McAfee 2008 security includes mobile phones - well at least some

Stan Beer
Thursday, 25 October 2007 09:22

Opinion and Analysis

Security software vendor McAfee has shipped its new Total Protection 2008 PC security package, claiming a number of industry firsts, including proactive security for mobile phones, instant messaging and deferrment of resource intensive security tasks when users are watching videos, playing games or giving presentations. As far as mobile protection is concerned, however, there is a drawback.

While McAfee is touting its "viruscan mobile" as an industry first initiative for protecting mobile phones from threats that originate through SMS, MMS, Bluetooth and other entry points, as well as e-mail, instant messaging, applications and multimedia downloads, it has one major drawback. The software only works on devices running the Windows Mobile operating system. That cuts out about 95% of the mobile phone market who own phones running Symbian, Linux, Blackberry OS, Palm OS and Mac OS X.

However, in the US, where Windows Mobile phones are more prevalent than elsewhere, users may appreciate knowing that by the end of October they will be able to run security services on their cellphones as well as their PCs.

“As the leader in mobile security, our core technology has been installed on more than 50 million devices,” said Monica Kelly, APAC consumer sales director for McAfee. As for the other 950 million.....well, enough said.

Security packages are largely to blame for slowing Windows computers to a crawl over the past decade despite huge increases in processor power, so McAfee's new "protection without interference" feature may come as welcome news for large sections of the user community who now use their PCs in full screen mode. It works by minimising computing resources while deferring scheduled security tasks, including program updates and scans, until a more appropriate time. When the computer is first powered-up, this feature automatically waits for a few moments before updating the security software, giving consumers an opportunity to check email or go online without the PC slowing down.

However, it is a sad indictment on the Windows software environment, that security vendors have to come up with tricks to allow computers with dual-core processors and 2GB of RAM to provide more acceptable levels of performance while being safe from malware attacks.

Another claimed industry first from McAfee is the "Safe Search and Surf" feature, which is supposed to provide advanced warning protection to help consumers avoid the dark alleys of the Internet. The new McAfee package also embeds website ratings in IM and emails.

McAfee claims to be the first to offer consumers proactive protection for 95% of the trafficked Web, using easy-to-read red, yellow, or green ratings to sites clearly indicating whether a site is safe or risky before consumers visit them. However, it's a trifle discomforting to know that the software misses on 5% - one in 20 - of websites that may contain nasties.

Other claimed industry firsts McAfee Total Protection 2008 include unified licensing, which allows households to simply add PCs to the same license for a fee, and what McAfee version-less software, which means for the term of a subscription, the package is updated with new features automatically without user interaction.

McAfee Total Protection 2008 is available from retail outlets now and the mobile phone protection feature will be available by the end of October.