Morpheus bundles McAfee.com info in P2P client

The firm behind the popular Morpheus file sharing network has selected McAfee.com as its preferred security partner.

StreamCast Networks is to bundle McAfee.com's SecurityCenter information service into the Morpheus Client, providing users with a "powerful utility to view their security status and be alerted to major security risks".

Raising awarenesss about security issues among P2P users is no bad thing (after all, such systems are inherently insecure) but the real impact of the deal is to expand McAfee.com's sales channels and promote its security services to punters.

McAfee.com makes this clear when it says: "SecurityCenter has been the most successful customer acquisition program in the company's history."

Using the SecurityCenter information service, McAfee.com will promote its consumer ASP warnings, so expect to see an emphasis on how virus writers are increasingly using P2P network as a vector to spread their malware. At worst this has the potential to become FUD nagware.

In making it much easier to receive protection from viruses, the McAfee.com service has its advantages for users. But this is not a universal panacea against virus ills. Hotmail is protected by McAfee.com AV services, yet certain strains of viruses still manage occasionally to evade detection.

The level of protection provided to Hotmail users is far less than that provided to McAfee.com consumer ASP subscribers. But it's important to note - again and again - that security goes beyond simply using an AV scanner. ®