Antivirus software vendor F-Secure has introduced a new hosted service for small and medium-sized firms to help IT staff ensure data security.

F-Secure Service Platform for Businesses is an always-on, automated tool based on the firm’s antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall technologies. It is also being marketed to service providers so that they can provide an opt-in security service to their own business customers.

The platform features an easy-to-use web-based administration portal that enables IT staff to alter security settings and view the security profile of all desktops in their organisation. And it provides remote firewall management capabilities, according to F-Secure UK’s internet security business manager, Brian Gregory.

“Its prime function is to make desktop security easier to buy, manage and use,” he added. “With the growth of broadband and the way people work remotely today, there has never been a greater time and a greater need for a tool to enable [security] management via the web.”

The product is offered for a monthly subscription, which gives smaller companies flexibility to cope with changing staff levels, added Gregory.

Mark Herbert of ISP Inty, which piloted the offering, said the system’s web-based portal provides a level of management that traditional desktop security packages cannot match.

“It has brought the enterprise feature set down into the realms of smaller firms,” he said. “It’s a great off-the-shelf product for smaller networks that need more rigorous security management.”