ComGuard announces application control in powerbroker desktops 5.2 from beyondtrust

ComGuard, a Dubai based leading value added distributor for IT security products and solutions in the Middle East and North Africa region, today announced the release of BeyondTrust PowerBroker Desktops, Windows Edition v5.2, bringing comprehensive application control to its award-winning privilege management product. 

Application control (whitelisting) offers IT department’s centralised, granular control over which applications can or cannot run on corporate desktops and laptops. When combined with PowerBroker's patented privilege escalation technology, application control can reduce or eliminate the spread of viruses, Trojans, worms, and other malware, and potentially save thousands of dollars per user in annual support costs. Also new in this release is enhanced message box customization, additional reporting features and an improved installation experience. 

"We believe the addition of application control (whitelisting) in PowerBroker Desktops will make it more secure and eliminate the intentional, accidental, or indirect misuse of privileges on desktops, thereby controlling the malware and insider threats," said Jayadevan K, Senior Vice President, Value Business at ComGuard. "PowerBroker Desktops 5.2 ensures users are running approved applications, and stop malware in its tracks, while bringing down the support costs besides improving security and compliance. " 

With the automation and group policy integration of PowerBroker Desktops, removing admin rights has never been simpler or safer. Add the unique ability to target individual computers or users just within certain Active Directory groups, and PowerBroker Desktops is also the most flexible solution on the market. By leveraging the same key technologies for application control, BeyondTrust is setting a new standard for endpoint security. 

"Until now, deploying and managing application control on windows desktops was complex and impractical," said Peter Beauregard, senior director of program management at BeyondTrust. "With PowerBroker Desktops 5.2 we've made it really easy by automatically finding the applications your users need, and what privileges those applications need to run. After that, selecting which applications you want to allow or deny is as simple as cut and paste." 

PowerBroker Desktops 5.2 also includes:

Enhanced message box customization -- provides context-specific messages within every message box presented to the user, improving the end-user experience.

Additional reporting features -- supports automated rule generation for whitelisting and enables network administrators to rapidly audit large and diverse user bases, determine what applications are running, and automatically create whitelist rules to support them.

Improved installation experience -- reduces the complexity of installing advanced reporting services to a simple point-and-click installer. 

"There is no silver bullet in information security, but if managed correctly, application control coupled with a privileged identity management solution can provide exceptional protection from zero day and targeted attacks," said Neil MacDonald, vice president and fellow at Gartner. 

With PowerBroker Desktops 5.2, organisations can defend and secure the perimeter within by eliminating admin rights and controlling the execution of applications, software installs, ActiveX controls, and system tasks -- all while keeping the user safe and productive.