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Spy on spyware, GCC goes bump, and KDE is AOK.
Spying on Spyware
Spyware is an increasing problem, especially for individuals and companies running desktop versions of Microsoft Windows. Indeed, according to industry analyst group IDC, approximately 67 percent of all computers run some sort of spyware, which often secretly collects and transmits personal information to the spyware’s nefarious author.
To combat spyware and the attendant wasteful Internet traffic, Astaro (
http://www.astaro.com), a maker of
Linux- based firewall software and network security appliances, has released
Astaro Security Linux Version 5.2 (ASL). Like previous versions, ASL is based on Novell’s
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and other open source components, and provides virus protection, intrusion detection, content filtering (based on URLs), safeguards against spam, and a
VPN gateway. Uniquely, the new version also adds “inbound” and “outbound” filtering of spyware. The inbound filter prevents spyware from passing through a firewall into the local network; the product’s outbound filter intercepts outgoing spyware traffic.
Astaro’s product is a mix of open source and proprietary software. The spyware database and anti-virus engine used in ASL are derived from commercial products, and Astaro’s own “middleware” is also proprietary. However, ASL leverages public databases for anti-spam filtering, a job that’s simply too large for any one company to tackle.
