McAfee to be official security provider for Facebook users

IT security software maker McAfee today announced a deal with social network site Facebook under which it will become the exclusive security provider to the site's 350 million users.

Under the terms of the partnership, McAfee is Facebook's exclusive provider of consumer security software, and Facebook users will be eligible for a complimentary six-month subscription to the McAfee Internet Security Suite software.

Following the six-month period, Facebook users will be eligible for special discount subscription pricing. Facebook is applying all financial incentives from this partnership to the benefit of its users and will not be taking a share of any revenue from user subscriptions.

McAfee Internet Security Suite software protects users' PCs from online threats, viruses, spyware, hackers, online scammers, identity thieves and other cybercriminals, and includes McAfee SiteAdvisor site rating technology.

In the rare instance of a Facebook account being compromised, Facebook has developed an innovative process that requires users to take steps to re-secure their account and learn security best practices. As part of the agrement with McAfee, this process will now also include custom McAfee technology to clean users' computers, at no cost.

To keep users educated about the latest threats, Facebook and McAfee will work together to develop educational content for the Facebook Security Page, Facebook's principal resource for security-related information. McAfee will also continuously update its own Facebook Page, which features the offer on the ''Protect Your PC'' tab as well as security information on ''Protect Your Kids'' and ''Security Notes'' tabs.

Research has shown that up to 78 per cent of consumers do not have updated anti-virus, an enabled firewall and anti-spyware, and 48 per cent of them use expired anti-virus.