Akonix Warns Customers of Malicious IM Adware Program; Issues Alert to Prevent Spread of ``Osama Found'' Adware Through AIM.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 2004 Akonix Systems, the leading developer of enterprise-wide, real-time communications management Communications management is the systematic planning, implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication within an organization, and between organizations; it also includes the organization and dissemination of new communication directives connected with an software, has alerted customers how to stop the spread of an adware program being circulated through AOL Instant Messenger See AIM. (AIM). Packaged as a game called "Osama Found" or "BuddyLinks," the adware grabs names from a user's AIM buddy list A list of colleagues, workgroup members, friends, etc., that you might wish to communicate with via instant messaging. See instant messaging. and automatically sends those users instant messages with links to a Web page where the game can be downloaded. Once installed, the program allows the maker of the game to send out additional content, including advertisements, promotional messages and programs that may alter the user's home page settings. Akonix advised customers using its L7 Enterprise IM security and management gateway to quickly create a content filtering See Web filtering and parental control software. policy that will prevent corporate users of AIM from sending or receiving messages generated by the "Osama Found" adware. The company provides detailed instructions on how to develop a policy at http://www.akonix.com/alerts. For organizations lacking an enterprise IM management solution, Akonix recommends alerting employees to not click on any links within consumer IM networks, specifically those that point to executables. Research by leading analysts shows that more than 80% of all enterprise networks host users of the consumer IM systems, with 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. having a large share of those users. While providing business value for communicating with co-workers, customers, vendors and partners, these consumer IM networks lack the enterprise strength security, management and control required to protect against security threats such as this new adware. "The 'Osama Found' adware program is just more evidence of how IM is becoming a critical business communication technology, and a target," said Francis Costello, chief marketing officer at Akonix Systems. "For corporate users of IM these incidents can have a real cost, disrupting employee productivity, driving IT support costs and impacting customers and business partners. It shows the clear need for companies to make sure they have the security, policy and management capabilities provided by Akonix's IM gateway to ensure safe, productive use of IM." For a free 30 day trial of Akonix's L7 Enterprise, please visit http://www.akonix.com/products/l7.asp, or contact Akonix's sales group at sales@akonix.com/619-615-9415. About Akonix Systems Akonix Systems Inc. headquartered in San Diego, California “San Diego” redirects here. For other uses, see San Diego (disambiguation). San Diego is a coastal Southern California city located in the southwestern corner of the continental United States. As of 2006, the city has a population of 1,256,951. is an award-winning provider of enterprise software that transforms consumer 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 (IM) into a safe, secure and manageable business-critical application. The company's offerings help corporations; public and private institutions and universities monitor, block and manage both public IM and peer-to-peer (P2P See peer-to-peer and point-to-point. ) file sharing Copying files from one computer to another. See peer-to-peer network, file sharing protocol and file and printer sharing. . Backed by three premier venture capital firms Name Location Founding date Managing Partners/Directors Specialty Capital managed 5AM Ventures Menlo Park, CA; Waltham, MA 2002 John Diekman, PhD (managing partner), Scott Rocklage, PhD (managing partner), Andrew Schwab (managing partner) life sciences $200M [1] , the company protects enterprise networks from the dangers of unmanaged consumer IM and P2P file sharing. Akonix Rogue Aware is available for free download and monitors and reports on P2P and consumer IM use within an enterprise network. Akonix Enforcer protects organizations by preventing unauthorized use of P2P file sharing and consumer IM. Akonix L7 Enterprise enables corporations to secure, manage and report on IM usage, while satisfying Federal, industry and corporate compliance requirements. Free trials of all of the products are available for download at www.akonix.com/freetrial. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.akonix.com. Akonix is a registered trademark of Akonix Systems Inc. All other trademarks, tradenames, service marks, service names and images mentioned and/or used herein belong to their respective owners. |
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