McAfee will announce an add-on for its enterprise
anti-virus products to offer increased protection against
spyware.
Users of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise Edition versions 7.1 or
8.0i next month will be able to purchase a new McAfee Anti-Spyware
Enterprise Edition Module for $15 (£8) per desktop to better
protect their systems against spyware, said John Bedrick, group
marketing manager at McAfee.
The spyware module is offered in addition to the protection that
McAfee already offers in VirusScan Enterprise Edition 8.0i, the
latest version of its anti-virus product released in August.
Protection in that product is limit to the top 200 types of spyware
that represent real security threats, Bedrick said.
"Essentially, if it is not capturing information to be sent out
or retrieved [by a hacker], or if it is not allowing people to take
control of the computer, it is not covered in 8.0i," Bedrick said.
"This add-on program is specifically for those customers who want
to move beyond the top-200 security threats and want to get rid of
all the junk."
For example, the spyware module also cleans PCs of annoying
adware that continually pops up ads on to users' machines, Bedrick
said. Spyware includes everything from adware to malware-like
Trojans and keyloggers.
McAfee plans to include the functionality of the spyware module
in a future version of VirusScan Enterprise Edition, possibly by
the end of next year, Bedrick said.
McAfee is not alone in targeting spyware. In August Computer
Associates International acquired antispyware software supplier
PestPatrol and last week announced the availability of eTrust
PestPatrol Anti-Spyware r5, which it acquired through the
buyout.
Other anti-virus suppliers, including F-Secure, Trend Micro and
Symantec, also are taking on spyware. Microsoft has said it plans
to address the problem of spyware, although it has not provided
many details.
Aside from the security risk, spyware can significantly slow
down computer performance. It is an increasing burden on IT
departments, eating up expensive help desk time, analysts and users
said.
"It is probably 40% of our help desk calls," said Thomas Smith,
manager of desktop engineering at a large Houston-based company.
"Spyware is a terrible thing. It is the worst thing out there right
now."
Smith manages about 5,000 Windows desktops. In several cases a
PC required a new Windows installation because of spyware, he said.
The company uses McAfee's VirusScan and is in the process of
upgrading to version 8.0i with the included spyware protection,
Smith said.
Without integrated suites of virus and spyware protection
available, many organisations have adopted personal spyware
programs such as the free Spybot Search & Destroy and AdAware
from LavaSoft, said David Friedlander, a senior analyst at
Forrester Research.
"Certainly there is demand for McAfee, Symantec, CA to offer
antispyware products for enterprise use," Friedlander said. "As
antispyware features get integrated in the anti-virus suites,
organisations will adopt those in place of the consumer and the
free scanning tools."
The Anti-Spyware Enterprise Edition Module plugs in to the
VirusScan Enterprise Edition 7.1 and 8.0i products and can be
installed remotely using McAfee's ePolicy Orchestrator and
ProtectionPilot management tools.
The product is due out in the second half of December.
Joris Evers writes for IDG News Service