SurfControl, Tenebril Make Anti-Spyware Splash

Its becoming a bit crowded in the enterprise anti-spyware business.

One week after Symantec Corp. hopped aboard the anti-spyware gravy train, two new companies—SurfControl plc. and Tenebril Inc.—announced plans to jostle for elbow room in the burgeoning sector.

SurfControl, known for its policy management and filtering software, said its new SurfControl Enterprise Threat Shield would be sold to businesses looking to block unwanted programs from installing on corporate desktops.

The U.K.-based SurfControl said the endpoint protection layer can be centrally deployed and administered to prevent malicious applications and services, such as keyloggers, instant messaging clients, peer-to-peer downloads and games from ever reaching the desktop.

SurfControl said the Enterprise Threat Shield will ship in the first week of May.

The move comes just one month after SurfControl shelled out $6.8 million to acquire Apreo Inc., a company that designs software that can detect how employees are using an employers network. Apreos products can also be used to monitor copyright compliance and network security.

Separately, Boston, Mass.-based Tenebril announced the closing of a $6.5 million round of funding led by Sierra Ventures.

Tenebril also named security industry veteran Irfan Salim as its new CEO to guide the launch of an enterprise-grade anti-spyware offering this summer.

Click here to read a review of Tenebril SpyCatcher Enterprise 3.0.

Salim previously served as president and chief operating officer of Zone Labs Inc. and president of U.S. and European operations for enterprise anti-virus vendor Trend Micro Inc.

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