Asta Networks Joins McAfee in Fight Against Zombies; Ability to Detect Infectious Worms Added to Asta Networks Vantage System.

Business/High-Tech Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 2001

Asta Networks today announced that it is teaming with McAfee, a division of Network Associates (NASDAQ:NETA), in an effort to help customers better understand and conquer the latest Internet threats posed by the abundance of Internet zombies.

Additionally, the company has extended Asta Networks Vantage System(R) to monitor for infectious worms, such as Ramen, Lion, and Code Red, and automatically alert IT departments when a server has been infected. Asta Networks' technology is unique in that it can detect whether a worm is active on any systems rather than simply scanning for potential vulnerabilities.

"The community of hackers has embraced automation and innovation to gain control over increasingly large numbers of computers," said Michael Callahan, director of product marketing at McAfee. "We are working with Asta Networks to help customers similarly use automated technology to address not only zombies but the DoS attacks that they launch, often while the owner of the computer is completely unaware. With our pools of expert resources we are now in a much better position to address this latest challenge to the Internet and all of the concerns that go along with it."

Vantage System's underlying platform for detecting anomalous traffic is updated continuously to uncover additional worm infections while also detecting any resulting DoS attacks. This helps organizations protect their network infrastructure from damage, and also helps them avoid the risks of being held liable for sourcing DoS attacks without their knowledge.

As the Code Red Worm demonstrated in recent weeks, a virulent worm mated with a DoS attack can result in widespread damage and a staggering amount of potential firepower. It was estimated that several terabits of bandwidth were available to one zombie network, which is strong enough to overwhelm much of the Internet. This initiative will serve to combine Asta Networks expertise in understanding overall network behavior with McAfee's ability to characterize zombies on individual machines to limit the strength of these zombie networks in the future.

"As a leader in DoS research, it is important for us to join forces with the leader in virus protection to reduce the influence of zombies and worms -- and therefore their incentive -- to attack," said Asta Networks' president and CEO Joe Devich. "We applaud McAfee and their research team, McAfee AVERT, for taking a proactive stance against zombies. This partnership will help Asta Networks rapidly evolve our product to ensure protection against even the most innovative new attacks."

Vantage System was released in June to help businesses detect, locate, and counter DoS attacks on any network before they can cause costly downtime or degraded service. Vantage System provides service providers and enterprises with instant insight into their network traffic, reducing time Network Operations Centers spend investigating incidents, and optimizing service for customers.

Functionality to specifically identify Code Red infected servers is available immediately. For more information, please contact Asta Networks at 866/661-ASTA (2782) or visit http://www.astanetworks.com.

About Asta Networks

Asta Networks is a network reliability company that was founded in April 2000 by worldwide leaders in the fields of distributed networking, Internet reliability and security. The company develops software and services to optimize the management and flow of network traffic so businesses can confidently depend on the Internet.

Asta Networks and Vantage System are registered trademarks of Asta Networks.

Network Associates and McAfee are registered trademarks of Network Associates, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.