Tom Ridge, Former Homeland Security Secretary, Joins TaaSERA Advisory Board

CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Advanced malware detection experts TaaSERA, Inc., today announced that Tom Ridge, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, has joined the company's advisory board. In this role, Ridge will help guide the security software maker through its upcoming launch and further align the startup's attack behavior discovery methodology with techniques used by DHS and other law enforcement agencies to identify potential criminals and suspected terrorists.

Prior to serving as the first ever Secretary of Homeland Security in 2001, Ridge served as a longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania, lending further depth to his perspective on local, national and global security issues.

According to Ridge, today's intelligence and law enforcement agencies continue to adopt more comprehensive electronic data analysis to identify potential suspects before they can commit crimes, and locate individuals working with known terrorist groups. Organizations throughout both the government and private sectors should embrace a similar approach to defending themselves against today's highly advanced and targeted malware attacks, adopting IT security systems that leverage behavioral analysis and data correlation in a similar fashion, he said.

"Just as it's no longer sufficient to check for passports at a border crossing, or wait until someone attempts to carry out an attack to identify threats to our nation, organizations must move past traditional perimeter security models and analysis of historical data to prevent data breaches and other incidents," said Ridge. "TaaSERA will bring to market a compelling array of solutions that empower IT security professionals to understand when malicious programs are first attempting to carry out their commands, and take action before it's too late."

Available in various solutions offered by TaaSERA and its partners early 2013, the company's Attack Warning and Response Engine (AWARE) leverages detailed analysis of known malware behavior characteristics to identify threats as they take shape, notably previously unseen attacks that cannot be prevented with existing signature-based AV, heuristics analysis or virtual sandbox testing solutions.

By constantly monitoring for untrustworthy behavior in runtime, across real-world production networks, systems and applications -- and then correlating in-depth security information across all existing IT security infrastructure, TaaSERA provides organizations with the most practical, real-world view into emerging attacks that remain their most significant points of risk.

"Our solutions represent the application of intelligent behavior analysis, detection and information sharing in the computing environment, mirroring techniques used by the world's leading law enforcement organizations to find potential attackers and assess their level of risk. Having an expert such as Former Secretary Ridge working with us as an advisor is a tremendous advantage in evolving our detection models," said Srinivas Kumar, CTO of TaaSERA. "The longstanding approach of using network gateways, user authentication and endpoint antivirus to prevent breaches isn't working against today's advanced malware attacks; just as in the physical world, new techniques are needed to safeguard our virtual assets."

About TaaSERA

TaaSERA builds malware behavior detection solutions used by the world's leading companies and government agencies to identify previously unseen attacks as they transpire and inform response that prevents resulting in data breaches or interruption IT systems.

Unlike technologies that review signatures or other historical data, assess potential vulnerabilities or analyze the impact of malware programs in non-production environments, TaaSERA's software solutions leverage patented behavior detection capabilities to highlight the emergence of previously unseen attacks as they are being carried out -- providing organizations with the specific information necessary to adjust defenses and mitigate vulnerabilities targeted by today's sophisticated threats.

Available in 2013, TaaSERA will provide an embedded source of strategic intelligence within a broad range of third party solutions and services. The TaaSERA Attack Warning and Response Engine (AWARE) improves the effectiveness of nearly every element of today's layered IT security defenses to boost protection of underlying business systems and information, and prevent costly data breach incidents.

SOURCE TaaSERA