Review: Automating Security Patches and Spyware Management

You may have heard of a company called Shavlik. They were recently named as one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America. Shavlik has a product called NetChk Protect, which automates the management of critical security patches and spyware from one easy-to-use console. Shavlik cites the following features of NetChk Protect, which is designed for the enterprise:

• Precisely manage spyware activity and patching on a large network from one easy-to-use intuitive console
• Scan the network for spyware and missing patches without requiring agents on each system
• Provide rich-targeting and system grouping by Active Directory organizational unit, domain name, IP addresses, IP ranges, and hostnames. Plus, if you already have Shavlik HFNetChkPro, you can leverage all your existing configurations to scan for spyware.
• Provide accurate, up-to-date spyware data and inform you of the impact of the particular spyware or other unwanted applications on your enterprise, classifying contaminations, so you can prioritize your remediation efforts to return infected systems to their previous state
• Assign administrative credentials to each system or group of systems, if necessary
• Scan now, schedule a scan for later, or indicate recurring scans to run at specified intervals
• View high-level summary reports and detailed reports of a specific machine or group of machines
• Customize reports to provide analysis of the spyware or patch threat by workstation, group, detection type, threat, and classification
• Automatically email spyware and patch detection and remediation reports to administrators, end-users, and executives