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Panda DesktopSecure for LinuxBecause the world needs mediocrity |
By Mihai Holinschi, Linux News Editor
23rd of February 2006, 14:17 GMT
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Planning to cash in on the Linux Desktop bubble, Panda Software released the beta version of Panda DesktopSecure for Linux, aimed at Linux workstation environments. The product is firewall, antivirus and intrusion detection system (IDS) bundle.
As Linux systems are becoming increasingly prominent for home use and corporate environments, the company says DesktopSecure offers a solution that "integrates the most advanced anti-malware protection."
"Today, protection for Linux workstations is essential," explains Pedro Bustamante, director of the Corporate Software Business Unit. "With DesktopSecure, out clients can rest assure that all their network workstations are protected against malware that targets either Windows or Linux, guaranteeing their productivity and the integrity of their systems."
First
of all, I haven't tried this product, and I probably never will. Additionally, I couldn't find any technical (non-marketspeak) information on Panda Software's site. The following is simply a set of suppositions.
Antivirus? - Panda already offers the Panda Antivirus for Linux, a freeware product. Granted, the latest version is from August 2004, but there are alternatives. ClamAV is a nice enough completely free product, and if you want to spend, there are tons of vendors willing to take your money and protect you from both Linux viruses reported (but not really seen) in the wild. Pro
Firewall? - If iptables scares you, there are always graphical front-ends one can use. There are wizard-type programs that would configure your firewall for you. If iptables is not enough, I don't expect you'll find it in Panda's offering. Again, many vendors offer dedicated, time-tested and very well supported firewall solutions. "Panda" just doesn't sound interesting enough in IT security circles, yet.
IDS? - Intrusion Detection Systems can be some of the most complex pieces of software on a network. Most, of course, are very basic - just pattern matching, but others called for enormous development, testing and tuning times. How useful do you think is a bundled version?
You may think I have something against Panda Software. You're right, and here it is. (This is also the reason I assume their product is bad without even trying it)
Step "J" of their installation guide:
Installation is complete. It is advisable to restart the computer now to activate the protection. Make sure that the option "Yes, I want to restart the computer now" is selected and click on "Finish"
What OS do they think it's running on? They probably just need a stupid kernel module loaded, but modprobe is not good enough. Instead of just loading the module or asking the user to load it, they decide a reboot is in order. Just in case.
Another thing: I'm not used to applications asking me to reboot. I'm not! Windows stuff... that's different. I blame habituation, although even that requires fewer reboots nowadays.
The source code (which you won't see) might prove to be somewhat interesting, but it is my personal opinion that Panda should just try harder some other time.
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