Check Point Revolutionizes Bot Prevention

Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced a new Anti-Bot Software Blade that protects against bots and APTs (Advance Persistent Threats). A bot is malicious software that enables cybercriminals to take over computers and execute illegal activities – such as stealing data, gaining access to unauthorized network resources, initiating Denial of Service (DoS) attacks or distributing spam. Bots are remotely controlled, typically disguised and operate without the users’ knowledge. Check Point’s new Anti-Bot Software Blade helps customers discover bots and prevent damages by blocking communication between infected hosts and remote operators. The new solution will be integrated into every gateway to provide businesses with multi-layered bot prevention against malware threats, with high traffic performance of over 40 Gbps – ensuring all channels of business communication remain secure.


Bots can create a dramatic increase in malware attacks, resulting in significant brand damage, data loss and financial costs to businesses. Botnets, such as Zeus and Mariposa, are infamous forms of malware used to execute cybercriminal activities, such as stealing banking information or executing DoS attacks. While there have been several highly publicized botnets, most attacks are hard to identify and can proliferate silently without an organization’s knowledge. Cybercriminals today are implementing a variety of stealthy techniques to avoid detection – often disabling PC antivirus software to hide their presence or leveraging encryption and alternative protocols to masquerade as legitimate traffic. Bots are also often used as tools in targeted attacks known as Advanced Persistent Threats (APT), such as Stuxnet and Operation Aurora.



Check Point’s new Anti-Bot Software Blade is designed to stop bots in their tracks by leveraging advanced technology that helps businesses discover, remediate and prevent future threats. The solution features Check Point’s Multi-tier ThreatSpect™, a unique detection engine that analyzes traffic on every gateway, identifies millions of outbreak types and discovers bots by correlating multiple risk factors – such as botnet patterns, remote operator hide-outs and attack behaviors. When a bot is identified, customers can quickly analyze their level of risk through intuitive dashboards that highlight bots and their business implications – such as data loss or an increase in fraudulent spam distribution. Check Point’s Anti-Bot solution provides administrators with the information they need to investigate infections with extensive forensic capabilities – helping security teams enforce multi-layered protection and accelerate remediation time.



“With bot toolkits for hackers selling today for the mere price of $500 and attacks costing businesses millions of dollars, it gives people insight into how big the problem has become. As seen with Mariposa, TDL-4 and Zeus, botnets are stealthy in nature and have the potential to infect millions of computers,” said Dorit Dor, vice president of products at Check Point Software Technologies.





“While thousands of companies have already been targets of bots and APTs, businesses have the responsibility to stop it from spreading. Our new Anti-Bot solution is focused on bot prevention, empowering customers to quickly discover and block bots, before they can threaten security or the flow of business. Our new Anti-Bot Software Blade is a breakthrough in bot prevention. We’re making it easy for customers to enforce Anti-Bot protection across all layers of the network and prevent their businesses from being exploited.” said Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Regional Director - India & SAARC at Check Point Software Technologies.





In addition to Check Point’s advanced discovery technology, the Anti-Bot Software Blade revolutionizes bot prevention by providing customers with unique, multi-layered protection on every gateway by integrating with existing security protections, such as Intrusion Prevention, Antivirus & Anti-Malware and URL Filtering. For the first time in the industry, businesses benefit from a unified bot prevention solution, while delivering high traffic performance of up to 40 Gbps.



“Because bots are stealthy in nature and designed to manipulate the user, many companies aren’t aware when a computer is infected and their security team often lacks proper visibility into the threats that botnets create,” said Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Check Point’s new Anti-Bot Software Blade is a promising offering for organizations looking for a solution that discovers bot infections across multiple layers of the network and can help them analyze their security risks in business terms.”



Key Features and Benefits of the Anti-Bot Software Blade:


Innovative and Multi-tier Bot Discovery – Check Point’s multi-tier ThreatSpect™ engine analyzes network traffic through the gateway for inline prevention, correlating multiple risk factors to uniquely discover bots. Customers benefit from instant bot intelligence with Check Point’s ThreatCloud™, a repository that pushes automatic threat updates to the Anti-Bot Software Blade, making it easy for businesses to enforce protection against the latest generation of threats.

Preemptive Protection – Helps businesses prevent bot damages by blocking communication between the infected machine and the command and control (C&C) servers before a cybercriminal can take control of the network.

