Sophos Antivirus

Sophos anti-virus is a network solution available for a

number of operating systems, including OpenVMS and the Mac. We checked out the

NT version. This can be deployed across an NT/2000 network from a central

NT/2000 workstation. The software is capable of disinfecting macro viruses (in

DOC, DOT, XLS, etc, files) but, though it detects, it does not disinfect

executable files (EXE, COM, etc). The reason given is that the process of

disinfecting EXE or COM files may result in the files themselves getting damaged

or corrupt. It does not work with zipped files. These files can be detected and

Sophos can be customized to shred (delete infected files from within the zip),

move, delete or copy the infected files to secure your system. The software can

detect and remove any trojan affected files. But it can’t disinfect them.

The application works in three ways. First is Intercheck,

which is quite similar to the auto-protect feature in Norton Antivirus. This

runs in the background while you are working on the PC and does real-time

monitoring for infections. The second is an immediate mode, called the Sweep,

which can be invoked at any time to do a scan of either the server or any

client. The third is automated scan. Under this the application can scan the

systems on the network unattended. Using this scheduling feature you can

schedule anti-virus checking at a given time on a given day. A machine can be

scanned even when a particular user is not logged onto the network.

A notable feature incorporated in Sophos antivirus is SAVI (Sophos

Anti-Virus Interface). This is simply an enabler to integrate the Sophos

antivirus with products that you may develop.

Sophos automatically updates the anti-virus engine and

definitions of the client part installed on the PCs in the network from the

server. The product is updated every month and the updates can be downloaded or

can be received via e-mail. As and when a new virus strikes, the Virus IDE (the

identifier for the scanning engine to use) becomes available. You also have the

option of getting the virus information on FAX. The text in the FAX then need to

be typed manually and saved as an IDE file.

The customer support for the product is also good and several

mail sent to them were replied the same day with precise answers. A free

evaluation version valid for a month is available at www.sophos. com.

The anti-virus is able to detect viruses efficiently and in

our trials it could detect all of the viruses we mustered. However, its pricing

as compared to other anti-virus software say Norton or McAfee, is bit on the

higher side.

Ankur Saxena at PCQ labs