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Instead Of Whining About Microsoft, Websense Tries Innovating
from the now-there's-a-thought dept
A few weeks ago, there was a lot of discussion after a computer security company accused Microsoft of engaging in predatory pricing with the release of its new anti-virus software. At the time, we suggested that instead of whining about Microsoft's dominance, companies should seek to out-innovate them instead. So it's no surprise that a new security endeavor employs Google's search capabilities, since Google's products have served as a platform for a lot of innovation. Websense has developed a technique that uses Google's search engine to proactively scan sites that may be distributors of malware. The company plans on opening this capability up to other security companies in the future. This model isn't likely to be a silver bullet, but it represents a departure from the typical anti-virus approach, which involves waiting until the malware is at the end user's computer. As more functions move from the desktop to the web, buying security in a box at Best Buy will make less and less sense. Meanwhile, techniques such as this one to monitor the dangers out there will become more important.
Reader Comments
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Viruses are actually good for the economy. Thing of all the unemployed anti virus programmers we eould have without them.
First post too!
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Put your myth in your pipe and smoke it.
Software virus is NOT good for the economy. What you refer to is the Parable of the Broken Window (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory).
If we did not have to "thing" (sic) of all the unemployed AV programmers, we could allocate that thought, money, and time to something else, like porn, dinner out, flowers for the girlfriend, better wages and working conditions for our employees.
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Re: Put your myth in your pipe and smoke it.
Ever wonder where all these viruses and spyware come from?
Just a theory but hey how better than to get people to need and buy your product? See where I'm going with this ;)
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i'll bet they are sued within the month by malware websites for being labelled as a malware website...
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WTF?
Though Google is widely used to search the Internet for Web pages and office documents
I'm sorry. Did I just read that most people search for "office documents"? WTF? Let's read that again...
Though Google is widely used to search the Internet for Web pages and office documents
The average user doesn't use google to search for (these highly ambiguos) "office documents".
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Re: WTF?
A couple of points.
1) Learn to Spell
2) review google's techonology before making assanine assumptions
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Re: WTF?
A couple of points.
1) Learn to Spell
2) review google's techonology before making assanine assumptions
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Glad to see someone trying something different!
Go Websense, start a revolution. Instaed of whining about a competitor, come up with a better product or at least try.
Although I have to agree with AC, they will get sued in this sue happy society.
"Though Google is widely used to search the Internet for Web pages and office documents
The average user doesn't use google to search for (these highly ambiguos) "office documents".
actually google desktop is great, better than ms search function.
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Re: Glad to see someone trying something different
Let them sue all they want, because the way the law is written: In order for them to sue and win, they have to prove they are not distrubutinh malware. That will not be so easy to do.
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AC is almost correct. The idiot malware companies will sue Google because Websense is using Google's search engine to identify the malware.
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predatory pricing?
As for predatory pricing, OneCare live costs $49.99 a year, while after rebates and such, Norton Internet Security (with AV and a firewall) costs about $39.99 a year. For the last 5 years I have bought upgrades with mail in rebates for Symantec products for around the same price.
I don't think an AV tool should cost an arm and a leg to buy, so those companies wanting to sell super duper antivirus software for $129 per computer need to get a life.
By that argument, then the whole Open source community is anti-competitive because they offer free alternatives to ALL retail software. Why not go after AVG which offers a completely capable and robust anti-virus tool for free? I am probably not going to get Norton Whatever 2007 because AVG is more then capable of handling protection on my computer. Why not sue Sun for making a completely capable but free Office Suite?
People like to go after Microsoft because that is where the money is, period.
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Yes I do
I use Google search on my desktop for office documents. Much faster and more accurate than the Windows built-in search.
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AVG
AVG Free is good to me... I despise Norton, and I don't trust Microsoft as much as I used to. Oh and... "A couple of points. 1) Learn to Spell 2) review google's techonology before making assanine assumptions" You spelled technology wrong jacka$$...
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SiteAdvisor
SiteAdvisor has been doing this same thing since April 2005. It's a free download at www.siteadvisor.com, and sits on your IE/Firefox header. At a glance, you can see the site's rating by color (red, yellow, or green), or you can click its link to get more info on the website you're visiting. It also integrates with several websearch engines, to show colored links on all of the search results. I've used it since 2005 & love it. So, it looks like Websense is actually second in line, but the more security info for the public, the better!
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