What is CounterSpy Enterprise?
In a recent Sunbelt Software survey, spyware is expected to be the greatest security threat to your networks. The biggest problems highlighted are:
- loss of company confidential data and intellectual property,
- loss of employee productivity,
- loss of network bandwidth.
World-class Anti-spyware
Spyware is worse and a more insidious problem than viruses. You need world-class centralised anti-spyware management as an essential element of your layered security posture because:
- Despite their claims, existing AV companies’ “spyware modules” don’t cut it. Their code was not built to fight spyware and it shows!
- Using a substandard product causes a false sense of security.
- Most anti-spyware out there is not really enterprise-ready.
To help you fight spyware, we built a true second generation enterprise-ready product from the ground up that gets you everything you need, but we also added something unique: CounterSpy has the best spyware database in the industry. CounterSpy’s state of the art scanning engine uses threat signatures from multiple sources to hunt down a broad range of spyware, adware, and other malware.
“Install-and-move-on”
Your existing AV product might claim they now have an anti-spyware module. It might even get somewhat close to the quality of stand-alone tools. But these large products have a steep learning curve, take a lot of time to install, and then take a lot of time to manage once you have them deployed. CounterSpy Enterprise is fast to set up, low-maintenance, so it’s “install and move on” with the security you have the best anti-spyware database in the industry!
As an enterprise administrator you need information about the activities of anti-spyware software on your networks. You need real-time protection. You must have a mechanism for notification when threats are detected or actions are taken. You must have a comprehensive reporting system that will make it easy to provide documentation for your own use and for keeping management informed and justifying budget expenditures.
CounterSpy Enterprise provides you what you need
CounterSpy Enterprise is a powerful centralised policy-based second generation product that allows you to detect, delete and protect against over 35 categories of malware. The spyware threat database is updated from multiple sources including Sunbelt’s own CounterSpy Research Team, and the hundreds of thousands of people that participate in Sunbelt’s ThreatNet community of opt-in users, and last but not least, our proprietary web crawler (SPECTRE) helps out too. The Press loves it, CounterSpy Enterprise gets rave reviews.
Active Protection
CounterSpy Enterprise v1.5 has the same award-winning active protection that the consumer version had already implemented earlier, but in the Enterprise version the Active Protection is fully policy-based and driven from your centralised admin console. v1.5 has also been tested and is STIG compliant. (Released by the Defense Information Systems Agency, STIG is an acronym for Security Implementation Guide).
Fighting Spyware Together - A Worldwide Detection Network: ThreatNet
The only way we can fight this new spyware plague is to band together and create a worldwide detection network that sends outbreak information back to Sunbelt’s spyware research centre in real time. This team tests and updates the CounterSpy threat database on a very regular basis. ThreatNet allows spyware to be found faster, fixes to be coded, validated, and downloaded to CounterSpy Enterprise users. You told us what you needed and we built it for you! You can submit potential threats to the Sunbelt CounterSpy Research Centre.
Powerful Centralised Spyware Management
CounterSpy Enterprise allows you to create policies and assign machines to that policy via Active Directory, your network neighbourhood or by IP address. From a single admin console you control the automatic silent push install of the agent (CounterSpy also supports WMI deployment), scheduling, and threat database updates for just a few dozen, hundreds or thousands of machines to protect your entire network from over 35 categories of spyware. The agent is available as an “MSI” file (but also as an .exe) that you can install via login scripts, deploy with SMS or WMI, Add to a Group Policy with the ability to easily create transforms (.mst files) or let the end user install via a web page.
Anti-Virus Companies Are Not Cutting It
There is (lots of) money to be made in spyware, both in ‘legit’ adware but even more in criminal exploitation. Anti-virus companies make a feeble attempt to counter this problem but the fact is that their code was not initially built to remove spyware, and this is definitely noticeable. There is only one rule regarding viruses: “Keep em out”. To get rid of spyware, much more sophisticated code is required.
Your Organisational Challenge
Controlling rapidly spreading spyware is hard. Preventing re-infection is even harder! Spyware comes in at least 36 different categories varying from simple tracking cookies, to more annoying adware to potentially disastrous remote access trojans. You need a tool to create flexible spyware policies for different user groups, then scan for and enforce these policies for each workstation.
Use CounterSpy Enterprise to Fight Spyware
Sunbelt has 20 years of experience with system admin tools. Designed ‘by admins for admins’, it has what you need to make enterprise spyware protection easy and accurate. Easy install, excellent policy-based GUI, good reporting, many ways to deploy the agent and transparency. You always know what CounterSpy is doing, and you get detailed logs what was done on which workstation. There is no other anti-spyware tool out there with over 4,000 deployments that was built from the ground up “enterprise first” and “consumer second”. Watch out for imitation!
Unlike Microsoft, Sunbelt is TOUGH on Adware
In their Windows Anti-Spyware beta, Microsoft has recently downgraded several adware products (for example Claria GAIN) from “quarantine” to “ignore.” You might ask yourself: “Is Sunbelt also downgrading their adware threat definitions to “ignore” for Claria and other adware like Microsoft is doing?” The answer is NO!
What is The Future of CounterSpy Enterprise?
Many of you have asked us “what’s the future of CounterSpy Enterprise”? The answer is simple: Everything. CounterSpy Enterprise is the first step in a full desktop security strategy that will be unrolling this year. What you see right now in CounterSpy Enterprise is a method of restoring spyware infected systems. In July 2005 we released a version with real-time spyware protection on the desktop. During 2006, we are starting off with more powerful reporting, and will add anti-virus and additional capability, for a fully “blended” security solution.
How Much Spyware Is In Your Network?
Download the evaluation version. You can immediately deploy and scan 5 machines. Request a quote and ask for a key to unlock the evaluation for an unlimited amount of PC’s and I will do a product walkthrough with you so you can run a report on how bad the situation is. You can use that report as ammo to get your purchase requisition approved. I’m ready to answer any of your questions so please contact me. There are well over 4,000 enterprise installations, and this number is growing with dozens every month. Why? CounterSpy Enterprise has the best spyware database in the industry!
What next?
Download the evaluation version and deploy it on up to 5 PC’s on your network to see how effective CounterSpy Enterprise really is. If you need to deploy it in a larger environment simply request a quote and ask for a key to unlock the evaluation version to an unlimited number of PC’s.
Contact me if you have any questions on CounterSpy Enterprise or if you require a walkthrough of the application and report generators.
Blue Ivy Ltd provides full support for CounterSpy Enterprise and can install and manage it remotely on your network allowing you to get on with managing your business. Contact me to discuss your business needs and to find out how I can help.