Spyware News: NovaShield Wraps Up 2008

NovaShield, Inc., a leader in advanced anti-virus and anti-malware technology, today announced some of the key milestones from 2008 -- which was an important year as new technologies came to market to help consumers and small businesses better fight growing virus and malware problems.

As the New York Times reported, F-Secure, another Internet security provider, has research that shows malware is growing at an astounding rate. This growth in new malware is why NovaShield was created -- to find new approaches to keep consumer PCs safe in an environment where traditional signature-based solutions aren't keeping up.

In 2008, NovaShield:

Secured funding to find new anti-virus approach: In March, NovaShield received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to help continue the commercialization of NovaShield's breakthrough research targeted at detecting and preventing sophisticated zero day security threats including botnets, Trojans, keyloggers and rootkits. Fortune Small Business Magazine wrote an article on the funding.

Completed comprehensive beta testing program: In April, NovaShield launched a free trial version of its product. NovaShield spent the following 8 months building almost 1,000 users who beta tested NovaShield's breakthrough product before launching the first commercial product in November. USA Today reporter Byron Acohido who also wrote the book "Zero Day Threat" talked a little about NovaShield's approach on his Zero Day Threat blog.

Launched the first commercial version of NovaShield 2.5: In November, NovaShield launched NovaShield 2.5 -- the first commercially available version of its product. The product started selling for 1 and 2 year subscriptions after a 15-day free trial period. Early feedback and increasing sales show that consumers want to augment their existing PC protection.

Achieved industry recognition: In November, NetworkWorld magazine named NovaShield a "10 IT security companies to watch." Matt Hines, a security blogger for eWeek Magazine wrote in November "(NovaShield's) unique new approach to stopping malware could prove helpful and will likely be bought or copied by its larger rivals, many of whom are struggling to find new ways to offset the issue that their traditional sig-based AV products can't prevent many of today's most aggressive attack methods."

"We are quite proud of our first year on the security market," said Praveen Sinha founder and CEO of NovaShield. "At a time when hackers are bringing new levels of threats to consumers and small businesses -- we are taking a methodical approach to bringing a new level of threat protection to the market."

Pricing and Availability

NovaShield AntiMalware 2.5 is available for a free 15-day trial and with a 1 or 2 year subscription. Introductory pricing for 1-year single-user license is $19.95. Introductory subscription price for 2-year single user license is $34.95. Family packs and 10-user small business packs are available. The NovaShield 2.5 anti-malware product is available for download from www.novashield.com.

About NovaShield

NovaShield Inc. ( www.NovaShield.com), founded by leading scientists at the University of Wisconsin, develops technology to detect and eliminate the next generation of malware threats on personal computers. Their breakthrough approach rapidly identifies previously unseen malware by using specification-based monitoring, a unique real-time approach for effectively detecting looming threats. The NovaShield team has developed the most advanced and accurate anti-malware product available to consumers and businesses with the best-in-class ability to find new threats such as drive-by-downloads, Trojans, botnets, keyloggers, and rootkits. Funded by two competitive grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and private investors, NovaShield is based in Madison, Wisconsin.