Under the new venture, the partners intend to develop technology that will fight internet fraud.

Stanislav Miasnikov, president of PhatWare, said: We are excited to form this new joint venture and deliver email security software based on the technology developed by First Cyber Security while utilising PhatWare’s expertise in software development for desktop and mobile platforms.

Heracles’ first product, which will use First Cyber Security’s core technology, is expected to verify all URLs in each email message received and filter emails containing links to fraudulent websites.

Heracles software will filter spam mails from the e-mails that reach the company or ISP exchange server. It will then scan the remaining e-mails by visiting every link contained in the e-mail and check if the URLs lead the user to a genuine or dangerous site. It will report back to the e-mail, adding a validation report, or alternatively rejecting it outright if it contains a fraudulent link.

The first version of the software, which is likely to be beta tested in the second half of 2008, will come in two versions: client-side for Microsoft Outlook 2007 or later and server-side for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. In the future, the product is expected to be extended to support other email client and server applications and platforms.