Forensics and Reporting – Enables customers to analyze risk through malware reports and dashboards providing infection summaries. Customers have the ability to drill-down into specific bot incidents, investigating infections with extensive forensic capabilities and easily assess potential damages.

Integrated Prevention – The Anti-Bot Software Blade is designed to easily integrate with customers’ existing security protections, including: Intrusion Prevention that protects against emerging vulnerabilities;Antivirus & Anti-Malware that prevents file transfers of malicious viruses and URL Filtering that blocks access to malicious sites. With an integrated, multi-layer solution, Check Point helps customers consolidate security, while protecting their business against bots across all layers of the network.

Central Management – Central policy management through the Software Blade Architecture™ simplifies management complexity with a holistic view of the network.



To learn more about how Check Point revolutionizes the fight against bots, listen to the webcast with Gil Shwed, founder, chairman and CEO of Check Point, as he introduces the new solution to the market:www.checkpoint.com.



Additional Resources:



Infographic: Botnets – The Stealthy Online Threat - http://bit.ly/oHvrjl

Video: The Threat of Bots and Botnets – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6495O71W5iE

Video: The Anti-Bot Software Blade - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaykuZZhujc

Visit Check Point’s Botnet Threat resource page for the latest anti-bot news and information:http://www.checkpoint.com/products/anti-bot-software-blade/anti-bot-software-blade-landing-page.html



Availability

The Anti-Bot Software Blade will be available for purchase through the Check Point worldwide network of value-added resellers in the first quarter of 2012. To find a Check Point partner, visit http://partners.us.checkpoint.com/partnerlocator/.

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, provides customers with uncompromised protection against all types of threats, reduces security complexity and lowers total cost of ownership. Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology. Today, Check Point continues to develop new innovations based on the Software Blade Architecture, providing customers with flexible and simple solutions that can be fully customized to meet the exact security needs of any organization. Check Point is the only vendor to go beyond technology and define security as a business process. Check Point 3D Security uniquely combines policy, people and enforcement for greater protection of information assets and helps organizations implement a blueprint for security that aligns with business needs. Customers include tens of thousands of organizations of all sizes, including all Fortune and Global 100 companies. Check Point's award-winning ZoneAlarm solutions protect millions of consumers from hackers, spyware and identity theft.

ESET appoints KK software as Regional Distributor for North India

ESET India, the leader in proactive protection against cyber-threats, today announced the appointment of a new value-added distributor, K K Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd as its regional distributor for North India. This appointment comes as ESET aims to strengthen its position in the antivirus market in Northern India.


Commenting on this partnership Pankaj Jain, Director, ESS Distributions (Exclusive Distributor for ESET products in India) commented “We are very pleased to announce the appointment of K K Software as our regional distributor in North India; we are looking at getting more channel partners and increasing the availability of ESET solutions at every level in the Northern region. Having a strong market presence in North India is our main objective and by providing higher margins and better sales satisfaction to our partners, we at ESET see ample opportunity in North India in all segments be it corporate, SOHO or end user market. K K Software’s vast partner network will definitely help to increase our market penetration in the long run. I’m confident with the success of this partnership”.

ESET is targeting both enterprise and home consumer segments, offering a diverse product line of award-winning security solutions. Earlier this month, ESET had launched the new version of its flagship products for home users, ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5 and ESET Smart Security 5. Consumer product portfolio includes ESET Cybersecurity, the first antivirus uniquely designed for MAC OS X and ESET Mobile Security for Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android smartphones and tablets.

Recently ESET NOD32 Antivirus solution for enterprise has been recognized by the TechTarget® Information Security™ magazine and SearchSecurity.com™ 2011 Readers' Choice Awards as the number one anti malware solution of the year. ESET NOD32 Antivirus Business Edition took the gold prize in the anti malware category, finishing ahead of offerings across competitors.

Research Shows Overwhelming Demand for Integrated Charging and PolicyManagement Solutions to Address Data Monetization Challenge

Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of customer experience systems, today released the findings of a global research report, conducted by leading analyst firm Heavy Reading, which highlights the importance for service providers around the world to integrate charging and policy managementcapabilities to enable their future pricing strategies for data services.


The recent rise in new data price plans is being driven by the need for service providers to offer customers an improved data experience and to better monetize their investments in network capacity.

