Cameron Sturdevant

Effective security testing of new IT products is constrained by staff shortages, inadequate equipment and crunched time—in short, by a scarcity of resources. But even with all these hurdles, security testing can—and should—be done and done well. eWEEK Labs has access to some of the most advanced test gear, expertise and vendor support available, but […]

I like to try out desktop protection tools that combine firewalls with anti-virus and anti-spam measures, so I threw the latest version of Software602s 602LAN Suite 2004 on a Labs machine. This combo tool is not for the timid, but when a product is free—as is the five-user version I tried—you cant expect a lot […]

Just nine months after the Distributed Management Task Force formed the Server Management Working Group, IT managers are getting a glimpse of what heterogeneous server management could look like by years end. The DMTF has produced widely accepted cross-vendor standards for management information, and eWEEK Labs thinks IT managers should pay close attention to announcements […]

Microsoft Corp.s Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 effectively rode herd over numerous Windows 2000 and 2003 servers and a host of other Microsoft operating systems in eWEEK Labs tests. IT shops with a significant percentage of Windows systems should consider using MOM 2005 for day-to-day operations, including performance monitoring and automatic system tuning. Click here to […]

I generally recommend being paranoid when it comes to maintaining PC data privacy, and Tenebrils GhostSurf 2005 Platinum Edition made it easy for me to look over my shoulder all I wanted during a recent test at eWEEK Labs. GhostSurf 2005 Platinum Edition started shipping this month and costs a competitive $49.95. It includes a […]

Symantec Corp.s Symantec Network Security 7160 network intrusion prevention appliance capably detects and stops attacks. Despite a limited number of activity reports and some inflexibility in monitoring traffic flows, the SNS 7160 identified every attack that eWEEK Labs generated to test the system. Click here to read the full review of SNS 7160. 2 Symantec […]

Version 4.0 of Foundstone Inc.s namesake vulnerability scanner and reporting tool offers refined role-based administration, new ways to handle remediation tickets and new ways to group scanned objects to create more efficient polling. Click here to read the full review of Foundstone 4.0. 2 Version 4.0 of Foundstone Inc.s namesake vulnerability scanner and reporting tool […]

Although the Intuit network Monitor Professional Edition might entice some IT staff with its low $495 price, I recommend going with an easier-to-use—and just plain more reliable—tool, such as Ipswitchs WhatsUpGold. Intuit is more widely known for making financial software, including QuickBooks and TurboTax. Unfortunately, Intuit Network Monitor doesnt offer the ease of use or […]

Microsoft Corp.s Windows XP Service Pack 2 has thrown patch management vendors into a tizzy. IT managers should be interested because, in an ironic twist, SP2 will likely make it harder to keep desktops and laptops up-to-date with the latest patches. /zimages/3/28571.gifClick here to read Labs review of XP SP2. The chief cause of the […]

Lancope Inc.s launch this month of its first SMC (StealthWatch Management Console) appliance, and the simultaneous release of its StealthWatch 4.1 system software, makes the companys network behavior anomaly detection tools far easier to manage than previous StealthWatch versions. Click here to read the full review of SMC/StealthWatch 4.1. 2 Lancope Inc.s launch this month […]