RENO, Nevada—Bytware, Inc., developer of the award-winning StandGuard Anti-Virus solution for OS/400 and i5/OS, announced today the addition of a new “Object Integrity Scanning” feature to the native iSeries scanner. Object Integrity Scanning (OIS) gives StandGuard Anti-Virus the ability to alert iSeries managers to changes made to IBM’s digital signatures by patched programs. Many applications modify the operating system in order to achieve functionality not available on a given release of the OS. Regardless of whether a “patched” program does something good or something bad, such programs can create potential problems for the integrity of the operating system.

As a recent IT Jungle article by Alex Woodie points out, “running patched programs presents risks. The potential negative effects of running patched programs range from being merely a nuisance to posing a real security problem.” In some cases patched programs can even create security exposures.

Building upon object integrity and digital signature APIs that IBM has included in OS/400 since V5R1, OIS provides an easy way to identify patched programs and modifications to the operating system, allowing managers to decide what action — if any — they should take. In addition to being key to a healthy iSeries, awareness of modifications to the system is an important aspect of compliance with new regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

OIS will become available on December 1, 2004, and will initially be available only on V5R3. Versions for V5R2 and V5R1 will be released at a later date. OIS is an added feature to StandGuard Anti-Virus. There is no additional charge for the tool. Current users of StandGuard Anti-Virus V5R3M0 will receive the tool through the program’s automatic update feature, and shipments of StandGuard Anti-Virus V5R3M0 after December 1 will include the tool.

StandGuard Anti-Virus is the award-winning native virus scanner for OS/400 and i5/OS. Designed specifically for the iSeries and powered by McAfee’s industry leading scanning engine, StandGuard Anti-Virus provides the power to ensure total coverage of computer networks to protect against viruses, Trojans, and malicious code and programs.

For more information on StandGuard Anti-Virus and OIS, visit http://www.bytware.com/products/av/ or contact Bytware Sales at 775.851.2900.

Tags: AS/400, iSeries, malicious code, object integrity, standguard anti-virus, system i, viruses