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Sophos, a world leader in IT security, will give companies the
ability to control and block top-selling computer games, including
The Sims 2 (EA Games), FIFA 07 (EA Sports) and Football Manager
2007 (Sega), from January next year. This will come as welcome news
to system administrators who want to stop employees installing and
playing computer games on company PCs and laptops, as this behavior
wastes valuable IT management resources and can severely impact on
overall business productivity.
A recent Sophos poll reflects the security and efficiency
concerns that system administrators have when it comes to computer
games. 90.4% of respondents want the ability to block games, with
62% indicating this is essential.
In addition to providing system administrators with the power to
block popular games from 15 major games publishers, including Eidos
Interactive, SEGA and Electronic Arts, Sophos Application
Control will also be extended over time to control employees'
access to games by other developers.
"PC games will be extremely popular as Christmas presents this
year and some people may become so hooked that they won't think
twice about installing them on their work PCs or laptops," said
Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Many games are readily
accessible and easy to hide, meaning some employees will have no
qualms about playing several times a day. System administrators
have voiced their opinion loud and clear: they are fed up of
workers installing unauthorized programs and cyberslacking. More
man hours have probably been spent playing computer games in the
office than it took to build the Panama Canal!"
Sophos Anti-Virus + Application Control has proven extremely
popular since its launch
in September 2006 and continues to be developed further to meet
security and productivity concerns resulting from uncontrolled use
of applications in the enterprise. Integrating seamlessly with
Sophos Anti-Virus 6.0 and requiring no roll-out of new software,
Sophos Application Control gives businesses the power to
selectively block games, VoIP, peer-to-peer (P2P), Instant
Messaging (IM) and distributed computing applications. It is
available free-of-charge to all Sophos Anti-Virus 6.0 users.
"It's not that games are a bad thing, but there is a right and a
wrong time and place for them. IT departments who are responsible
for supporting networks of computers increasingly want to control
their users' behavior. Sophos Application Control helps system
administrators define a policy for appropriate computer usage,"
continued Cluley.
The list of computer games that Sophos will block from January
includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Age of Empires III, Ensemble Studios, Microsoft
Age of Empires III: War Chiefs, Ensemble Studios,
Microsoft
Battlefield 2142, Digital Illusions, EA Games
Caesar IV, Sierra Entertainment
Championship Manager 2007, Beautiful Game Studios,
Eidos
Company of Heroes, Relic, THQ
Dawn of War, THQ
FIFA 07, EA Canada EA Sports
Final Fantasy XI, Square Enix
Football Manager 2007, Sports Interactive, Sega
GTR 2, 10tacle Studios
Guild Wars: Nightfall, Arenanet, NCSoft Europe
Just Cause, Eidos Interactive
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, Traveller's
Tales
Medieval II: Total War, Creative Assembly, Sega
Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Microsoft Game Studios
Need for Speed: Carbon, EA Canada, EA Games
Neverwinter Nights 2, Obsidian Entertainment, Atari
Rugby 06, Electronic Arts
Sim City 2, Electronic Arts
Sim City 4, Electronic Arts
The First Decade, Electronic Arts
The Sims 2, Maxis, EA Games
The Sims 2: Open for Business, Maxis, EA Games
The Sims 2: Pets, Maxis, EA Games
Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Dark Crusade, Relic,
THQ
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.