Update on OPSWAT Partnerships with the Anti-malware Engine Vendor Community

OPSWAT's success can be partly attributed to our strong relationships with anti-malware engine vendors that are built on a foundation of mutual benefit, trust, and fairness.

Ways that OPSWAT fosters powerful relationships with anti-malware engine vendors include:

• The OPSWAT Certified Security Application program verifies anti-malware application compatibility and interoperability with solutions from Cisco Systems, Citrix Systems, F5 Networks, Palo Alto Networks, and many other companies.
• OPSWAT OEM's anti-malware engines that power the multi-scanning feature of MetaDefender Core.
• OPSWAT's malware sharing program MetaDefender.com helps the anti-malware community identify new threats and fight false positives by detecting malware that is not caught by individual anti-malware engines and then sharing this malware information with our vendors.
• Several anti-malware vendors license OESIS Framework to power features of their solutions.

OPSWAT produces three products: OESIS Framework, MetaDefender Core, and MetaDefender.com.

OESIS Framework is licensed to technology vendors. MetaDefender Core is licensed to end users' organizations in verticals such as government, energy, and defense, financial, and healthcare—supporting five major use cases:

• Email threat prevention: MetaDefender Core acts as the second layer of defense for mail traffic data.
• Proxy threat prevention: MetaDefender Core serves as the second layer of defense for web downloads.
• Portable media threat prevention: MetaDefender Core scans and sanitizes data before allowing it to enter a secure network.
• Endpoint forensics: Infected endpoints are scanned offline to a mounted MetaDefender Core.
• API integration: MetaDefender Core scans and sanitizes data before uploading files to a local database within a network or a corporation.

VirusTotal's (a Google company) recent announcement of their new policy has caused some confusion among our engine partners. Several assumed that the scanning feature of OPSWAT's MetaDefender.com puts anti-malware engine vendors at a similar risk for misuse of their intellectual property. This assumption is misplaced, and I am pleased to use this opportunity to clarify any misconceptions.

MetaDefender.com is similar to VirusTotal in that they both offer a cloud-based multi-scanning feature. However, unlike VirusTotal, MetaDefender.com offers our prospective MetaDefender Core customers with the option to quickly prototype MetaDefender Core features and to utilize various big data components.

The goals of MetaDefender.com include:

• Market OPSWAT MetaDefender technology by:
  • Demonstrating MetaDefender Core features
  • Educating the market about the value of multi-scanning
• Assist the anti-malware community with:
  • Fighting false positives
  • Sharing malware samples
  • Identifying malware outbreaks
• Create a commercial threat intelligence platform that includes:
  • A vulnerability database
  • Binary classification and reputation
  • Common network traffic generated by applications
  • Common libraries loaded by binaries
• Offer prospective customers and technology partners the ability to prototype and test integration with MetaDefender Core, as the API of MetaDefender Core and MetaDefender.com are very similar; therefore, prospects won't need to download, configure, and go through the manual process requesting a temporary license

OPSWAT pays royalties to anti-malware vendors who supply engines for the purpose of embedding into MetaDefender Core packages. We also qualify prospective customers in order to restrict licensing to IT professionals seeking to protect their employers' network infrastructure and data. This restriction is reiterated in our end user license agreement.

Many technology security companies have recently contacted OPSWAT requesting information about MetaDefender.com and have inquired if they may use MetaDefender.com in a manner similar to VirusTotal. We have directed inquiring companies to evaluate MetaDefender Core.

• If the evaluator is an IT professional working for an end-customer who plans to use MetaDefender for internal use, we proceed with direct licensing of the MetaDefender Core technology.
• If the evaluator is a technology company that aims to build a solution based on MetaDefender Core, we encourage documented integration. However, we permit licensing only by the technology partner end customer. Our integration with InQuest, which services a joint end customer, Defense Intelligence Services Agency, is an example of this type of solution.

If you have any remaining questions about OPSWAT, please reach me via LinkedIn or contact partners@opswat.com. Enjoy using MetaDefender.com!