Leading Norwegian IT security company Norman Data Defense Systems today announced its selection by Microsoft Corp. for participation in the Virus Information Alliance (VIA). Thereby Norman joins an exclusive group of ten leading anti-virus specialists.

The VIA program was founded in May 2003 by Microsoft and third-party vendors to help Microsoft customers obtain timely and relevant information about the latest virus threats affecting Microsoft technology. VIA sharing program now includes 10 industry leading anti-virus vendors.

Norman Data Defense Systems is known world-wide for its award-winning SandBox technology. SandBox v2, the recently launched second generation allows NVC (Norman Virus Control) detect virus-like behavior and thereby prevent undetected viruses and other harmful code before they damage a system. SandBox complements signature-based anti-virus detection of identified viruses and threats.

"Norman has been in this industry for a long time and is one of the largest providers of both desktop OEM and server based operator class anti-virus solutions. We are very proud to have been selected as one of Microsoft’s selection of best-of-breed anti-virus providers and will contribute to the initiative with our in-depth knowledge on proactive virus detection and protection," says Steinar Wigtil, Director of R&D at Norman Data Defense Systems.

Microsoft has previously chosen Norman Virus Control as one of a number of tools to test software before distribution to help prevent viruses from being spread through the Microsoft distribution channels.

Virus information interchange

"Security is a global, industry-wide issue and we look forward to working together with Norman and other VIA members to help customers obtain the information they need about worms and viruses," said Mark Miller, security incident response manager at Microsoft."

VIA offers best practices for preventing malicious attacks, information about specific viruses, how-to articles and links to other antivirus resources on its Web site. In addition to providing the latest reports on medium- and high-severity virus incidents, the VIA Web site allows Internet users to quickly and easily refer to their preferred antivirus vendor for more-detailed technical information about specific viruses and their eradication and customer support. VIA alliance shares and collaborate on new virus, worm and other malicious code threats. The collective research will be used to form a thorough assessment of the malicious code and the details will be shared with Microsoft customers through the web page http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/virus/via.asp

---

Contact information

Henning Hansen President & CEO + 47 90 88 11 92
Steinar Wigtil, Director of R&D, + 47 67 10 97 29
Audun Lødemel VP marketing, + 47 93 44 65 31