Call it opportunism, responsible capitalism, or savvy marketing, but technology firms around the world have not been slow to offer free tools or extended licences to businesses, as staff transition to remote working — many with increased use of personal “bring-your-own” (BYOD) devices. Computer Business Review has not tracked a high number of endpoint security firms offering such options however.
That looks set to change. Trend Micro today was among the earlier high-profile security firms offering extensive free licenses today; in this case six months for its consumer internet security product, Trend Micro Maximum Security. (No payment details are needed: at the end of the six-months, the license will simply expire).
Those interested can get a product download URL here. (A year’s licence retails for around £35 in the UK otherwise. The endpoint security tool makes many Top 10 lists).
Others promising free six-month licences on the security front include Cloudflare, which is offering its Cloudflare for Teams bundle for free to small businesses. Reaqta, a small security firm, is offering four months of its security tools to all healthcare providers for free; New Zealand’s Emisoft likewise for healthcare providers.
The move comes as security experts say the coronavirus pandemic has unleashed a wave of manipulative, COVID-19-themed phishing emails and other attacks. France’s Orange Cybersecurity says (see graphic above) it is tracking coronavirus-themed attacks by the groups behind over 20 of the most prominent malware families.
DataVisor, a fraud detection platform that works with customers like Pinterest, Western Union and Alibaba, etc. to combat fraudulent activity meanwhile said it had found 4.5 fold increase in fraud rate for the travel industry, along with a somewhat lesser a 12 percent increase of fraud on ecommerce and marketplace platforms.