“We can expect new data price plans to flood the market as data usage skyrockets with the introduction of improved tablets and smartphones, such as the iPhone 5, BlackBerry Torch and the Nokia N series,” said Ari Banerjee, senior analyst, Heavy Reading. “Our research shows there is global consensus that integration of charging and policy managementcapabilities is required to monetize these new data pricing strategies.Service providers have found attempts to integrate charging and policy management by their internal IT and network departments challenging and too expensive and are now seeking pre-integrated vendor solutions.”


Key research findings reveal that charging subscribers based on the customer experience provided is gaining mindshare, but existing systems are challenged to enable it:


Marketing departments want to introduce more sophisticated data price plans

· 83 percent of respondents saytheir marketing organizationsare asking IT to enable innovative data price plans;

· Over 90 percent saytheir companies are looking to create packages across linesofbusiness, customer types and payment methods;


· 86 percent of providers plan to launch tiered pricing plans;

· 82 percent plan to launch single data plans for multiple devices (e.g. tablets, smartphones, etc.);


· 67 percent plan to launch family plans.


Integrated charging and policy managementcapabilities are required to enable these more sophisticated data price plans


· 85 percent of respondents see a need to integrate charging and policy management capabilities. Integration between charging and policy management will allow providers to offer a better customer experience by introducing plans that relate to the device type, network status, customer information across all lines of business and other parameters.



IT organizations find it difficult to deliver



· 80 percent of respondents do not think their existing policy managementsystems, deployed to support network-related use cases (bandwidth management, fair usage, bill shock) can support more advanced use cases, such as data plans across multiple lines of business, payment methods and spend limits, and more;



· 10 percent have tried to integrate charging and policy management systems and failed.



“This survey validates the need for better integrated charging and policy management capabilities in order for service providers to create, offer and monetize the next generation of data services,” said Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs. “But we must remember that endcustomersalso want to get their new services in a simple and intuitive manner. This is exactly where value-based pricing should come into play. For example, a movie package that has data and speed prerequisitesalready embedded into itfor a high-quality experience will offer end customers the ease of use and personalized servicesfor which they are willing to pay more.”



The research is based on 64 qualitative interviews with decision makers in director, vice president or chief executive rolesfrom 32 service providers from across Europe (13), North America (9) and Asia-Pacific (10), from both IT and marketing departments. Interviews were conducted between MayandJuly2011.



Amdocs’ recent acquisition of leading policy management vendor Bridgewater Systems will enable the companyto offer the market a pre-integrated convergent charging and policy management solution, scalable to meet the needs of the largest service providers. The Amdocs Convergent Charging software incorporates Amdocs’ innovative, real-time charging technology – Amdocs Turbo Charging – and holds the industry record for real-time charging performance, demonstrating the ability to process 276 million prepaid calls during peak calling hours.


Supporting Resources

· Keep up with Amdocs news by visiting the company’s website.

· Subscribe to Amdocs’ RSS Feed and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.


About Amdocs

Amdocs is the market leader in customer experience systems innovation. The company combines business and operational support systems, service delivery platforms, proven services, and deep industry expertise to enable service providers and their customers to do more in the connected world. Amdocs’ offerings help service providers explore new business models, differentiate through personalized customer experiences, and streamline operations. A global company with revenue of approximately $3.0 billion in fiscal 2010, Amdocs has over 19,000 employees and serves customers in more than 60 countries worldwide. For more information, visit Amdocs at http://www.amdocs.com/

Check Point Software Technologies Reports Record 2011 Second Quarter Financial Results

Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2011.

"The first half of 2011 produced great results. We continued to outperform our projections in the second quarter. These good results are driven by increased sales of enterprise gateways with more software blades attached. In particular, our IPS and Application Control software blades have shown significant growth in the second quarter," said Gil Shwed, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Check Point Software Technologies.


“Check Point is very proud of its accomplishments and is very excited about the future. The results are a testimonial of the continuous improvement in our execution after the strong acceptance of Software Blades in the market especially in the IPS space. Check Point’s focus has always been in making it simpler for customers to secure and manage their digital assets,” said Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Regional Director - India & SAARC at Check Point Software Technologies.


Financial Highlights:

 Total Revenue: $300.6 million, an increase of 15 percent, compared to $261.1 million in the second quarter of 2010.


 GAAP Operating Income: $150.0 million, an increase of 23 percent, compared to $122.1 million in the second quarter of 2010. GAAP operating margin was 50 percent, compared to 47 percent in the second quarter of 2010.


