According to the announcement Thursday, China-based PC Stars will distribute Privacyware's full line of security software products including its popular Web application firewall and host intrusion prevention solution ThreatSentry that prevents unauthorized system access to Web servers using Microsoft Internet Information Service.

"We are excited to offer Privacyware's award-winning ThreatSentry Web application firewall software to our customers," PCI Stars product manager Matthew Zhou said in a statement. "In our lab tests, ThreatSentry delivered a comprehensive range of security capabilities to protect IIS Web and database services. Combined with its simple management and affordable price, the ThreatSentry value proposition has resonated strongly with customers across the range of industry verticals."

ThreatSentry offers protection from SQL injection, directory traversal, cross-site scripting, parameter manipulation, buffer overflow, denial of service and other exploitative techniques. It also helps customers achieve compliance with section 6.6 of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, ensuring safe online transactions.

Privacyware chief executive officer Greg Salvato said systems administrators and Web developers around the globe feel increasing pressure with the rise in online crime targeting Web applications. "PC Stars has developed an impressive software distribution and customer support organization that will enable us to more effectively deliver Privacyware solutions to IT personnel in China who are responsible for the defense of critical Web infrastructures," Salvato said in a statement.

In June, internet research organization Stopbadware.org (stopbadware.org) placed China well-ahead of the US in terms of hosting "badware," meaning spyware, malware and deceptive adware. China accounted for 52 percent, while the US took second place with 21 percent and no other country hosted more than 4 percent of badware sites.