Trend Micro Acquires Kelkea

Antivirus vendor Trend Micro Tuesday said it acquired
Internet filter maker Kelkea in an effort to fortify its security technology
base.

The move immediately beefs up the outfit’s spam credentials and moves it
closer to tackling increasing phishing and pharming scams, which it has
plans to address later this year.

“The reason for this acquisition is we believe in protection integrated
into networks, rather than at endpoints,” Eva Chen, CEO and co-founder of
Trend Micro, told internetnews.com.

Chen also said she expects the move will go far to enhance Trend Micro’s
ability to develop innovative solutions against existing threats and threats
that are still evolving.

Kelkea’s IP filtering system identifies the sources of threats and often
prevents them from reaching users by blocking the incoming communications of
offensive IP addresses.

The company currently provides anti-spam services with this capability
for some of the largest solution providers in the world, and maintains a
network for monitoring and rating the reputation of IP addresses — a process
known as reputation services.

Under the deal, Trend Micro named Kelkea’s founder and CEO Dave Rand as chief
technologist of Internet content and security.

“We believe the integration and continued development of Kelkea and Trend
Micro technology and capabilities will place us at the forefront of the
fight against unpredictable malicious threats,” Rand said.

Kelkea has a knowledgebase containing detailed profiles with statistics
and history for more than 1.5 billion IP addresses, Rand said. In addition
to protecting the e-mail and network infrastructure from spam, reputation
services can also be used to defend against threats, such as phishing,
pharming, and threats launched by attackers using botnets.

“Without appropriate security measures, the Internet has become a
dangerous place — as threats evolve, so have security needs,” Rand said.
“Staying one step ahead of new, emerging Internet threats requires a layered
approach to security, amalgamating a variety of advanced technologies,
holistic techniques, and years of security experience.”

Trend Micro will offer Kelkea’s existing services under its own brand
name, and will continue to support all of Kelkea’s current customers.

Over
the next 12 months Trend Micro plans on developing innovative offerings and
integrated services for corporate customers and service providers to stem
emerging threats such as phishing, pharming, and those enabled by botnets.

“The best value comes from the combinations,” Chen said.

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