In an effort to make the Internet more secure, the world’s leading dedicated security company McAfee yesterday announced that it has collaborated with social networking juggernaut Facebook to provide discounted security services to all of its 350 million Facebook members.
The partnership states that Facebook users will be eligible for a complimentary six-month subscription of the McAfee Internet Security Suite. After the six-month period, users who are satisfied with the software can purchased the subscription plan for a discounted price. The Santa Clara-based security company claimed that Facebook will not get a slice of the pie of the revenue from the sales of the subscription plans.
In a worst case scenario when a Facebook was suspended due to potential threats, the Palo Alto-based social networking site said it has came up with an innovative process that requires users to take steps to re-secure their Facebook account and learn security best practices. Previously, Facebook simply reset passwords of members whose accounts were vexed by hacking or phishing. The McAfee software will then come in handy by integrating a solution where users actually have to get machines scanned and cleaned before returning to life in the online community.
Facebook users who are interested can head over to the McAfee Facebook page, click on the “Protect Your PC” tab, become a fan, and you’re good to go!
However, the McAfee Internet Security Suite software will be available only to Facebook users in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. It will expand to more countries soon.
“Facebook is very serious about security and has made significant efforts to protect its users and service by investing in dedicated teams and sophisticated systems, and this partnership with McAfee furthers that mission,” said Todd Gebhart, executive vice president and general manager, McAfee Consumer, Mobile and Small Business. “We believe our partnership will make a real difference in the battle to secure the Internet by giving so many more people access to industry leading technology from McAfee.”
“By partnering with a market leader like McAfee, we are taking an unprecedented step towards making the entire Internet more secure and reducing the possibility of threats being brought onto our service by unsuspecting users,” said Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications, marketing and public policy, Facebook. “Keeping the Internet secure requires that users, security vendors and Internet companies all work together. We think we’ve developed an excellent model for this collaboration, and to ensure the greatest possible value to our users, Facebook will not accept any revenue from subscriptions. We hope this is something that other services will emulate.”