First published: 28th February 2008
In an email to subscribers Sophos has announced that during the next few months it will be making a number of changes to the mailing lists and downloads available to customers. The change is due to the continuing exponential rise in the number of new malware samples, and, as a result of the changes Sophos will be able to substantially increase the number of virus updates released every day, thereby providing even faster and better protection against malware.
The changes are:
- March 4th 2008: Individual IDE files will not be available for download from www.sophos.com. Customers are encouraged to use one of the automated update mechanisms available from Sophos to receive their updates. Alternatively users can download the ides.zip file from the Sophos website. This zip archive contains all the ide updates released since the last monthly engine update. Other zip archives are available for customers using older engines although users are encouraged to stay up to date and should not use an engine more than 3 months old.
- Three new subscription lists have been created to provide more targeted satisfaction of customer needs:
- Sophos Update Alert Subscription to this service will continue to provide an alert following the release of a new virus update. As the number of virus updates increases, so will the number of update alerts received increase. This new alert email will not contain information about the update itself, only announcing that an update has taken place. Subscribe by email.
- Sophos Daily Update Digest This email is for those customers wanting basic information about recent identity updates. Initially this subscription will simply provide a link to www.sophos.com/downloads/ide. From March, this email will provide subscribers with a daily digest about the updates released in the previous 24 hours. This information can also be viewed by subscribing to the Sophos RSS feeds. Subscribe by email.
- Sophos Protection News This newsletter will be a regular review of the updates released over the previous month, providing some statistics and analysis of these releases. This information will also be found on the SophosLabs blog which provides an easy way of keeping abreast of the very latest information about malware seen by our global network of analysts. This mailing list will also be used by SophosLabs to send out any urgent notifications about malware outbreaks where significant action should be taken. Subscribe by email.
- The format of emails from the existing alert service, Sophos Alert System, will change on February 4th 2008 in line with the new alert service, Sophos Update Alert.
- The existing alert service, Sophos Alert System, will then cease to send update alerts from March 4th 2008.
Sophos encourages subscribers to sign up to one of the three new mailing lists above should they wish to continue to receive this information. On subscribing to one or more of the above mailing lists, you will automatically be removed from the current update alert service.