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Buoyed by interest from enterprise software buyers who are fed up with critical security holes in Microsofts Internet Explorer Web browser, GreenBorder is preparing to release the first major update to its malicious software-protection suite.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based GreenBorder Technologies Inc. will release GreenBorder Version 2.7 on August 22. The update will make that product faster and easier to manage and allow it to work with other security products, such as antivirus software, said Jim Fulton, vice president of marketing at GreenBorder.
The GreenBorder release comes just two weeks after Microsoft Corp.s last crop of security fixes, including one update, MS05-038, that fixed a critical security hole in Internet Explorer. Companies are also struggling with a new worm, Zotob, based on vulnerability patched in the August release.
Microsofts inability to secure IE, Outlook and other popular applications has created an opening for GreenBorder, as IT departments struggle to deal with Windows machines that are crippled by virus, adware and spyware infections, Fulton said.
“IT is being beaten on. Theyre constantly being interrupted to deal with broken systems,” he said. Add to that the stress of deploying new, critical patches each month, and IT departments can quickly become overwhelmed, he said.
GreenBorders software creates a DMZ (demilitarized zone) between the Windows desktop and programs downloaded from Web pages or opened from e-mail messages in Microsoft Outlook. Operating system calls from Web-based programs that are trying to access system resources, such as files or the Windows registry, are blocked. At the same time, those resources are virtualized in the DMZ so the program, such as a Web page plug-in, can run safely, he said.
The product gives IT staff more time to deploy patches without worrying about being exploited, Fulton said.
Administrators can also configure and distribute security policies and Web site “white lists” to GreenBorder client installations using a central management server, Fulton said.
In Version 2.7, GreenBorder streamlined the products startup routine so that it launches more quickly on Windows systems. GreenBorder also smoothed its products interactions with leading desktop security packages from Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc. and Trend Micro Inc., as well as the ZoneLabs firewall software from Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and VPN (Virtual Private Networking) technology from Nortel Networks Ltd., Fulton said.
At the North Georgia Health District in Dalton, Ga., IT administrators are in the process of deploying the GreenBorder software to about 300 employees across the district, said Bridgette Anderson, a support specialist.
The Health District, which administers public health programs such as the federal Women, Infants and Children program for district residents, decided to use GreenBorder after computers used by doctors, nurses and support staff became clogged with adware and spyware programs, such as keylogging tools, Anderson said.
“We had systems infected to the point where users couldnt work,” she said.
The Health District is running GreenBorder on about two-thirds of its Windows XP desktops. So far, the product has kept those PCs cleaner and stopped the flood of support calls, Anderson said.
GreenBorder Version 2.7 is available immediately and starts at $39 for a single-client, one-year subscription.