Identify and Block Security Threats With Enterprise Software Protection

McAfee, Inc. announced that McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.5i now supports the Windows XP Embedded operating system. By expanding its proven and reliable anti-malware protection to Windows XPE, companies can now manage security on point-of-sale terminals, including airline kiosks and ATMs, using McAfee's award-winning ePolicy Orchestrator security management software.
"Many of our larger customers including financial institutions, major retail, and airlines have requested support for this platform," said Rees Johnson, vice president of product management for McAfee. "A more secure retail location enables easier and safer connectivity with customers. McAfee VirusScan Enterprise protects these retail sites from viruses, malware, and theft of customer information."

As more companies with remote kiosks, point-of-sale terminals and ATMs move away from proprietary operating platforms to the Windows XPE platform, their exposure to the many threats that affect the Windows platform increase greatly. Point-of-sale systems are critical to most business processes, and organizations must protect customer information so they can increase revenues, accelerate transactions, enhance services, and comply with regulatory requirements.

"Many companies underestimate the security risks associated with embedded operating systems," said Brian Burke, analyst for security products and services at IDC. "Businesses must take a serious look at all of their endpoints, and think of them as potential entry points for malicious code."

McAfee VirusScan Enterprise looks for exploits known to target Microsoft applications and services and will identify and block threats. VirusScan Enterprise easily integrates with McAfee's system security management console, McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO). ePO enables centralized deployment, policy configuration and enforcement so that companies can centrally manage the security of thousands or even tens of thousands of distributed Windows XP Embedded endpoints. VirusScan Enterprise proactively stops and removes threats, extends coverage for new security risks and reduces the cost of managing outbreak responses.

VirusScan Enterprise is the first anti-malware software that offers intrusion prevention with application-specific buffer-overflow technology. It offers robust access-protection rules, and can lock down shares, files, and directories, block the execution of a specific file, and generate log entries or alerts when attempts are made to access blocked items. VirusScan Enterprise uses a number of mechanisms to protect endpoints from being altered, including disabling end users from making changes, enforcing scanning policies, and locking down the software from malicious changes.

Since malware protection is only as good as its latest update, the McAfee VirusScan Enterprise database is updated daily with information from McAfee Avert Labs, the world's top threat research center.