Security news
Security news28 December 2001
Sophos provides broad access to its anti-virus software
Expresses support for the U.S. Workforce Investment Act of 1998
In the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the United States Congress strengthened Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. These acts express the commitment of the United States government to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to and are able to use information and data published by the Federal government using information technology.
Sophos intends that its software be widely accessible and supports the intent of these laws to promote information accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Accordingly, Sophos attempts to avoid design decisions and implementations that limit accessibility to its software or the use of its software with assistive technology. For example, Sophos endeavours to deliver software that does not reduce the fundamental accessibility of the many different platforms or environments in which its software operates.
The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, an independent U.S. Federal agency known as the Access Board, has issued regulations, known as standards, for implementing the provisions of Section 508. The following tables identify the standards that have been established for "Software Applications and Operating Systems" and "Information, Documentation and Support," and indicate the degree of compliance currently provided by Sophos offerings.
Access Board Accessibility Standards for Software Applications and Operating Systems (Section 1194.21)
| Access Board Standard | Sophos Comment |
|---|---|
| (a) When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually. | The keyboard can be used to drive Sophos Anti-Virus (SAV) via 'shortcuts' and to navigate through the menu system. |
| (b) Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer. | SAV is designed not to have any adverse affect on applications used to aid accessibility, this includes on-access scanning provided by InterCheck. |
| (c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that assistive technology can track focus and focus changes. | SAV incorporates an indication of the current focus and allows movement between interactive elements. |
| (d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to assistive technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text. | The use of icons are supplemented by tool tips / textual information. |
| (e) When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's performance. | When images are used in the display area, additional text is available via tools tips when the mouse is suspended over the icons. |
| (f) Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes. | SAV utilizes the capabilities of the operating system to display text. |
| (g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes. | SAV does not override any user selected color/contrast settings. |
| (h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user. | Activity can be viewed both with animation and text. |
| (i) Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element. | During a scan, SAV can display a progress bar, file count, a virus count and an error count, as well as various notification messages. |
| (j) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided. | SAV does not require color contrast changes. |
| (k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. | SAV does not implement blinking text. |
| (l) When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. | SAV does not implement electronic forms within its desktop scanners. |
Access Board Accessibility Standards for Information, Documentation and Support (Section 1194.41)
| Access Board Standard | Sophos Comment |
|---|---|
| (a) Product support documentation provided to end-users shall be made available in alternate formats upon request, at no additional charge. | Support documentation can be provided as hard copy, electronically on CD (in PDF format), as part of the product (in Help files), as well as via the Sophos web site. |
| (b) End-users shall have access to a description of the accessibility and compatibility features of products in alternate formats or alternate methods upon request, at no additional charge. | These features are not currently documented. |
| (c) Support services for products shall accommodate the communication needs of end-users with disabilities. | Sophos provides 24x7 telephone technical support as an integral part of the product purchase. Email support is also provided. Technical support personnel can be contacted at any time. Users can also subscribe to Sophos's free virus notification email service. |
Further information on the requirements and implementation of Section 508 can be found at www.section508.gov and www.access-board.gov/508.htm.
Please send any questions, comments or suggestions for Sophos to support@sophos.com.
