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Facebook Beefs Up Anti-Virus Marketplace with 7 New Partners

Earlier this year, Facebook debuted their Anti-Virus Marketplace which allows users to download free trials of various anti-virus software. The original partners included names like Microsoft, McAfee,...
Facebook Beefs Up Anti-Virus Marketplace with 7 New Partners
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Earlier this year, Facebook debuted their Anti-Virus Marketplace which allows users to download free trials of various anti-virus software. The original partners included names like Microsoft, McAfee, Sophos, and Symantec.

    Today, Facebook is announcing an expansion of the Anti-Virus Marketplace that will see the company partner with seven new companies in their attempt to keep Facebook users free and clear of malware. Now, Facebook users can grab software from avast!, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, Panda, Total Defense, and Webroot.

    Of course, it’s not just about giving users the ability to download free trials of anti-virus software. By partnering with these companies, Facebook is able to incorporate their databases into Facebook’s own URL blacklist database. Of course, this makes Facebook better able to root out potential threats on the site before they become major problems.

    Here’s what Facebook had to say about that and possibility of future partnerships and new tools:

    “Our new anti-virus partners bring with them both the latest software and comprehensive intelligence. As with our existing partners, these seven companies will help protect Facebook’s community of over a billion users by improving our URL blacklist system. This system scans trillions of clicks per per day, and before each click, the system consults the databases of all our AV Marketplace partners to make sure the website you are about to visit is safe. This means that whenever you click a link on our site you are protected both by Facebook and 12 of the industry leaders in computer security. We will be cooperating with these partners more in the future, and look forward to announcing new tools soon.”

    Back in July, Facebook made their anti-virus initiative a little more proactive by launching the Malware Checkpoint. With the checkpoint, Facebook users can self-enroll in the anti-virus protection. Before, Facebook would have to identify an actionable threat in order for users to utilize the software.

    Facebook also recently created a new email address, [email protected], and asked users to file reports when they comes across anything shady on the network that attempts to snatch personal information.

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