Press ReleaseReliable Software Technologies Releases Optimized Solution for Stopping Outlook Viruses
JustBeFriends Stops Viruses Such as "I Love You" from Spreading
DULLES, Va., June 14, 2000—To help businesses avoid productivity and financial loss resulting from e-mail viruses, Reliable Software Technologies (RST) today announced that it has developed a software program that can stop viruses from automatically propagating via Microsoft Outlook e-mail. JustBeFriends.dll supports and enhances Microsoft's recently announced Outlook E-mail Security Update by monitoring the Visual Basic scripting engine's interactions with Microsoft Outlook and immediately identifying and terminating any virus attempting to propagate via e-mail. With this simple program, businesses can apply added security to their e-mail systems and avert the exponential spread of viruses and the resulting disruption of e-mail service and networking. "Because so many companies, including our clients, were forced to shut down business as a result of the 'love bug', we felt an obligation to use our Software Risk Managementsm and software security expertise to invent a simple solution that deters such viruses," stated Jeffery Payne, president and CEO, Reliable Software Technologies. "JustBeFriends is an easy-to-download program that provides an alternative to Microsoft's patch in order to manage security risk and enable businesses to head off the potential loss of revenue and productivity that results from the rampant automatic spread of computer viruses." Both Microsoft's Outlook update and RST's JustBeFriends prevent e-mail viruses from propagating to new machines. E-mail viruses spread by exploiting existing mail programs to send themselves to a large number of new recipients. Some viruses may also modify or damage the computer on which they are run. While most home and office computers are not sufficiently secure to prevent damage to files on the computer, scripts can be disallowed from sending e-mail. Microsoft's update works by internally controlling access to a large number of functions used by Outlook, which can be used to gather e-mail addresses or send e-mail. Unfortunately, in order to prevent future e-mail viruses, this list of protected objects needs to be exhaustive. In contrast, JustBeFriends works by controlling the ability of other applications to access the popular Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. In the event that the access comes from a script being run from the desktop or from an attachment, the access is denied. Otherwise, the user is asked to confirm that the application in question should be allowed access to Outlook. Microsoft's update is 8Mb for Outlook98 and 2Mb for Outlook2000. RST's JustBeFriends is 300K. Both successfully prevent the current crop of viruses from spreading. The simplicity and correctness of each will be what determines their effectiveness against future e-mail threats. JustBeFriends.dll will be available today for free downloading from the RST Website (www.rstcorp.com/justbefriends). More technical detail about JustBeFriends is available on the RST Website. JustBeFriends works on Windows NT and Windows 2000. JustBeFriends was developed at RST labs and uses technology sponsored by DARPA's ITS program. About Reliable Software Technologies Headquartered in Northern Virginia, Reliable Software Technologies (RST) is the leading authority and industry visionary on Software Risk Management. Founded in 1992 on the simple, compelling premise that software must work, the Company offers consulting services, a proven methodology and automated technologies backed by comprehensive applied research, and helps organizations manage the reliability, security and safety risks associated with developing and deploying essential software. By applying its lab-created, battle-tested Software Risk Management (SRM) Methodology, RST enables corporations to reduce the business risks associated with software failure, thereby increasing full lifecycle productivity while still meeting time-to-market demands. Learn more about RST on the Web at http://www.rstcorp.com/.
Contact: Beth Bryant |