Qihoo launches new security product

Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd on Monday unveiled its latest security system that will help government organizations and companies in key industries to detect highly dangerous and persistent hacks by analyzing billions of network records within seconds.

Industry experts said China is in desperate need of high-end online security products as overseas providers are facing a trust issue in the government procurement segment and attacks on strategically important organizations show a significant upswing.

Tan Xiaosheng, vice-president and head of Qihoo's for-enterprises security group, said the company's decade-long data accumulation and its status as a local provider will secure it a share of government-backed projects.

"Being a Chinese security company offers us an advantage on the market," Tan said. Qihoo's clients include China National Petroleum Corp, the People's Liberation Army and at least eight ministries.

The new system, named SkyEye, is the first known made-in-China online security product designed to fight off advanced persistent threats, or APT, using all the data available on its customers' server and most of the data pool in the country. An overseas provider using similar technology will not get the same security clearance as the SkyEye in government-backed projects, said Tan.

The APT is a set of malicious and continuous computer hacking processes targeting a specific entity. The government, organizations in energy, scientific research and information technology are among the biggest victims of this kind of attacks, analysts said.

The SkyEye still needs more on-field tests to prove its reliability. It usually takes a new security product about two years to receive approvals to enter the government procurement sector.

"We are aiming for government procurement deals once the government okays the SkyEye," said Tan. "This is a product that specializes on the threats the government and the State-owned enterprises are facing."

Zou Wei, an information security expert and a Peking University professor, said overseas APT targeting Chinese information technology enterprises' core data centers have seen a surge over the past year and a large amount of stealth software still goes undetected.

Zou, however, did not disclose the exact number of cases because the figure is sensitive.

Gao Kunlun, who oversees information security at the State Energy Smart Grid Research and Development Center, said security loopholes in the energy industry are alarming.

"Some power companies have already spotted tailored Trojans in their system. The areas related to national security are the most targeted," Gao said.

Both Zou and Gao expressed worries that limited investment in online safety and lack of high-end security products are making the country's cybersecurity environment even more dangerous. Chinese enterprises' expenses are roughly 10 percent that of their United States counterparts, research firm International Data Corporation has warned.

Li Yuxiao, a professor of Internet law at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said China needs more high-end technology providers to beef up its capabilities in preventing data leakage.