Latest Kaspersky suite overloads on security

Kaspersky Lab has pre-announced its latest all-in-one security suite with the lure that it has packed even more protection layers of into one software product.

A look at the features list and the claim stands up well, assuming they work correctly against real-world threats. Internet Security 2010, available from July, covers the standard bases of file-based malware with more complex intermediate threats types that try to attack PCs through web, email and instant messaging ports.

Under a slick-looking interface, the product also includes a two-way soft firewall, an anti-spam filter and a list of interesting features to ‘tweak' security beyond simply turning it on and hoping it stops malware. There is a feature to create a rescue disk should the PC become so infected that a clean restart is necessary, and a tool to analyse a PC's behaviour in more detail if malware activity is suspected.

Customers get an ‘activity eraser' to hide their Internet usage, a virtual keyboard to confound keyloggers, and a browser security tune-up utility, although the latter only works with Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

There is even what Kaspersky describes as ‘host-based Intrusion Prevention Control' app control and a virtualised sandbox to run suspected malware in a space where it cannot affect the operating system. This is still a relatively rare and unproven technique though at least one rival product , Sunbelt Software's Vipre anti-virus, already uses it.

Is anything missing from the all-encompassing security suite? The one possible omission could have been a tool for assessing the update and vulnerability status of the software on a PC, but the suite even manages to include a component to carry out this task. From the beta software on offer to journalists, it was, however, hard to assess how comprehensive this tool would be in real-world use.

Users not tempted by the maze of security layers that come with Internet Security 2010 can opt for the similarly-revised Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010.This overlaps with the Internet Security suite but omits features such as the firewall and application control as a way of lowering the price.

Available from next month, Kaspersky Internet Suite 2010 for Vista 32/64-bit costs £39.99 for a one year, one desktop license, or £49.99 per annum for a 3-desktop license. This drops to £31.99 and £39.99 respectively for the renewal customers. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 costs £29.99 per annum per desktop, or £39.99 for a 3-desktop version.