F-Secure has announced, a few days short of the end of 2006, the immediate availability for download of BlackLight Rootkit Detection 2.2.1055. The F-Secure BlackLight Rootkit is a public beta version of the company's free rootkit scanner.

"F-Secure BlackLight Rootkit Elimination Technology detects objects that are hidden from users and security tools and offers the user an option to remove them. The main purpose is to fight rootkits and all kinds of malware that use rootkits. The F-Secure BlackLight Rootkit Elimination Technology works by examining the system at a deep level. This enables BlackLight to detect objects that are hidden from the user and security software," reads a fragment of the product's description.

F-Secure revealed that version 2.2.1055 delivers support for both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista and also for Windows 2003 Server x64 Editions. But although BlackLight Rootkit is compatible with a range of products, the F-Secure has made available a single executable that will run seamlessly on all the supported platforms.

"You may find it interesting that we're adding support for 64-bit operating systems, even though there are currently no rootkits for them! The reason is that while 32-bit rootkits do not work on 64-bit platforms it is not impossible to create a 64-bit compatible rootkit. It just requires extra effort. For example, a user-mode rootkit would have to hook 64-bit processes with 64-bit code but also make sure everything is hidden from 32-bit applications running under WOW64 emulation. As the number of computers running 64-bit Windows has remained low, the rootkit authors have not had a reason to spend the extra effort to target those systems. When they do, we hope to be ready," revealed F-Secure.

F-Secure BlackLight Rootkit Detection 2.2.1055 beta was tested by Softpedia as being 100% Clean and is available for download here.