FutureSoft Warns of Insider Attacks

Houston, TX-September 1, 2004

FutureSoft, Inc., the Houston based maker of the DynaComm i:series Enterprise Content Security software family, today warned corporate users of the increasing risk of insider attacks.

The recent publication of a joint U.S. Secret Service and CERT/CC paper, “Insider Threat Study,’ highlights the risks facing many organizations from trusted insiders. The report studied a number of organizations that have suffered damage, both financial and to their reputations, from attacks perpetrated by current or former employees. It is this kind of activity that is targeted by the latest release of FutureSoft’s DynaComm i:scan file surveillance product.

The report concludes that most attacks come from insiders using simple, unsophisticated methods to defraud their employers or to simply cause damage for its own sake. Rarely were these employees regarded as potential risks by their managers or co-workers, and in most cases the attack took place within the office during normal work hours.

Rick Mansel, President and CEO of FutureSoft said, “These statistics, coming from an impartial and well-informed source, confirm what many organizations already know, that traditional perimeter defenses are no longer enough. Millions of dollars of damage can be done by a single individual apparently going about their normal work routine. However, the good news is that in many cases, there was traceable activity that took place before the attack, activity that a well-configured and proactive security system could have detected.”

One such activity, highlighted recently by FutureSoft, is the use of removable USB storage devices to either bring unauthorized software into the network, or to take illegal copies of sensitive material out. DynaComm i:scan, FutureSoft's file surveillance solution, is aimed at tracking activity such as this, both by logging (and blocking) access to removable media, and by looking for unauthorized files on local systems or central servers.

Mansel continued, “The high value informational assets of any organization lie within the firewall and IDS perimeter. They are on file servers, and desktop PCs, and it is there that effective content security operations must take place. We built DynaComm i:scan specifically to help organizations guard against threats inside the network, both from malware such as spyware and adware, and from insider attacks that can cause even greater damage.”

DynaComm i:scan is part of FutureSoft's Enterprise content security product family, DynaComm i:series, which provide Enterprises of all sizes security from threats such as spam, unfiltered Web surfing, spyware, adware, trojans, and insider attacks.

The full report can be downloaded from the U.S. Secret Service Web site at http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/its_report_040820.pdf

About FutureSoft

Founded in 1982, FutureSoft is an international software company focused on the development of Enterprise Content Security solutions. The DynaComm i:series product suite allows organizations to filter and monitor Internet and e-mail access and also to track and categorize individual files stored within their network. For more information, contact Futuresoft at (800) 989-8908, send an e-mail, or visit the DynaComm i:series Web site at www.dciseries.com.

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