Libris Britannia 4/science library(b).zip/science library(b)/INFO/NETW92PR.ZIP/CERTUS.TXT

Text File | 1992-04-02 | 6KB | 102 lines

CLEVELAND, OH--If the virus epidemic keeps up its current growth trend,
within months a healthy computer could be difficult to find. During the
fourth quarter of 1991, corporations with 300 or more personal computers
will have a 65% chance of encountering a computer virus, and during 1992
and thereafter, virtually 100% of organizations will encounter a virus at
least once each quarter. About 18% of corporations will experience a
computer virus disaster during the first quarter of 1992, according to a
study by Dataquest, Inc.

Growing exponentially, the chance of a virus encounter or disaster is
presently doubling every four to five months, according to Peter Tippett,
president and founder of Certus International Corporation and the author
of the leading theory on the world-wide growth of computer viruses. More
than 1,000 strains have been identified, many of which are rapidly
circulating around the country.

Headquartered in Cleveland, the firm specializes in the development of
innovative DOS-based PC systems security and anti-virus software, most
notably Certus and NOVI. NOVI, an acronym for "No Virus", was rated first
in overall effectiveness of anti-virus programs by Software Digest in an
analysis performed by the National Software Testing Laboratory earlier
this year.

"Viruses today are becoming increasingly sophisticated," said Tippett, the
country's foremost expert on the subject. "Now we're seeing stealth and
encrypted viruses hide from traditional virus scanners."

Only about half of all viruses are designed to be malicious in intent. Some
of these erase data, insert messages on the screen or even make all the
letters fall into a pile at the bottom of the screen. But even those which
only are designed to replicate are dangerous.

Often written by computer buffs testing their skills, viruses spread from
contagious disk to disk and from infected computer to computer without
their owner's or operator's knowledge. Memory is consumed and the viruses
inevitably introduce "bugs" or system errors which eventually results in
costly system crashes or down time.

"Most companies are reluctant to divulge their contamination," said Dr.
Tippett. "If the word gets out their database has been wiped out, their
credibility can be destroyed, too. Consequently, many people are not aware
of the severity of the problem."

Certus International Corporation has developed two sophisticated safeguard
programs which prevent, detect and repair computer viruses.

NOVI 1.01 is a new product which was designed to deal invisibly and
unobtrusively with computer viruses, especially in large organizations. It
offers complete prevention, detection and repair of both known and unknown
(future) viruses. A patent of the software is currently pending. NOVI's
comprehensive features either prevent or detect and perfectly repair
infection of program files caused by viruses. It also checks the boot
sections and operating system of a computer's hard disk using a new,
proprietary technology which bypasses the computer's operating system to
verify the system and software integrity.

Certus maintains the philosophy that scanning is not the solution to
computer viruses. To support this belief with credence, NOVI 1.01 is the
best and fastest scanner available; however, more importantly, NOVI
protects against both known and unknown viruses, therefore no updates are
necessary. "The only reason you will need updates for NOVI is to satisfy
your curiosity about which virus it stopped," said Tippett.

Certus 2.1/Certus LAN has evolved over more than three years as a powerful
protection and security product. It was named PC Magazine's Editor's
Choice along the way. Through its systems management approach, this unique
software offers both central control and monitoring of all personal
computers in an organization.

Among its features are the control of all software execution throughout an
organization, providing the ability to set and enforce standards to
prevent software piracy as well as to prevent the running of all
unauthorized software including security-busting software and computer
viruses. Certus also provides auditing tools, fault tolerance facilities
to prevent many machine and hard disk crashes, and a "Critical Disk" which
allows for totally automatic recovery and up-to-the-minute repair of
crashed hard disks and BootLock--which prevents hard disk access without a
password.

Both software programs are non-intrusive and user-installable, or "clone"
installable by a system manager. Certus retails for $189; NOVI retails for
$129. Multi-user packs are available at discounted rates.

"Viruses today are so widespread that all PCs in large installations must
be protected," said Dr. Tippett. "Random or periodic scanning is no longer
an effective technique."

Certus International Corp
13110 Shaker Square, Cleveland, OH 44120
216-752-8181

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