New Delhi, June 06: A box of anti-virus equipment landed on my desk a few days ago. The software gods must have been feeling generous. Besides which, Micro World Technologies Incorporated (MWTI), a leading solutions provider for information technology, content security, and communications software, announced the launch of its latest anti-virus software called eScan 2003, last week.
An enterprise-wide anti-virus software that scans local and networks drives for viruses and cleans them on an actual time basis, eScan 2003 offers unprecedented security at various levels in any organisation, from the Internet gateway to desktops. They were only too happy to get an audience.
After much trial, I discovered that eScan 2003 is the world’s first real-time anti-virus, content security and TCP-IP traffic scanning software package that uses MWTI’s revolutionary and proprietary Micro World WinSock Layer technology, which scans and checks Internet traffic and content on real-time basis including emails, attachment files and web pages. This new concept has changed the way in which content security threats are managed in the world.
Why bother? Here’s why. Messsaging systems have quickly evolved over the last decade to become an essential asset for any organisation. But with increased use of the Internet as a communication medium the threat of viruses entering an organisation’s network has significantly increased. A simple firewall does not protect a company from attachments and other content-based threats which are embedded inside emails. A need for software that can look inside the content of email and check the same for viruses has made content security of prime importance.
How it works is that once installed, MWL analyses Internet traffic and potential threats before they reach computer systems, as opposed to other solutions, that deal with the threat after they have infected vulnerable computer systems. The checks are made for viruses, restricted words and phases as well as for embedded objects like Java applets and the like. eScan incorporates content security plug-ins at the gateway level to protect customers. Think of it as a bouncer at the entrance of a nightclub. No bouncer will allow the riff raff from entering the premises, much like how eScan works.



Govind Rammurthy, managing director and chief executive officer of Micro World Technologies, said: “We are very excited about presenting the new eScan 2003 to world-wide customers. This is not only because of the unique features that eScan 2003 implements, but also since we have attempted to present complex features of this software in a way, which a common user can appreciate. eScan 2003’s new management console, adds a very strong reporting and management module, will definitely prove to be a boon for customers.”



eScan 2003’s enhanced product features include scanning ability for attachment filters, parental control, pop-up advertisements, email virus scanner, Internet eraser, spam killer and anti-virus protection that is more powerful than before. Apart from this, a user can choose to auto compress and decompress email attachments (this helps save precious Internet bandwidth), block offensive mails, block mails from specific senders and plug numerous IE vulnerabilities. The web access feature assigns filters as per international standards and blocks websites and pages with restricted words (blocking pornographic and other questionable content).



The eScan Management Console offers a method to install/ uninstall eScan 2003 from a single machine via a remote display that upgrades licenses and security policies, and obtains the status of clients. The eScan Updater allows one to automatically download updates and even set a prescribed time period for auto downloads.



When it comes to credibility MWTI has plenty to fall back on. Their beta version of eScan 2003 bagged the award for “Best new Software Product” at the Compass 2003 IT fair in Kolkata. In the international arena, a magazine from the Netherlands rated eScan the best buy when it comes to anti-virus software, while PC Magazine, which is published in Greece, awarded an exclusive five-star rating to the eScan programme. It is comforting to know that users have somewhere to turn to when it comes to security.