Rising Signs Security Promotion With Taobao

Posted on November 30, 2007
Filed Under China Business, China Internet, Malware, Security |

CHINA’S No. 1 anti-virus software company has teamed up with the country’s biggest online auction Website to provide about 40 million online traders a more reliable and secure platform, the companies said yesterday.

…Taobao’s users can download and use Rising’s 2008 beta anti-virus software for free for three months. Taobao’s Wangwang accounts have been listed as a key target to receive protection from Rising’s “Account Number Safe,” a special tool to prevent Trojans from stealing online passwords.

Everyone is eligible for the free trial.

Taobao is Alibaba’s online auction site that has crushed EBay’s China ambitions. They have a market share of 83%, according to research firm Analysys (see this vnunet article).

Account information theft via some keystroke logging trojan is a big problem in China. I’m not familiar with “Account Number Safe”, but most security programs stop trojans by controlling what services can initiate and make external connections from the computer. The list of client software that Rising “protects” includes every major online game, most IM and communications platforms, and numerous trading and banking software.

The new partners declined to say how much Rising paid for the privilege of a spot in the lower right-hand corner of Taobao’s home page. Assuming the price wasn’t too steep, Rising’s security suite should gain a measure of visibility with exactly the kind of customers who need it.

The article also included some market numbers for security software:

Rising aims to differentiate itself from rivals through new services to capture a bigger market share in the growing Chinese Internet security industry which is estimated to be worth 1.2 billion yuan in 2007.

…In July, Rising’s market share in China by user coverage was 36.7 percent, followed by Kaspersky’s 33.3 percent and Qihoo Safe360’s 31.9 percent, according to iResearch.

Symantec’s Norton products are widely pirated in China (I believe they still don’t require authentication to download anti virus updates), so there’s a pretty big asterisk next to any numbers in this sector.