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Lightweight Phone Security Released To Aus |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Thursday, 22 November 2007 |
Bullguard, which has already developed something of a following in Europe, has
reached out to Australia's shores bringing consumer and enterprise
antivirus solutions for phones and a desktop product that could suit
your laptop.
Benjamin Verduijn spoke to mobilised about the mobile phone solution and about
the company's latest version of its Internet security suite, Bullguard
8.0 with online backup. THe six year old Danish startup is in the midst
of global expansion, explained Verduijn. Having established itself in Europe the 100 person security outfit has Australian's in its sights with a desktop product that emphasises ease of use and strong support offerings for the consumer market. The
company's mobile phone security offering is available for Windows Mobile, but Verduijn told mobilised a Symbian capable version has just this week been certified to run on that operating system.
BullGuard Mobile protects mobile devices by scanning any file no matter how it gets onto your device - email, SMS, Infrared, Bluetooth, WiFi - and includes constant traffic monitoring and on-demand scanning, in addition to automatic over-the-air updates. The product exists both in a home-user and an enterprise edition. The enterprise version is based on the same scanner as the consumer version but allows for some more management features to reduce the amount of user interaction required to keep signatures up to date.
Verduijn emphasised the objective with Bullguard mobile is to keep the footprint as light as possible. Where other mobile phone security products include firewalls and spam filters that can impact on the phone's usability, Bullguard argues that antivirus is the core solution required at this point in time and that advanced functionality such as firewalls may be come more relevant only as phones become more powerful.
"There is just not that much room for heavy applications. We feel that at this stage, a firewall provides very little added security while taking up valuable resources. Having said that, security comes first and when it becomes necessary from a security point of view, we will not hesitate to add a firewall to our Mobile product," he said adding that the next big feature planned for the phone/PDA software could be the addition of a back up service such as that offered by the desktop version of the product.
“We have had it for a while so the technology is reasonably developed. We
are looking to really add value and this is just one of the lines we are
thinking of.”
While Verduijn admits the mobile phone security space is embryonic, the company's desktop offering is its hero product. Among unique features such as a SPAM filter that integrates with Mozilla's Thunderbird email client, the desktop product, Bullguard 8.0 is the only home user security solution to put a support plug-in that can be accessed by just two clicks, he said. Support includes live chat and email support right in the control panel and in the latest version the company has introduced a remote access function to allow help desk staff troubleshoot problems remotely.
Also unique to the desktop product is a free 5GB online backup space
which can be used to store critical files such as family photos or
documents. The software has its own built-in backup functionality which
can save to removable media or send the archive encrypted and
compressed across the Internet to your assigned storage space.
Local pricing for both prodcuts are as follows. A$59.95 (inc GST) for the Mobile AV product and A$89.95 (inc GST) for Bullguard Internet Security 8.0.
www.bullguard.com
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