Product Reviews

The latest SpyAudit report shows the instances of system monitors rose by 230 per cent and trojans by 114 per cent during the last three months of 2004. With an average of 24 instances of spyware being found per scan, across nearly 1.4 million separate machine scans, it's obvious this problem isn't going away.

Spy Sweeper is already a leading consumer anti-spyware product. With over one million licences sold in the first six months of release and deployment across 3,500 corporations, it looks as though the Enterprise version is heading for the same status. There was a hiccup recently when a security vulnerability was uncovered in version 1.5.1, which could be exploited to enable local users to gain escalated privileges and execute arbitrary commands. This was caused by spysweepertray.exe invoking help functions with system privileges. Webroot immediately fixed this with the release of Spy Sweeper Enterprise 2.

When launching this new version, Webroot announced the implementation of the first fully automated spyware research system, with the ability to scan millions of web pages per day. The combination of Phileas, as this research system is known, and the already well-respected Threat Research Team provides the back story to Spy Sweeper. These arm any enterprise

ADVERTISEMENT

using Spy Sweeper with access to a database that can detect and eradicate over 50,000 spyware traces.

Offering protection against spyware in the broadest sense, Spy Sweeper effectively guards against threats from adware, keylogging, malware, system monitors and trojans. It also enables you to centrally manage these threats across an enterprise of any size, reducing the time it takes to detect and neutralise the spyware threat on every desktop. Using a proven server-client approach, with central management by IT administrators rather than end users, Spy Sweeper deploys quickly, detects efficiently and quarantines effectively. It isn't the fastest scanner around, but it's very thorough.

This is the same basic architecture that has worked so well in the anti-virus industry. Rapid deployment is made possible by the use of login scripts, an internal software management product, or using Group Policy in Active Directory. Spyware definition updates and client software upgrades are handled automatically by the Webroot Enterprise Server. The central management console enables spyware policy and sweeping to be established locally, either on a manually scheduled basis or a fully automatic one. In the latter case, the server component takes care of the business of scanning, deleting, repairing and reporting.

Mobile users are catered for by the use of administrator-set policies. Users check the Webroot update server for definition updates when not connected to the corporate network, while automatic scans are performed when they do connect. The use of Active Shields on every desktop can, depending on configuration, protect against changes to system memory, Registry entries, host files, start-up processes and browser hijackings. Also, a lockdown feature lets administrators customise settings so that workstations comply to corporate security policy.