Blueshift_Cybersecurity

Lifecycle Policy

As of September 13, 2021, product release history, user guides, and lifecycle information have been moved to the Blueshift Support site. Please go to https://support.blueshiftcyber.com/ and choose from the Consumer & Individual or Business Solutions for more information.

In order to make sure that users have the best threat protection possible and to focus our development efforts on continuing to protect users from new threats, Blueshift has published a lifecycle policy effective October 20, 2019. The purpose of this policy is to establish clear guidance on the expected lifetime of our software and technologies. This usually occurs whenever we release a new version of existing software, when we have brand-new software/a major evolution of existing software, or when we choose not to release any more versions of a product for business or technology reasons.

The Blueshift Lifecycle Policy applies to major, minor, and patch/service versions of our software. Aversion marks an update to our software and/or technologies. Version numbers are generally (but not consistently) differentiated with the nomenclature “X.YY.Z”. Typically, a change in “X” indicates a major version update, which represents a large number of new features, bug fixes, and/or major software architectural or technological changes in the release. A change in “YY” indicates a minor version update, usually with a smaller number of new features and bug fixes. A change in (or addition of) “Z” represents a smaller planned patch or service release. The Blueshift Lifecycle Policy excludes beta releases. The lifecycle for beta releases may vary depending on the objectives of the release and is subject to change without notice at the sole discretion of Blueshift.

Blueshift products may include one or more separate software applications, each on their own lifecycle timeline. Furthermore, we may offer the same application in multiple products on separate lifecycle timelines. Please see our Product Lifecycle Matrix for more information on the lifecycles of specific Blueshift applications and versions.

When an individual software application is updated, it will be included in the latest version of the product .zip package. To access the update, simply re-download the .zip package from your original purchase document. If you don’t have access to your original purchase document, contact support at corporate-support@blueshiftcyber.com.

Blueshift protection products include several prevention features that make up a layered defense strategy, protecting against daily threats. Each layer is designed to disrupt the attack chain at a different stage. While all Blueshift products are highly effective in dealing with attacks, our protection capabilities are most effective when you install all product components and take advantage of the full product suite, allowing each prevention layer to do the job for which it is best suited. While we understand that some customers use individual Blueshift standalone clients for remediation or to enhance an existing third-party endpoint security solution, relying only on one or two Blueshift standalone components (Anti-Malware, Anti-Exploit, or Anti-Ransomware) is not representative of the true protection capabilities of Blueshift when the full protection stack is deployed.

As technology continues to evolve, we need to ensure that we focus our efforts on supporting the operating systems and conditions that our users are most frequently using. This helps us improve user experience by making our products widely accessible and yet finely tuned for various system configurations. Accordingly, Blueshift reserves the right to drop support for older operating systems, browsers, and other operating conditions with the release of a new version of a product or individual application.

 

Milestone Definitions

What this is: The date when a new version of our software is available for sale or public download (excluding Beta).

What this means for you: A new software version is available. If you have an older version, you should upgrade as soon as possible to get the latest feature updates.

What this is: The date when an older version of our software is no longer available for sale, renewal, or public download.

What this means for you: An older version of our product is no longer available to purchase or download. Typically, we release a new version to replace it on the same day. From time to time, we may choose to discontinue software in order to focus on newer iterations of our technologies; if we have chosen not to release any newer versions, we’ll provide instructions on how to migrate to another comparable Blueshift product, if available.

 

What this is: The date when we will no longer provide maintenance on an older version of our software.

What this means for you: Bugs happen. From the General Availability date until the End of Maintenance date, if we find a bug in an older version our software, we may choose to fix it as a hotfix or silent update. After the End of Maintenance date, we’ll provide technical support on the existing functionality of that version, and may choose to address bugs in a newer version of the software, if applicable.

 

What this is: The date when we will no longer provide technical support on an older version of our software, exactly6 months after the End of Maintenance date for Individual &Consumer applications and 12 months after End of Maintenance for Business and Technician applications. Versions that are past their End of Life date are considered “Legacy.” All versions that have not yet reached their End of Life date are considered “Active.”

What this means for you: If you are using an older version of our software that is past its End of Life date, technical support will be limited to help with upgrade to the latest version, or migration to a comparable Blueshift product, if applicable. We will continue to answer common product questions, and any existing self-help resources will still be available. You may continue to use the older product version at your own risk, but ongoing protection updates are not guaranteed. This is because we are always looking for more efficient and more advanced detection techniques for our protection updates, which may not be compatible with older versions of our software. Eventually the older techniques used in older versions of our software may become obsolete as the threat landscape changes.