Skip to main content

“We need to stop the virus at the ISP gateway itself”


In light of the recent attacks by the Nimda and Code Red worm, anti-virus solutions have suddenly assumed significant importance. Leigh Costin, product manager, A-PAC, Symantec, a leading player in this space, speaks about  the direction in which this market is heading.

* What trends do you see in the anti-virus space?There is a new trend emerging in the market today. Earlier, a single solution was sufficient for controlling viruses, but today, single tier defence systems do not offer protection from such attacks as was made evident by the Nimda and Code Red virus. We are seeing blended threats in the form of a combination attack by Viruses, Trojans and Worms. As blended viruses are designed to get past single-tier defence systems, the need of the hour is a multi-layered defence system, which will be able to counter this threat.

* What solutions does Symantec offer to counter these threat?There are different types of protection available in the market today in the form of firewalls, desktop anti-virus, gateway/e-mail anti-virus and IDS. Multi-layered defence systems, if properly configured, can stop or mitigate blended threats. CarrierScan Server is a solution designed to stop viruses at the ISP gateway itself.

* How successful has CarrierScan been in controlling viruses?CarrierScan’s anti-virus scanning engine uses core Symantec technologies like LiveUpdate and BloodHound and works with a variety of applications and protocols such as e-mail, NAS etc. The solution is completely scalable with automatic load balancing and is designed to stop all known viruses and new ones which resemble an existing one or have the same components as the original. As a matter of fact, we have been successful in eliminating new versions of Nimda before they hit systems the world over. However, all said and done, the chances of stopping an unknown virus are low.

* Do you see more and more corporates outsourcing their security needs?Most corporates today are open to the idea of outsourcing. For example, Xerox has outsourced their security needs to us. We see more of a trend where parts would be outsourced to solution providers depending on their core competencies. Managed security solutions is an area, which will take off. One reason why this process has still not taken off is because there are very few qualified people who understand technology and security issues. It may take a decade before total outsourcing takes place.

* Do you have any tie-ups with ISPs for installing your solution at the entry level itself?Most viruses pass through an ISP gateway and through the same ISP after it has replicated and forwarded itself to other addresses. We need to stop the virus at the ISP gateway itself. Currently, we don’t have any tie-ups with ISPs but are in talks with some of them.

This interview first appeared in Express Computer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seven tips for recession proofing your data centre

The credit crunch and recession have put value-for-money at the top of the business agenda.  IT budgets, and more specifically data centre operations, have been among the first to bear the brunt of the cost-cutting axe.  Operational expenditure on top of high initial capital investment means CIOs must now cut cost and increase return on investments. However, reducing investment can damage an organization’s smooth functioning so how do you find initiatives that are cost-effective with a relatively quick payback period but not at the expense of disrupting the business? Know your Cost-Cutting Sweet Spots:   Maintenance and support accounts for more than 50 percent of an organisations IT budget.  In the initial phase, an audit team should identify all DCO assets deployed.  This will enable analysis of annual spending on servers and storage devices, network components, software licenses, applications, databases, and operating systems.  Overspend...
Post a Comment
Read more

IT Act languishes thanks to government negligence

The Indian IT Act 2000 turns two this month. However, rather than being part of the solution to the misuse of technology, its implementation seems to have opened up a Pandora’s box. In light of a recent Bombay High Court verdict on the lackadaisical track record of the Indian government in this aspect, we trace the loopholes in the Act With the recent spate of high profile cases involving the entertainment industry and the underworld, and with cases dealing with global terrorist conspiracies, the Bombay High Court has been in the news for one reason or another. However, last week saw a landmark judgement in the IT space, when a bench comprising Justices Ajit Shah and Ranjana Desai, severely censured the Union government for not appointing appropriate authorities to enforce right of remedy under the Information Technology Act (IT Act), passed by Parliament way back in 2000. Though this judgement lacked the drama and sensation associated with the more high-profile cases, in th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian billing vendors look outside India

A robust, world class billing system forms one of the most critical components of a telecom operator’s infrastructure, as it has a direct impact on the bottom line. Indian vendors however have received a lukewarm response from the domestic market despite the fact that their products are on the shopping list of international telcos. It’s a strange situation. Indian software solution providers are acclaimed the world over for delivering high-quality, low-cost solutions. But when it comes to products very few have been able to achieve any significant breakthroughs. Take the case of the telecom billing solutions space. Indian telecom operators have internationally reputed systems in place. But except for one or two exceptions, none of the major telecom service providers in the country have deployed solutions developed by domestic telecom billing solution providers. This despite the fact that most Indian solution vendors boast of quite a few international telecom operators on their cli...
1 comment
Read more