Pearl Software Expands Web Filtering to Catch Bot Nets

Anti-virus control: An added benefit in Web Monitoring and Filtering software. Pearl Software, Inc., announced an expanded approach to fighting Bot Nets with the latest release of Pearl Echo, its leading Employee Internet Monitoring and Web Filtering software.

Exton, PA (PRWEB) July 24, 2007 -- Pearl Software, Inc., announced an expanded approach to fighting Bot Nets with the latest release of Pearl Echo, its leading Employee Internet Monitoring and Web Filtering software. A Bot Net is a group of Internet-enabled computers that have been surreptitiously configured to forward spam and virus to other computers on the Internet.

As described by Joe Field, CTO of Pearl Software, a Web filtering software provider, "A Bot Net operator sends out viruses or worms, infecting computers with a trojan application. The trojan, or Bot, then logs into a particular master Web or Chat server where instructions can then be sent to the Bot to send out spam or viruses to mail servers."

According to Network World, "Web filtering services are one of the best ways to fight Bots" since users are blocked from suspicious web sites. "We include Bot Nets that we identify in our Echo-Filters™ URL filtering database," explains Field. "Many IT administrators don't realize that while they successfully fight the onslaught of inbound Spam, their own systems may be compromised to the point of being the conduit for outbound spam and virus attacks."

Echo-Filters is Pearl Software's comprehensive web URL filtering database, designed to simplify the administration of Internet use. The Echo-Filters URL module allows administrators to set specific access rules to Web pages based on the pages' categorized content. Automatic updates to the URL database are done every four hours as Pearl Software's proprietary search algorithms scour over 1.6 terabytes of Web content each month looking for inappropriate or harmful content including malicious Bot Net sites.

According to Field, "When Pearl Software scans a site we also download and check for viruses in setup files, zip files and executable files." If viruses are found, the site is added to the Echo-Filters Malware category to prevent a seemingly harmless site from launching a drive-by install of malicious code or providing a fake hardware driver. Field laments, "We've identified over 10,000 such sites in the last three weeks."

Using the Echo-Filters module, IT administrators can choose from over forty categories that they wish to block as well as run reports on users accessing web sites in these categories. Pearl Software's Web filtering also incorporates custom white and black URL lists, contextual analysis of Web page content, keyword and phrase analysis and support of existing labeling approaches. This blending produces a powerful and accurate approach to filtering Web content on the Enterprise's network. More information on Echo-Filters can be found at http://www.pearlsw.com.

About Pearl Software

Pearl Software was founded in 1996 by David Fertell and Joe Field. The company provides Internet monitoring, filtering and control products to government agencies, corporations, hospitals, schools and libraries throughout the world. Pearl Software's key patent-pending products include Pearl Echo®, Website-Echo™ and IM-Echo™. The company also offers browser control software, TakeMeHome™ and partners with law enforcement to extend the application of its remote and mobile Internet monitoring and control capabilities. For additional news on Pearl Software, please visit http://www.pearlsw.com/news.

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