Trend Micro Raises Bar with XGen™ Endpoint SecurityFirst to add high-fidelity machine learning to a blend of cross-generational threat defense techniques

AUCKLAND, 19 October, 2016 – Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced the availability of XGen™ endpoint security. This new offering is powered by the XGen™ blend of cross-generational threat defense techniques that intelligently applies the right technology at the right time, resulting in more effective and efficient protection against a full range of threats. Trend Micro's unique approach uses proven methods to quickly identify benign data and known threats, freeing its advanced techniques, such as application control, exploit prevention, behavioural analysis and machine learning, to more quickly and accurately identify unknown threats. Trend Micro is the first to infuse 'high-fidelity' machine learning into its approach – uniquely analysing files both before execution and at runtime, using 'noise cancellation' features like census checking and whitelisting to reduce false positives.

Endpoint security has evolved dramatically over the past 25 years. In the early days, nuisance malware or spam was the only concern. However, the booming underground hacker economy, ever-changing IT landscape and risky user behaviour have given rise to an exponential growth in sophisticated threats like phishing, targeted attacks, mobile malware and now ransomware. Recently, a single ransomware variant compromised an estimated 100,000 computers per day1.. These dynamic challenges, combined with the cumulative volume of attacks – made worse with more than 500,000 new threats identified daily2 – have made it harder than ever for organisations to stay protected. Despite promises by some security providers, time has shown that there is no silver bullet when it comes to defeating the myriad of cyber threats – each new class of threat requires purpose-built protection techniques.

"The name XGen™ was carefully chosen to indicate the cross-generational technology fueling our approach, which is built on years of experience and provides customers with better protection against the evolving range of threats they face," said Eva Chen, chief executive officer for Trend Micro. "We've been using machine learning for years as part of our global threat intelligence, the Smart Protection Network. Now, we're raising the bar by infusing 'high-fidelity' machine learning into our blend of protection techniques to specifically tackle more advanced threats like ransomware, while other vendors, including relatively new 'next-gen' endpoint security companies, only offer one or two 'one-size-fits-all' protection techniques."

Australian-based Trend Micro data scientist Dr Jon Oliver, has played an important role in the global team that has developed Trend Micro's XGen™ security solution "In order to combat today's ransomware, it's essential that organsiations have the right tools that can not only detect threats but also recover from them, fast," said Oliver. "Security solutions need to be adaptable to prevent those threats next time they're encountered. This is where the power of machine learning at time zero comes into play; machine learning can pre-empt and prevent threats that are growing and changing at an exponential rate.

" XGen™ endpoint security is available today as part of the Trend Micro Smart Protection Suites. The suites include a range of integrated endpoint, email and web gateway security capabilities designed to protect users in their daily activities, with centralised visibility and control to speed time to response for IT. With 28 years of experience and more than 155 million endpoints protected, Trend Micro continues to demonstrate its unwavering commitment to innovation in the area of endpoint security.

"New threats are appearing as rapidly as technology changes, but old threats continue to circulate and plague enterprises," said Doug Cahill, Senior Analyst for ESG. "What comes next should embody a design that is multi-generational, based on an architecture that can transcend technology, threats and end-user computing behaviors. It's exciting to see that Trend Micro is addressing this challenge with the introduction of XGen™ endpoint security."

Trend Micro has been named a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms since 20023. In 2016, Trend Micro placed furthest to the right in the quadrant for Completeness of Vision.

For more information on the Trend Micro XGen™ endpoint security, please visit here.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses and governments provide layered security for data centres, cloud environments, networks and endpoints. All our products work together to seamlessly share threat intelligence and provide a connected threat defense with centralised visibility and control, enabling better, faster protection. With over 5,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world’s most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro enables organisations to secure their journey to the cloud. For more information, visit www.trendmicro.com.nz.

1 Ransomware Victims Urged To Report Infections To Federal Law Enforcement, September 15, 2016. Read more
2 500,000 new threats identified daily as part of the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network
3 Trend Micro positioned in Leaders Quadrant under the names Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection and Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Antivirus