Facebook Friends Webroot® SecureAnywhere™

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Webroot, a leader in delivering Internet security as a service, today announced that it is partnering with Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) to provide the social network's more than 1 billion users with protection against online security threats including viruses, phishing, malicious websites, identity theft, and bogus downloads.  

Starting today, Facebook users can protect themselves against cybercriminals in two ways. First, they can access Webroot's award-winning Webroot® SecureAnywhere™ cloud-based protection for their computers through the Facebook AV Marketplace.  Second, when a user clicks on a link on their Facebook newsfeed that leads to a malicious website, they will be notified by Webroot's URL Classification Service that the website is known to be malicious.

"As a community of more than a billion users, Facebook is committed to ensuring that both our users and their data remain safe," said Joe Sullivan, chief security officer, Facebook. "Today we are excited to announce the addition of Webroot's malicious URL data to Facebook's site integrity systems and their software in our AV Marketplace. We look forward to better protecting the people who use our service with this partnership and Webroot's industry-leading technology and expertise." 

Webroot delivers what every Internet user and Social Media maven needs today – the fastest, most reliable online security for their PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones. Webroot's cloud-based service means users are protected without interruptions from long scan times or downloading security updates. Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus includes layers of protection such as a firewall, identity protection, antiphishing, and a Web Threat Shield to block harmful websites. Unlike traditional security programs, Webroot's cloud-based threat analysis is always current against the newest threats, so it never needs to be updated. Independent testing has also proven that SecureAnywhere's scheduled scans are 116 times faster than the leading competitors and use 91 percent less memory during a scan, so users don't have to compromise performance to be protected[1].

"The social networking phenomenon that Facebook has ushered in has also created a new opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit – our inherent nature to share," said Mike Malloy, executive vice president, Webroot. "Some links placed into your timeline may have been put there by hackers. Clicking these links can be risky, so Facebook has chosen Webroot to help protect their users from unknowingly clicking on a malicious link which they believe a trusted friend has shared with them."

Webroot provides real-time protection against malicious websites through its URL Classification Service. It categorizes millions of websites and scores them based on a thorough analysis of the website's content, reputation, age and threat rating. When users click on a link that is found to be malicious, they will see a pop-up alert that provides them with additional information about why the site was classified as malicious. Users can then make a better-informed decision about whether to visit that site.

To access Webroot SecureAnywhere and learn more about Facebook's security efforts, users can visit www.facebook.com/security. 

ABOUT WEBROOT
Webroot is committed to taking the misery out of Internet security with its suite of Webroot^® SecureAnywhere^™ offerings for consumers and businesses. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Colorado, Webroot is the largest privately held security organization based in the United States.  Webroot has operations across North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit http://www.webroot.com or call 800.772.9383. Read the Webroot Threat Blog: http://blog.webroot.com. Follow Webroot on Twitter: http://twitter.com/webroot.

© 2012 Webroot Inc. All rights reserved. Webroot is a trademark or registered trademark of Webroot Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

[1] PassMark Software, "Webroot SecureAnywhere Cloud AntiVirus vs. Seven Competitors Anvirus Products" Performance Benchmark, September 2012

SOURCE Webroot