John Gable, Check Point's ZoneAlarm product manager, stressed the problem of Internet security above all.
"It's not as important for people to fall in love with the product as it is for them to know that browser security is becoming increasingly important, with more than a third of attacks coming via the Internet," he said in an interview with Redmondmag.com. "I think what separates us though is that we're a lot more paranoid, if you will, at the security level and I think this product will reflect that."
Gable cites ease of use and processing speed, as well as the new ZoneAlarm's boot protection that activates detection mechanisms as the system powers up to stave off dormant exploits. The product also includes antivirus protection and soft and hard firewall functions.
The company is marketing its ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite as something for use by enterprise professionals when automated exploits get past other security products.
Gable believes that a systemic problem in the IT security community is that endpoint security is not tested well. The lifecycle and value of security fixes, as well as the lifecycle and risk of exploits, have not been thoroughly considered.
The new release can complement Microsoft's current and upcoming versions Internet Explorer browser programs from a security perspective, Gable said.
"IE is a trusted application [and] therefore a very common vector, but, because parts of its code are built into the OS, once you hack into IE, you can do anything you want," he said.
In early July, ZoneAlarm users experienced interoperability problems with Windows-based systems, although Check Point promptly issued a fix. At the time, users had Internet log-on problems after applying a Microsoft Windows domain name system (DNS) patch.
Check Point subsequently offered Windows users free downloads of full versions of ZoneAlarm ForceField, a virtual browser security app. ForceField will be integrated into the Internet Security Suite for commercial use in the fall.
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