Avast launches SME security suite

Business Protection is quick to set up and can be administered via a browser

Czech security vendor Avast today launched its business protection security suite, aimed at small and medium-sized companies.

Avast! Business Protection is built on top of version 6 of its anti-virus engine, made available in its consumer offering earlier in February.

Avast chief executive Vince Streckler said the top feature was the browser-based central management console, which "unshackles the admin from a specific computer or specific location".

"It also gives the end user greater freedom in both their direct oversight over the computer network and also in their ability to let selected external people monitor the network," added Streckler.

Another feature of the software is familiarity, as Streckler pointed out: "This application looks like the Avast! package people trust for their home computers but protects entire networks."

Avast said Business Protection's install process is twice as quick than with competing systems, and that when running the software uses 25 per cent less computing resources than its nearest rival.

Business Protection also has a virtualised environment for automatically sandboxing suspicious code on firms' desktop PCs, such as keyloggers.

There is also a rootkit scanner called Boot-time Scan, and a browser plug-in called Webrep, which enables community voting on web site reputations. "That's important since nearly 90 per cent of threats come via infected web sites," pointed out Streckler.