Cameron Sturdevant

Bit9’s Parity 4.1 is effective host-based intrusion prevention for Windows systems that works by whitelisting applications, allowing only approved applications to run, and blocking anything else, including malware. IT managers at any size organization should immediately consider using application whitelisting to secure Windows systems. Application whitelisting tools, including Parity, CA’s CA HIPS (Host-Based Intrusion Prevention […]

Bit9 Stops Malware with Whitelist Bit9 Stops Malware with Whitelist – Dashboard Threats, Warnings Notice in the upper right screen the “warnings” section. During initial use of the product, this is where I spent most of my time, clicking on the “malicious” and “potential risk” counters to immediately evaluate files and take countermeasures where indicated. […]

CA Host-Based Intrusion Prevention CA Host-Based Intrusion Prevention – CA HIPS Client Dashboard I deployed the CA Host-Based Intrusion Prevention System in “verbose” mode so that I could see the local console. It can be deployed silently and with no local user interface. Notice that the firewall, intrusion prevention and operating system protection modules are […]

VMworld 2008: Top 10 Products VMworld 2008: Top 10 Products – BMC Application Performance and Analytics BMC released a raft of management tools adapted to incorporate virtual and physical systems into a unified view to support business processes. VMworld 2008: Top 10 Products – CiRBAs Intelligent Consolidation The CiRBA Placement Intelligence Technology package assesses physical, […]

Virtualization has become almost a no-brainer for organizations looking to optimize resources. But as the number of virtual machines increases, so, too, do management and security concerns. eWEEK Labs Technical Director Cameron Sturdevant recently spoke with Hezi Moore, the founder and chief technology officer of Reflex Security, about the challenges organizations face when building out […]

Aside from “the hypervisor has never been compromised,” virtualization platform makers aren’t likely to talk too much about security concerns. Impediments to selling lots of licenses fast-such as questions about securing a virtualized IT infrastructure-are about as welcome as flies at a picnic. However, for IT managers who are rolling out virtual servers and networks […]

Shavlik NetChk Protect 6.5 Enables Offline VM Patching eWEEK Labs tests Shavlik NetChk Protect 6.5, the first tool we’ve used that enables offline virtual machine patching. By Cameron Sturdevant Shavlik NetChk Protect 6.5 Enables Offline VM Patching – VM Image Is Offline Notice on the left side of the screen that “cameron ewk023 w2003R2” is […]

Patch deployment to virtual and physical systems just got a lot easier with the Sept. 2 release of Shavlik NetChk Protect 6.5. With the ability to deploy patches to offline VMware virtual machines, IT managers can now be confident that VMs that are only used occasionally will spin up with the most current patches, hot […]

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 enables large organizations to provide applications to end-user computers without installing the software on the local Windows operating system. Although this reduces application conflicts by isolating applications from each other and the underlying OS, my tests showed that IT managers will be tasked with significant packaging and setup burdens to make […]

VMware’s ThinApp 4, the first version to ship since VMware acquired Thinstall in January 2008, can, if properly configured, make life easier for IT administrators by easing Windows software conflicts through the magic of application virtualization. Where desktop virtualization involves hosting entire desktops, from virtual hardware straight through to operating systems and applications, products such […]

Stratus Technologies’ Avance Software provides enterprises with a low-overhead solution for bringing high availability to applications hosted in branch offices and extends the benefits of HA to more modestly sized organizations. Avance, which began shipping in June, is Stratus’ first software-only offering. Administrators pair the $2,500 per server product with commodity x86 hardware to create […]

Sun Microsystems’ VirtualBox desktop virtualization software is a surprisingly full-featured, no-cost alternative to VMware Workstation and Parallels Desktop that’s well worth the consideration of software developers looking to test on multiple platforms and of IT managers who are evaluating the strategic value of desktop virtualization. I tested VirtualBox Version 1.6.4, a July 30 maintenance release […]