When I first reviewed Lockstep Systems WebAgain, I found it to be a useful, inexpensive tool for preventing defacements of Web site content, albeit a tool with a few major weaknesses. Now, more than 18 months later, WebAgain 2.5 addresses most of those weaknesses while remaining useful and inexpensive—although at $995, it costs a bit more than Version 1.0.
WebAgain is a simple application that sits as a kind of staging server where site authors send their content. The tool uses FTP or a network share to send new content to any Web server and to check if pages have been changed on the site. Checks can be made as often as required.
Probably the biggest weakness in Version 1.0 was its inability to check if new files had been added to a server. This is addressed in Version 2.5, protecting not only against defacements but also against files added by many Internet worms.
The product can now import content from a site to be protected, saving time during setup, and can be used as a secure backup for site content in case of server crashes or other failures. One of the biggest weaknesses remaining is that WebAgain runs only on Windows systems and cant link to sites via some secure options such as secure FTP.
WebAgain can be found at www.lockstep.com.