Comodo lures VARs with malware insurance scheme

Endpoint security vendor launches $5,000 cashback offer to help seed market for default-deny protection technique

Security vendor Comodo is aiming to take the UK channel by storm after launching a $5,000 cashback guarantee for its endpoint protection solution.

In a scheme backed by insurance giant Chubb, Comodo will pay out the cash sum to any customer hit by malware or a virus who has deployed its "next-generation" default-deny protection technology.

Founded in 1998, Comodo has traditionally specialised in SSL certificates, working primarily through an OEM channel. The US-based firm employs 900 R&D staff across eight security labs globally and holds several hundred patents.

Comodo is now hunting for 20-30 top-level UK resellers to seed the market for its Endpoint Security Manager offering, which differs from traditional anti-virus techniques by quarantining unknown files using automatic sandboxing.

Faruk Unlu, global business development director at Comodo, said traditional detection-based blacklisting and whitelisting techniques are powerless to deal with the 50,000-plus pieces of malware variants released every day that start life as an unknown file.

"Traditional anti-virus vendors are detection based. But if a burglar gets into your house, it's already too late. Our main job starts outside the house so it's impossible the thief gets their feet on the doorstep," Unlu said.

Top-level Comodo Fusion and Accelerate partners can earn up to 32 per cent margin on the technology, which starts at £12 per seat, in return for committing dedicated sales and technical headcount to the vendor.

David Hobson, security practice lead at integrator MTI, said sandboxing is nothing new but agreed that traditional anti-virus techniques are outmoded.

"The comment that anti-virus is out of date is pretty well accepted by the industry," he said. "The $5,000 prize is just a gimmick - but that's not to say [Comodo's] technology isn't any good. Sandboxing has been around for a while but it's not a bad option."

Greig Weir, UK channel sales director at Comodo, accepted that sandboxing is not a new concept but claimed Comodo's offering leaves rivals in the shade.

"We're the only fully automatic persistent sandbox on the planet," he said. "There are other sandboxes that work in a virtualised environment but virtual environments are relatively trivial to bypass - you can't bypass our system.

"The cashback guarantee means partners are able to sell a solution they don't have to worry about."