Sophos Application Control

Reducing security, legal, support and productivity risks

System administrators tell us that applications with the potential to create security, legal, support and productivity issues cause the most concern. Users with local administration rights can download and install applications of their own choosing. While some applications can provide efficiency gains, others can lead to less desirable results.

Security is the biggest concern, with P2P and IM-based malware attacks growing fast. Regulations including Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and the Data Protection Act make it a priority to maintain and protect data. Installation of unauthorized IM and P2P applications increases the risk of a legal breach.

Unauthorized applications can also be a support headache if not properly tested and deployed; they can impact on productivity with users playing games when they should be working, and use up valuable network bandwidth and processing power.

How integrated application control works

The Sophos anti-virus client uses signatures to detect consumer applications that could be unsuitable for your workplace. These signatures are created and updated by SophosLabs in exactly the same way that SophosLabs handle malware detection. In some cases, a single signature will cover a group of applications, such as games from a named publisher.

As SophosLabs and our software do most of the work, all that's left for the administrator to do is simply set a block or allow policy in the management console for different groups of computers. For example, VoIP could be switched off for office-based desktop computers, yet authorized for remote computers.

The Sophos approach to application control simplifies administration, updating and maintenance. Sophos removes the need for administrators to create detection for applications and keep that detection accurate when vendors are frequently updating and patching them.

Discover the controllable applications on your network

Our free Application Discovery Tool will scan your network for consumer applications that our technology can control. The tool operates alongside your existing anti-virus software, and can help you identify and locate unauthorized applications on your network.