Antivirus software maker Trend Micro has added a new twist to the
competitive enterprise security software market: cash back for
tardy virus updates.
The company's Virus Response Service Level Agreement (SLA) program
guarantees premium support customers that for each infected file
submitted for analysis, the company will issue a virus pattern
file. This can be used by Trend Micro's software to scan for the
virus within two hours of the submission or the company will pay a
fine.
The fines will vary, depending on the customer's level of premium
support. For participants in Trend Micro's Gold support program,
the company will pay $1,000 (£640) for each late virus pattern.
That penalty increases to $2,000 per incident for Platinum support
customers, and $3,000 for Diamond level support customers,
according to Bob Hansmann, product manager at Trend Micro.
Trend Micro's existing premium support customers will not
automatically be entitled to receive payments under the new plan.
Instead, those customers will be required to "upgrade" to the new
support programs, according to Hansmann.
Details of how the company will move its existing premium support
customers into the new program have not yet been completed.
The program is a refinement of a free virus submission service
offered by Trend Micro and was created in response to requests from
customers, according to Hansmann.
Under the program, files submitted by customers will be scanned
initially with Trend Micro's own software against all known virus
patterns. Assuming the files pass that scan, an engineer will check
the suspected files for new viruses.
It is not uncommon for customers who have not kept their antivirus
software up to date to submit files for inspection that are
infected by viruses for which a pattern already exists, Hansmann
said.
While the program sounds ambitious, Hansmann said that it covers
detection of new viruses, not their removal.
"You need to make a distinction between detection and cleaning.
Creating a detection is a lot more straightforward than dealing
with a cleaning, especially with worms that change [Windows] INI
files and registry settings, drop viruses on your system, and so
on," said Hansmann.
"The real problem is not a new virus, but having a worldwide
outbreak of Code Red 2 at the same time as all of our premium
customers decide to submit a whole bunch of files," he added.
In that case, according to Hansmann, Trend Micro would activate all
of its worldwide research labs to handle the increased workload. In
addition, the new program exempts Trend Micro from new viruses that
target unpatched product source code, such as Code Red or the
Melissa Word macro virus.
Brian Burke, an analyst at IDC, said Trend Micro were on a sure
footing in offering the money-back guarantee.
"They have statistics that show their service response time is
fantastic," Burke said. "Based on the [statistics] I've seen, Trend
Micro wouldn't have been required to default on their agreement
with any of the 'blended threat' viruses in recent years - Code Red
or Nimda."
While companies such as Symantec and Network Associates concentrate
on delivering integrated product suites, Trend Micro may be trying
to distinguish itself by focusing on the basics: good virus
detection and prompt service, according to Burke.
"[Trend Micro's SLA program] is attractive when companies are
considering who to go with. It's a value-added service - if, for
some reason, Trend Micro can't get a signature to you, they'll pay
you money to help alleviate the cost of downtime," Burke said.