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Looking to cement its place as a legitimate contender in the enterprise anti-spyware space, Webroot Software Inc. has beefed up its Spy Sweeper Enterprise product with new features to handle bandwidth conservation and mobile client updates.
With Spy Sweeper Enterprise 2.0, the Boulder, Colo.-based Webroot is reaching out to high-end corporate clients with new features to improve load balancing and bandwidth conservation for definition and software updates.
According to Webroot product management director Brian Kellner, businesses at risk of adware and spyware infection will benefit from new automated server throttling and randomization techniques to manage peaks in client scanning requests.
The company has also added support for Microsoft SQL Server to allow a single server to support very large numbers of clients.
In the latest iteration, Webroot has added a new mobile client update feature that lets businesses stay current on spy definitions when they are not connected to the corporate network.
Kellner told eWEEK.com that Spy Sweeper Enterprise 2.0 also has been enhanced to allow administrators to send configuration changes or updates to clients immediately via a “Poll Now” capability.
The software also empowers administrators to block unwanted software usage and site access. Kellner said Spy Sweeper Enterprise 2.0 will offer 20 percent faster spyware sweeps and enhanced spy detection algorithms to catch the latest and most dangerous spyware programs.
Webroots latest moves comes at a crucial time for businesses struggling to cope with the growing threat of spyware infection. Spyware, otherwise known as adware, has become the preferred delivery mechanism for malicious Trojans capable of relaying information to other computers or locations on the Web.
During a recent audit of approximately 12,000 systems in more than 4,900 companies, Webroot found an average of 22 pieces of spyware per corporate desktop computer. On average, the audit found that five percent of the PCs scanned had system monitors and 5.5 percent had Trojan horse programs, the two most nefarious and potentially malicious forms of spyware.
“Businesses are dealing with two kinds of pain: the helpdesk costs to deal with spyware calls and the risk of intellectual property loss. When Trojans sit on desktops and send information back to the spyware writer, thats a major risk,” Kellner said.
He said enterprises are now very aware of the growing scourge but are still struggling to find a hard and fast solution to the problem.
Since rolling out the first version of Spy Sweeper Enterprise as a tool for small and midsize businesses in June, Webroot has enjoyed solid growth among larger enterprises. The company counts about 2,500 unique customers with the majority inking multi-year deals.