to Parental Controls, including: * WebUnlock -- allows parents to create a customized list of sites that kids can visit while using AOL, in addition to the sites allowed though AOL's standard age categories. Through WebUnlock, children can request access to a particular Web site and check the status of their request. As always, parents are ultimately in control and can manage their child's access to the Web. * Internet Access See how to access the Internet. Controls -- provide extended Parental Controls protections for AOL members on a broadband connection. This added coverage prevents children from using external browsers or other Internet access programs An internet access program is a software program, generally included as part of the operating system, to access the Internet. There are two main ways to access the Net.
* Online Timer -- has been redesigned to make it even easier for parents to customize the amount of time their children can spend online. Controls can be set by day, amount of time or by specific hour increments. Parents also can effortlessly control their children's time online with a new "Quick Set Option." * Parental Controls via AOL.com -- means that parents can now adjust their children's access from work or anywhere they have Web access. It's like having a parental remote control. An electronic press kit on today's announcement can be found at www.aolepk.com/unprotectedbroadband. More information about the National Cyber Security Alliance study on broadband safety can be found on the Alliance web site at www.staysafeonline.info. About America Online, Inc. America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: AOL). Based in Dulles, Virginia Dulles, Virginia is an unincorporated census-designated place located in Loudoun County, Virginia, part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. The headquarters of AOL, Orbital Sciences Corporation and ODIN technologies and the former headquarters of MCI Inc. are located in Dulles. , America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services. |
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