SAN JOSE, Calif. — F-Secure(R) Corporation (HEX:FSC), the leading Internet security provider, has signed a strategic agreement with Barclays Bank to provide its two million online banking customers with a free two-year license of F-Secure Anti-Virus.
This significant investment demonstrates Barclays’ commitment to keeping customers safe from hacking attempts, viruses and other malware while using the Internet — not just when they’re banking online. Barclays will be marketing the software to its online customers via its website and direct mail.
The bank selected F-Secure for the technical strength of its anti-virus offering, speed of response to emerging Internet security threats and high levels of service and customer support.
Risto Siilasmaa, President and CEO at F-Secure, commented: "F-Secure’s research labs work around the clock to ensure a level of protection not found in rival products. Independent studies in 2004 and 2005 show that F-Secure’s response time to new threats is significantly faster than our major competitors. Our anti-virus protection, desktop firewall with intrusion prevention, anti-spam and anti-spyware solutions have been selected by Barclays as ‘best of breed’. Barclays knows it is offering customers the best available online protection and, with our 24/7 helpline, the best customer service."
Jeremy Law, Head of Business Development for Electronic Banking at Barclays Bank, added, "Studies show that nearly two-thirds of home PCs don’t have active virus protection, and one in five is actually infected by a virus, placing people at risk from data theft as well as damage to their computers. Because of the risks, some people are concerned about the security of online banking, despite banks’ best efforts to make their own procedures secure."
"F-Secure’s Anti-Virus product will provide our customers with excellent protection, giving them peace of mind when using the Internet and banking online, without annoying them with pop-ups and confusing instructions. The software and service met all our requirements — it’s straightforward to set up, provides thorough protection that’s updated daily and is backed up with an excellent support," concluded Law.
The agreement with F-Secure allows Barclays to offer a free service to its online customers that would normally cost more than $80 for the two years. "This offer places Barclays in a different league to its competitors when it comes to keeping customers safe online," commented Siilasmaa. "By protecting them online, Barclays is ensuring that, whether on bank business or not, its customers are given the best possible service."
Barclays Bank customers using F-Secure Anti-Virus will also have the option to upgrade to F-Secure’s flagship Internet Security product for a reduced price, giving them additional features including parental control, a personal firewall, spam filters and application control.
ABOUT F-SECURE CORPORATION
F-Secure Corporation protects consumers and businesses against computer viruses and other threats from the Internet and mobile networks. We want to be the most reliable provider of security services in the market. One way to demonstrate this is the speed of our response. According to independent studies in 2004 and 2005 our response time to new threats is significantly faster than our major competitors. Our award-winning solutions are available for workstations, gateways, servers and mobile phones. They include anti-virus and desktop firewall with intrusion prevention, antispam and antispyware solutions, as well as network control solutions for Internet Service Providers.
Founded in 1988, F-Secure has been listed on the Helsinki Exchanges since 1999, and has been consistently growing faster than all its publicly listed competitors. F-Secure headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland, and we have regional offices around the world. F-Secure protection is also available as a service through major ISPs, such as FranceTelecom, TeliaSonera, PCCW and Charter Communications. F-Secure is the global market leader in mobile phone protection provided through mobile operators, such as T-Mobile and Swisscom and mobile handset manufacturers such as Nokia.
The latest real-time virus threat scenario news is available at the F-Secure Data Security Lab weblog at http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/.
ABOUT BARCLAYS
Barclays is an international financial services group engaged primarily in banking, investment banking and asset management. In terms of market capitalization employed, Barclays is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. The Group operates in more than 60 countries and is a leading provider of global services to multinational corporations and financial institutions in the world’s main financial centers.
(C) 2006 F-Secure Corporation. All rights reserved. All marks are the property of their owners, and are used for identification purposes only.
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