Qualys Launches Free Browser Security Testing Service

Qualys BrowserCheck Allows Consumers and Corporate Users to Secure their Web Browsers

Redwood City, Calif. - July 19, 2010 - Qualys®, Inc., the leading provider of on demand IT security risk and compliance management solutions, today announced the availability of a free service, Qualys BrowserCheck, to help consumers and corporate users fix security issues in their browsers. The service, available at http://browsercheck.qualys.com, scans web browsers looking for security flaws within the browser and its plug-ins.

Security flaws in modern web browsers and their plug-ins are the preferred target of a majority of malware attacks. But many users are not aware of the risks to which their browsers expose them every time they shop online, play browser-based games and get news updates from the Internet.

“The threat of browser-based attacks is growing and the number of security flaws in browser plug-ins is rising. Users must be aware of their browsers’ security and protect themselves from malicious activity,” said Avivah Litan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Run interactively by users from the major Windows web browsers, Qualys BrowserCheck scans the browser as well as its plug-ins to identify insecure and out-of-date versions that put its users at risk.

BrowserCheck detects:

  • Browser version (IE 6.0+, Firefox 3.0+, Chrome 4.0+)
  • Adobe Flash Player
  • Adobe Reader 5.x and above
  • Adobe Shockwave Player
  • Apple Quicktime
  • BEA JRockit
  • Microsoft Silverlight
  • Microsoft Windows Media Player
  • Real Player
  • Sun Java
  • Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) plug-in for Mozilla browsers
  • Windows OS support expiration

Qualys BrowserCheck uses security information compiled by the Qualys vulnerability research team paired with a light-weight browser extension to provide a fast and accurate assessment of the security state of the browser itself and its plug-ins.

“Almost 100 percent of all browsers we have surveyed have plug-ins installed that enable the user to play music, watch video, visualise PDF files and play games. Frequently these plug-ins are overlooked by the users and are not updated, representing a significant security exposure – both for end-users and corporate clients,” said Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO of Qualys. “BrowserCheck is an easy and straightforward way to take care of the flaws and to assure the user of a smooth and secure browsing experience.”

Availability
Qualys BrowserCheck is available now for free at: http://browsercheck.qualys.com.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 (SP4), Windows XP (All Editions), Windows Server 2003 (All Editions), Windows Vista (All Editions), Windows Server 2008 (All Editions) and Windows 7 (All Editions)

Supported Web Browsers (32-bit Version only): Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (not recommended), Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox 3.x (3.0, 3.5.x & 3.6), Google Chrome 4.x and Google Chrome 5.x.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc. is the leading provider of on demand IT security risk andcompliance management solutions – delivered as a service. Qualys’Software-as-a-Service solutions are deployed in a matter of hours anywhere inthe world, providing customers an immediate and continuous view of theirsecurity and compliance postures.

The QualysGuard® service is used today by more than 4,000 organizations in 85countries, including 42 of the Fortune Global 100 and performs more than 250million IP audits per year. Qualys has the largest vulnerability managementdeployment in the world at a Fortune Global 50 company.

Qualys has established strategic agreements with leading managed serviceproviders and consulting organizations including BT, Etisalat, Fujitsu, IBM,I(TS)2, LAC, NTT, SecureWorks, Symantec, Tata Communications and TELUS.

For more information, please visit www.qualys.com.

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Qualys, the Qualys logo and QualysGuard are proprietary trademarks of Qualys, Inc. All other products or names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

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