Review: Whitelisting security getting ripe

    Gone are the days when there was more high quality software on the market than malware, and it was easier to ward off the bad and accept the good. The new reality necessitates a new approach to white- and blacklisting. 2009 has become a turning point in the sphere of IT and software security. With the number of malicious programs exceeding that of legitimate ones. This has seriously undermined the accuracy of anti-virus solutions and actually made whitelisting more effective in relation to anti-virus scanning. The most dismal thing about it is that actually anti-virus programs have taken on the role of black-listing software tools and have lost pretty much of their old efficiency.

     As whitelisting continues to gain popularity, it is gradually taking on the status of a mature, effective and user friendly solution that ensures reliable protection. Many of today’s whitelisting utilities are set to lock down desktops to block malware. Not infrequently, they are applied for regulatory auditing, software licensing and configuration. Extensive use of whitelisting programs contributes to the implementation of licensed software and hence it may reduce the risks of attacks by malware. 

     When testing a few enterprise-grade whitelisting programs, which are also referred to as application control programs, InfoWorld bore all the goods in mind. The tested programs include CoreTrace Bouncer, McAfee Application Control (formerly Solidcore S3 Control), Lumension Application Control (formerly SecureWave Sanctuary), Bit9 Parity, SignaCert Enterprise Trust Services. Microsoft AppLocker, the software whitelisting tool integrated into Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, also underwent the testing. While some of the products support Mac OS X and Linux, they were all tested with the product’s Windows clients.