DriveSentry

DriveSentry is an AntiVirus program, developed by DriveSentry Inc, to protect Microsoft Windows users from malware. Its sister product, DriveSentry GoAnywhere has been developed using similar technologies, designed as standalone USB device protection. As of July 02, 2008, DriveSentry Desktop 3.1 was released with no limitations and GoAnywhere2 with data encryption was made available in September 2008.

Both programs are available in English and have been developed for personal use only.

Company overview

DriveSentry Inc, founded in 2005, is a computer security company. Headquartered in Mountain View, California the company also has major operations performed out of Nottingham, England. Originally centred around drive firewall technologies, DriveSentry Inc developed and patented the worlds first firewall for disk drives. Since 2005 DriveSentry Inc has expanded into the competitive field of AntiVirus solutions.

DriveSentry's technology

DriveSentry have developed multi-layered protection they call Tri-Security. The technology is used in both of DriveSentry's security tools. Tri-Security program information is contained within the company's Advisor database, file behaviour is also checked against the DriveSentry heuristic engine. The database stores whitelist information, blacklist signatures and Advisor Community trends/statistics.

• Whitelisting: The Advisor stores details of trusted and validated applications and files. Whitelisted files are granted automatic access.
• Blacklisting: The Advisor holds the identity of over 1.3 million virus signatures which are automatically denied access and sent to quarantine if they attempt to gain access to system or data.
• Advisor Community Statistics: The Advisor also collects and stores user statistics based on access decisions.

DriveSentry Products

DriveSentry for Windows operating systems

Protects system, data and removable devices. Includes realtime and on demand virus scanner,quarantine area for infected files and computer viruses. Database downloaded to local machine for automated offline protection and an heuristic engine. The software is available for free download with options to upgrade.

An issue of concern for antivirus users is automated renewal fees. DriveSentry requires single payment to upgrade for lifetime of the system.

DriveSentry GoAnywhere 1.0 for removable USB devices

Portable, standalone antivirus solution designed to protect removable and portable drives from zero day virus attack (eg.iPods, USB flash drive devices, external hard drives, and U3 smart USB devices.).

DriveSentry GoAnywhere 2

Similar to GoAnywhere 1.0 but also includes a standalone portable encryption feature that allows users to drag and drop files to be encrypted to AES256bit encryption levels on a removable storage device. GoAnywhere 2 also encrypts files on the host system that the external device is attached to. Any data encrypted in such a manor will require the external device to be connected to the host and the correct password before any decryption takes place.

Further details about DriveSentry products can be found on the companies website.

Resource requirements

DriveSentry Desktop and DriveSentry GoAnywhere have low resource requirements standing at 1.5 MB in size.

• DriveSentry Desktop requires 500MHz Intel Pentium III or AMD processor or equivalent, 256MB of RAM (recommended) and 85MB available disk space. An Internet Connection is required for signature updates and Advisor Community information.
• DriveSentry GoAnywhere requires a removable storage device which displays a drive letter in Windows Explorer and 1.5MB drive space. It is also compatible with U3 Smart devices. An Internet Connection is required to contact the DriveSentry Advisor.

All DriveSentry products are compatible with Windows operating systems, from Windows 2000 (SP4) to Windows Vista (32 bit).

DriveSentry partnerships

DriveSentry partners with Offensive Computing and Frame4 Security Services to collect and analyze malware samples for their blacklist.

Reception

Articles in computing publications discussing new malware protection technologies, such as whitelisting, claim that traditional Antivirus technologies are having an increasingly hard time keeping up with the latest virus, Trojans and other malicious threats. The popularity of the Internet and the ease at which data can now spread, allows threats to propagate faster. This allows new zeroday threats to go un-detected by traditional antivirus products. Using whitelisting and community feedback, DriveSentry products offer what has been discussed as a second generation of security, Security 2.0.

Described as a “must have” by the Telegraph newspaper, DriveSentry and its sister product (DriveSentry GoAnywhere)have received much press coverage from various sources.

Recent announcements have voiced the availability of DriveSentry GoAnywhere and DriveSentry Desktop in Currys, Currys.digital and PCWorld stores.. PC World have also 'become the first company to preload DriveSentry's new Antivirus technology onto their own brand PC's'”.. DriveSentry has also made partnerships with Pexagon technology and U3, all of which have DriveSentry available to purchase online and in store.

DriveSentry have recently been awarded Checkmark certification, key industry benchmark for security software.

References

External links

• Official DriveSentry Website
• Official DriveSentry Support Forum