Network Associates has announced the availability of McAfee Threat Scan, a product that establishes areas of vulnerability within a network so that virus attacks may be prevented and recurring outbreaks stopped in their tracks.
"A knee-jerk reaction shared by many businesses to virus infections would be to purchase anti-virus software to solve the problem. However, viruses need to be stopped before they impact the corporate network," says Christopher Bray, Network Associates regional director for sub-Saharan Africa.
McAfee ThreatScan is a virus vulnerability assessment tool that works in conjunction with McAfee`s anti-virus management console, ePolicy Orchestrator, to scour the enterprise network for devices that are vulnerable to virus infection.
Says Eric Hemmendinger, research director for security and privacy at Aberdeen Group, IT analysis and positioning services firm: "Virus outbreaks are uniquely egalitarian among security threats - virtually every enterprise of any size has been impacted, and the cost/benefit equation for anti-virus solutions is so obvious that no IS manager will operate without protection.
"But the traditional approach is based on stopping the execution of a nasty payload, rather than eliminating the vulnerabilities. McAfee`s ThreatScan is a compelling vulnerability assessment solution designed to address viral exposure, enabling IS managers to plug the holes beforehand, bolstering the enterprise`s protection against outbreaks."
According to Bray, McAfee ThreatScan allows administrators to proactively uncover virus-related vulnerabilities throughout a corporate network without relying on security experts.
"In combination with ePolicy Orchestrator, ThreatScan provides a user interface that gives administrators the power to audit devices within a given IP range, identify operating systems throughout the network and the service pack level of each operating system and application," says Bray.
"The new technology also searches for known viral vulnerabilities such as `listening` ports, open shares and well-known applications in use throughout the network, like Microsoft IIS, ftp and telnet. After auditing the network, ThreatScan provides recommendations to address vulnerabilities found, helps the company track progress in eliminating the vulnerabilities, and reports on compliance with security policies."
The McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator management console, which is the supporting platform for McAfee ThreatScan, is used by large enterprises worldwide to manage the anti-virus security of entire networks from a single server.
Bray continues: "McAfee`s ePolicy Orchestrator management solution can distribute the latest virus definition updates to hundreds-of-thousands of desktops with the push of a button."
Availability
Both the McAfee ThreatScan product and ePolicy Orchestrator management console are currently available from Network Associates. McAfee ThreatScan is available on Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 2000 server, and is compatible with Internet Explorer version 5 or later.
For more information on the McAfee ThreatScan and ePolicy Orchestrator products, please visit http://www.mcafeesecurity.com.
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