 Non-GAAP Operating Income: $171.0 million, an increase of 18 percent, compared to $144.7 million in the second quarter of 2010. Non-GAAP operating margin was 57 percent, compared to 55 percent in the second quarter of 2010.


 GAAP Net Income and Earnings per Diluted Share: GAAP net income was $128.0 million, an increase of 24 percent, compared to $102.9 million in the second quarter of 2010. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.60, an increase of 25 percent, compared to $0.48 in the second quarter of 2010.


 Non-GAAP Net Income and Earnings per Diluted Share: Non-GAAP net income was $145.5 million, an increase of 19 percent, compared to $122.4 million in the second quarter of 2010. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.68, an increase of 17 percent, compared to $0.58 in the second quarter of 2010.


 Deferred Revenues: As of June 30, 2011, the company had deferred revenues of $457.0 million, an increase of 10 percent, compared to $414.8 million as of June 30, 2010.


 Cash Flow: Cash flow from operations was $175.5 million, an increase of 18 percent, compared to $148.9 million in the second quarter of 2010.


 Share Repurchase Program: During the second quarter of 2011, the company repurchased 1.38 million shares at a total cost of $75 million.


 Cash Balances, Marketable Securities and Short Term Deposits: $2,689.8 million as of June 30, 2011, an increase of $548.9 million, compared to $2,140.9 million as of June 30, 2010.


For information regarding the Non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this release, please see “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information” and “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Information.”


Business Highlights:


Check Point has continued to deliver advanced and award-winning solutions that have earned the trust of customers from around the world. The success of this quarter continues to validate the company’s product innovation and continued growth as a pure-play security company. In addition, significant recent developments in Check Point’s business include the introduction of new products and the promotion of an officer:


 ZoneAlarm SocialGuard – Enables parents to protect their children against social threats on Facebook, such as online predators, cyberbullies, hacked accounts and malicious links. The product has received “Five Stars” from CNET and a “Highly Recommended” rating from PC Magazine.



 ZoneAlarm 2012 Suite – Features new cloud-enabled security with parental controls and advanced antivirus capabilities that utilize ZoneAlarm DefenseNet™, a cloud-based service that detects over 50,000 new applications and threats daily, to silently stop existing and emerging attacks.



 Promotion of Amnon Bar-Lev, Head of Global Field Operations to President – Check Point announced today that Amnon Bar-Lev has been promoted to President of Check Point Software Technologies, effective immediately. Amnon joined Check Point in 2005 and has led the company’s field organization since 2006. During that period, Check Point’s revenues have more than doubled to approximately $1.2B over the past four quarters. Amnon will continue to head the company’s customer facing functions including sales, marketing, business development and technical services. He will continue to report to Gil Shwed, founder, chairman and CEO.





Recent Industry Accolades From Across the Globe:



 NSS Labs Group Firewall Test – Check Point was the only vendor to pass the NSS Labs independent Firewall Group Test, achieving 100 percent in security effectiveness and earning the only “Recommend” rating in the initial comparative review.



 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific – Check Point was recognized by the industry analyst firm as the 2011 Network Security Vendor of the Year.



 Association of Support Professionals – Check Point was a winner of the “Top Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2011” for a third year.



 SC Magazine UK, Best Secure Virtualization Solution – Check Point Security Gateway VE.



 Computerworld Czech Republic, IT Product of 2011 – Check Point Application Control Software Blade.



 Computerworld Hong Kong Awards – Named best UTM, Firewall/VPN and Intrusion Prevention solutions.



 Electronic Times, 2011 Hit Products in Korea – Check Point Application Control Software Blade.



 Computerworld Singapore, Customer Care Awards – Check Point Firewall/VPN.





In addition, Check Point’s founder, chairman and CEO, Gil Shwed, along with Tal Payne, CFO, and the company’s board of directors, rang the NASDAQ opening bell on June 28, 2011, commemorating the company’s fifteenth anniversary since its initial public offering in 1996.



Shwed concluded, "Our security focus is continuing to pay off. I'm pleased to see that customers are adopting more software blades to enhance their threat protection and raise the level of security in their organization. We will continue to deliver on our 3D security vision combining policy, people and enforcement to provide the best protection for our customers.



