BigFix Tools Manage Anti-Spyware

Two new software tools from BigFix Inc. will help companies stop spyware infections and manage anti-spyware software across enterprise systems.

The Emeryville, Calif., configuration management software vendor announced BigFix AntiPest and BigFix Client Manager for Spyware Tools last week. The new services will help customers deploy anti-spyware technology across heterogeneous networks and integrate anti-spyware detection with enterprise configuration management plans, BigFix officials said.

BigFix AntiPest is a spyware management service that uses Computer Associates International Inc.s eTrust PestPatrol Anti-Spyware engine. The product lets customers use BigFixs Enterprise Suite platform to do enterprisewide spyware scanning and removal.

BigFix Enterprise Suite is used to distribute the PestPatrol engine to desktops across the enterprise and manage definition updates for the engine, reporting and remediation, according to Gregory Toto, vice president of product management at BigFix.

A separate product, BigFix Client Manager for Spyware Tools, was designed to link other third-party anti-spyware products with the Enterprise Suite.

BigFix Client Manager for Spyware Tools improves distribution and management of software and definition updates for consumer anti-spyware tools such as Spybot Search & Destroy, a free anti-spyware product; Microsoft Corp.s Windows AntiSpyware; and enterprise-class anti-spyware technology from Webroot Software Inc. and McAfee Inc., said Ben Kus, director of product management at BigFix.

The rapid growth of the spyware problem on enterprise networks has produced a plethora of anti-spyware tools from different vendors. But the different products often were not designed for enterprise deployments and are hard to manage.

Managing third-party spyware tools through BigFix Enterprise Suite makes it easier to deploy, manage and update those tools and reduces the impact of spyware scanning, detection and remediation across the network and for users, BigFix officials said.

Dmitry Kalika, IT director at Amide Pharmaceutical Inc., in Little Falls, N.J., said anti-spyware products produce different results when they scan his network. Amide uses Spybot Search & Destroy on a small number of systems that contain sensitive information, but it otherwise battles spyware by limiting user access to the Internet.

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