Sophos Brings Industrial-Strength Virus Protection to Mac OS X
Sophos, a world leader in anti-virus protection for businesses, has developed a new anti-virus product specifically designed to protect users of the latest Macintosh operating system from virus infection. Providing outstanding defence against all known viruses, Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X builds upon earlier versions of Sophos Anti-Virus for the Macintosh platform and also includes new security features and an enhanced user interface.
New security features have been designed to assist system administrators in a corporate environment: end-users can be prevented from uninstalling Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X, ensuring the computers remain protected 24 hours a day. As a user accesses files, Sophos’s patented on-access scanning technology, InterCheck, transparently intercepts them to ensure that they are free of all known viruses. Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X has also been designed as a native OS X graphical application to provide an intuitive and simple user interface.
“Great Ormond Street Hospital has been using Sophos Anti-Virus since 1996, and we have been able to maintain a solid defence against viruses and worms ever since”, said Sonny Neoh, network manager at Great Ormond Street Hospital. “We are delighted with the increased security, functionality and the Aqua user interface this new version of Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X will bring our Macintosh users.”
Third-party developers producing security products for Mac OS X can now incorporate the Sophos virus scanning technology into their own products.
“We are delighted to see this new Mac OS X virus solution. Data security is of great importance to Apple customers, and the Sophos API is a great way for other developers to add virus-scanning functionality to their own products,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations.
Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X offers comprehensive virus detection and disinfection against Macintosh, macro and PC viruses. It checks local hard disks, removable media and networks, operating in on-access and on-demand modes. Its unique architecture intelligently determines which files need to be virus checked with a minimal performance overhead.
The product offers centralised installation, configuration, updating and reporting, making it the preferred choice for companies wishing to protect their entire enterprise.
“Sophos is proud to be offering this world-class anti-virus solution to Mac OS X users and administrators,” said Phil Wood, product manager for Sophos Anti-Virus. “We know that third-party developers will be delighted with the opportunities to build virus-scanning into their own products.”
The full release of Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac OS X will be available in August on the Sophos website. Presently, the beta version is available on the Sophos website at http://www.sophos.com/downloads/beta/mac_3023.html
About Sophos
Sophos is one of the world’s largest specialist developers of anti-virus software. Headquartered in the UK, its products are sold and supported through a global network of subsidiaries and partners in more than 150 countries. Sophos solutions are specifically designed to protect businesses and organisations from virus attack. The company’s products are widely deployed by large corporations, banks and governments.