"Third Quarter Investor Conference Participation Schedule:



 Pacific Crest Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference - August 8, 2011 – Vail, CO



 Citi Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference - September 8, 2011 – NY, NY



 Deutsche Bank Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference - September 14, 2011 – Las Vegas, NV





Members of Check Point's management team will present at these conferences and discuss the latest company strategies and initiatives. Check Point’s conference presentations are expected to be available via webcast on the company's web site. To view these presentations and access the most updated information please visit the company's web site at www.checkpoint.com/ir . The schedule is subject to change.





Conference Call and Webcast Information

Check Point will host a conference call with the investment community on July 18, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET/5:30 AM PT. To listen to the live webcast, please visit Check Point’s website at: www.checkpoint.com/ir. A replay of the conference call will be available through July 25, 2011 at the company's website www.checkpoint.com/ir

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (http://www.checkpoint.com/), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, is the only vendor to deliver Total Security for networks, data and endpoints, unified under a single management framework. Check Point provides customers with uncompromised protection against all types of threats, reduces security complexity and lowers total cost of ownership. Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology. Today, Check Point continues to innovate with the development of the Software Blade Architecture™. The dynamic Software Blade Architecture delivers secure, flexible and simple solutions that can be fully customized to meet the exact security needs of any organization or environment. Check Point customers include tens of thousands of businesses and organizations of all sizes including all Fortune 100 companies. Check Point's award-winning ZoneAlarm solutions protect millions of consumers from hackers, spyware and identity theft.

©2011 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved

HCL Infosystems bags Broadband Connectivity project from Indian Railways

HCL Infosystems, India’s premier Hardware, Services and ICT System Integration Company, bags a prestigious project of providing broadband connectivity to the Indian Railways. HCL Infosystems will provide end to end ADSL 2+ Broadband Network on Indian Railways enterprise Wide Area Network through RailTel Corporation of India Ltd., a PSU under Ministry of Railways. Through this solution, the Indian Railways will be providing dedicated broadband high-speed Internet service to various Railway Offices & residences across the country at total 108 locations including the 16 Zonal Railway HQ, 67 Divisional Railway HQs., Railway’s Centralised Training Institutes and Railway’s Production Units


The company will be a turnkey provider for deploying the ADSL2+ Broadband Network with full responsibility of the network design and planning, deployment, and service roll out and maintenance of the network. The project is a first of its kind not only for RailTel but also in the country. It will enable the reach of Railnet to the residential colonies and offices of Indian Railways by utilizing the copper cable already laid for voice communication.


Speaking on the launch Mr. Rajeev Asija, Chief Operating Officer - Enterprise Business, HCL Infosystems said, “Indian Railways is a well trusted brand for the citizens of the country and we are pleased to be associated with them as the trusted partner to deliver solutions for broadband connectivity. We are confident that this solution will bring a revolution in the adoption of broadband solutions in the Indian Railways’ administration and also foster our vision of enhanced broadband penetration in the nation.”


The current solution will be capable of supporting approximately 30000 users and will provide the operator with network flexibility, scalability for innovation and a rapid return on investment.


About HCL Infosystems Ltd:

HCL Infosystems Ltd, with revenue (LTM) of US$ 2.6 billion (Rs. 12, 221 crore) is India’s premier hardware, services and ICT systems integration company offering a wide spectrum of ICT products that includes Computing, Storage, Networking, Security, Telecom, Imaging and Retail. HCL is a one-stop-shop for all the ICT requirements of an organization. India's leading System Integration and Infrastructure Management Services Organisation, HCL has specialised expertise across verticals including Telecom, BFSI, eGovernance & Power. HCL has India's largest distribution and retail network, taking to market a range of Digital Lifestyle products in partnership with leading global ICT brands, including Apple, Cisco, Ericsson, Kingston, Kodak, Konica Minolta, Microsoft, Nokia, Toshiba, and many more. HCL today has India's largest vertically integrated computer manufacturing facility with over three decades of electronic manufacturing experience & HCL desktops is the largest selling brand into the enterprise space. With India’s largest ICT services network that reaches to every corner of India, HCL’s award winning Support Services makes it the preferred choice of enterprise and consumers, alike. HCL Infosystems has a 100% subsidiary that addresses the physical security technology system integration market. The subsidiary leverages technology to build a security framework called ‘Safe State’ that safe guard’s life, infrastructure & society. For more information please visit us at www.hclinfosystems.in