The malware threat is a serious concern for IT managers. Studies indicate that there were more than 1,500 new and unique malware variants generated every hour in 2009. This makes the end-point  the most at-risk point in the network. Security companies are unable to produce updates and patches fast enough, so the rules of the cat-and-mouse game need to change. The scanning engine has got to reside somewhere else, where it can be managed more efficiently---somewhere like the Cloud, for instance.

“When Trend Micro started in 1988 there were only 1,738 unique malware samples. Last year 1.1 million malware samples were generated. We realized that the traditional way of doing signature based scanning and signature matching is not going to work anymore. There’s no way we will be able to generate the signatures fast enough,” said Anthony Ung, Product Manager, APAC, Trend Micro. 

Trend Micro has responded to this situation by introducing the Smart Protection Network, a cloud-based service. At the end point it is launching the Endpoint Security Platform and OfficeScan 10. Trend combines the functionality of OfficeScan 10 with the Smart Protection Network in what it calls the cloud-client architecture. A small client or agent runs on the PC, notebook or mobile phone. This is the OfficeScan 10 component.

“The client is light and runs fast. You don’t need a high-end machine for it,” explained Ung. “People usually complain that the scanning engine degrades the performance of their machines.”

The actual security processing is done in the cloud. During a scan the client/agent on the PC references the cloud for the latest virus definitions. In fact, there are a couple of services running in the cloud when a system is being scanned, but the whole process is transparent to the end-user.

Research by Trend Micro reveals that organizations are not responding fast enough to the growing malware threat. The study shows that 25 percent of organizations update its virus definitions (pattern files) more than once a day; 37 percent update pattern files once per day; 24 percent do these updates less than once per day.

The Cloud-based engine makes sense for large enterprises who find it challenging to manage security updates.

“Our research shows that it takes up to eight hours to deploy the latest signatures in a 1,000-user enterprise,” said Ung. “And with new malware appearing every hour the enterprise is constantly trying to update its security software.”

And how does Trend Micro charge enterprises for this cloud-based security service? Ung told us that enterprises are not charged for services that run in the cloud. However, they are charged for the client/agent that they download.

“For OfficeScan 10 enterprise, the 1,000 user edition costs about USD 40 per user per year. From the second year onwards the cost drops by 30 percent. We also have versions and specific pricing for small and medium businesses,” informed Ung.