Trend Micro helps Facebook users Fight Cyber Threats with ‘HouseCall’

New Delhi, India, May 21, 2014: In an effort to provide Facebook users with a more secure online experience Trend Micro Incorporated today announced it has expanded its partnership with Facebook to incorporate Trend Micro HouseCall, a royalty-free security solution which will help detect malware and keep devices secure for Facebook’s more than 1 billion users.

With trillions of clicks occurring every day on Facebook, the social platform is a tempting target for spammers and criminals. HouseCall will complement Facebook’s existing systems to mitigate these threats by detecting and alerting users to malicious activity that could compromise user security and privacy.

Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, India & SEA, Trend Micro, “HouseCall will give Facebook users an additional safeguard against the malicious attacks that interacting online can bring. We are pleased to partner with one of the world’s leading social media networks to provide a free solution that will help protect the online security and privacy of billions of users.”

Potentially infected users are identified and notified by Facebook with the option to download the free version of HouseCall, which will check for and remove malware. HouseCall will begin its scan on affected accounts of users who choose to download the scanner, and users will be able to continue using Facebook while the scan takes place. Once the scan is complete, a message will alert users if the cleanup was successful or unsuccessful.

“The scanning process enables users to continue to work online in a more secure environment without unintentionally sharing malicious content or being infected from unsuspecting accounts,” said Thakkar. “HouseCall helps make social networking safer on Facebook.”

Effective today, Facebook users’ accounts and devices have the opportunity to utilize Trend Micro’s free anti-virus tools to scan and clean their systems.

Software Engineer at Facebook Chetan Gowda said, “We use a combination of systems to help protect people using Facebook from threats like malware. Incorporating the malware detection and cleanup capabilities of Trend Micro HouseCall into these systems will increase our ability to perform this important work.”