Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X provides centralised control for
businesses
Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses from spam and
viruses, today announced the release of Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac
OS X, a product designed to protect computers running Macintosh
operating system 10.2 and above from all known viruses.
Ideal for multi-national organisations, Sophos Anti-Virus for
Mac OS X is available in five languages: English, French, Spanish,
German and Japanese. It allows users to perform on-demand scanning
of files and folders and its on-access scanner safeguards computers
by detecting and disinfecting both Macintosh and non-Macintosh
viruses. Any file that is found to be infected will not be allowed
to run, ensuring the computer remains virus-free.
Keeping anti-virus protection updated is crucial, so Sophos
Anti-Virus for Mac OS X enables automatic updates of all desktops,
whether they are connected to a local area network or to the
internet. Remote users can keep their systems up-to-date, even if
they cannot access the network, with automatic updates from their
company website. Reporting can also be sent to a remote location.
Sophos Anti-Virus uses Mac OS X's own SMTP client to send alert
messages, so if a user is disconnected from the network, messages
will queue until a connection is found, ensuring no alerts are
lost. This also ensures the administrator is always kept
informed.
Unlike anti-virus products available from other vendors, Sophos
Anti-Virus for Mac OS X offers a central configuration of update
and anti-virus settings, including the ability to manually
administer virus identity files. Administrators can create a
central installation source and install to all networked Macs
automatically using XServer tools such as Network Install to
provide automatic updates as and when required.
"Despite the popular misconception that Mac users aren't
affected by the virus plague, Apple customers need to take the
virus threat seriously," said Phil Wood, product manager for Sophos
Anti-Virus. "Sophos's latest anti-virus solution ensures all Mac
users are protected, whether in the office or on the road, and
enables third-party developers to incorporate virus-scanning into
their own products."
Users who choose to access the Unix operating system directly on
Mac OS X will benefit from the availability of a command line
version of Sophos Anti-Virus, allowing administrators to run it
through the Mac Terminal utility.
The enhanced security model prevents normal users from disabling
their anti-virus software. Users need to have administrative rights
in order to install and remove Sophos Anti-Virus or change any of
the System Preferences, including enabling and disabling
InterCheck.
Further reading
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.