Yahoo, SBC Give Away Security Suite

Partners Yahoo and SBC Communications launched a free security suite for their DSL subscribers, saying that the service's users overwhelmingly wanted a more secure surfing environment.

Dubbed SBC Yahoo! Online Protection, the suite includes anti-virus and anti-spyware defenses, a pop-up ad blocker, parental controls, and anti-spam and other tools for members' e-mail inboxes. All the tools can be managed from a central dashboard, which also displays security status and alerts for developing threats.

According to Yahoo, the suite answers members' concerns. In a recent survey that Yahoo conducted of its DSL users, more than 70 percent said Internet security was "extremely important," but only 17 percent claimed they were confident in their own skills to take on the task. When asked how they wanted security handled, 60 percent said they wanted an all-in-one solution that automatically updated itself to deal with new viruses, spam, and spyware.

"[This] gives our broadband subscribers the freedom to focus on what they love about the Internet," said Steve Boom, senior vice president of Yahoo's broadband group, in a statement.

SBC Yahoo DSL users can download the security suite from the Yahoo website.