FaceTime to manage unofficial business apps

New tools help firms manage "greynet" software - apps installed by users without IT approval - according to FaceTime

Instant messaging (IM) security specialist FaceTime Communications has extended its portfolio with a new offering, which it says will help manage instant messaging, peer-to-peer and spyware threats from the gateway to the endpoint.

Greynet Enterprise Manager (GEM) is an extension to the firm's RT Guardian gateway anti-spyware product and features a management console to give IT administrators greater visibility into their networks, as well as new remediation technology.

Greynet is the term FaceTime uses for all network-enabled applications installed on an employee's system without the permission of the IT department, which can bypass the existing security infrastructure through evasive techniques and therefore present compliance and data leakage risks.

The GEM Management Console provides a centralised view of reports generated by RT Guardian appliances across the business, giving IT administrators visibility of all IM and other greynet traffic across their network, according to FaceTime's European director Nick Sears. New capabilities provide IT staff with greater insight into network performance and enable them to determine policy enforcement levels more easily.

A key new feature of the product is its endpoint remediation capability, which can be customised according to firms' networks and policies. It ensures cleaning of endpoints without the need to deploy additional desktop applications and disrupt users, and features automated updates from FaceTime's security labs to ensure the latest threats can be repelled.

"Most gateway solutions can stop spyware coming in and crawling out [of the enterprise] but they don't provide fixing, cleaning and remediation for devices that may be infected," explained Sears. "Once the spyware has been detected and the [device] remediated, it can inoculate the client from ever being infected by the same spyware again."

Policy-based remediation is a feature that could provide real value to enterprises, according to Andy Kellett of analyst firm Butler Group. "The [problem with] the whole spyware market is that [solutions] deal with spyware and IM traffic but then leave the end-user with all the work to do [in taking] corrective action," he argued. "But if this [feature] means it removes the spyware, it is a positive move by FaceTime."

The need for firms to consider IM security management tools was further highlighted by more research from message management firm Postini, which found a 400 percent increase in IM malicious content from March to April. However, the figure still remains much lower than that of email at just 0.1 percent of all IM traffic.