The Free Way To Assessments
One of the best ways to demonstrate security needs is with a security assessment, but the software tools needed and the time spent can be costly. The IT security industry has responded to this dilemma and is providing free on-line assessment tools. Although most of these tools were created with the end user in mind, solution providers can still benefit from them and can even turn those free tools into a low-cost assessment service.
There are several players in the free assessment tools environment, the latest entry is ClearSwift, a company well-known for its MimeSweeper e-mail security products. Available at www.clearswift.com/threattests, Clearswift offers two comprehensive security assessment services, one for e-mail servers and the other for Web security.
Solution providers will find the e-mail tool easy to use. Simply signup for the free service, tell the system what e-mail address to test and then authorize the test. The assessment will send more than 30 messages to the defined address, each testing for a specific problem. That proves to be an excellent tool for highlighting what is lacking in e-mail security for a business and can generate sales or validate an in-place solution.
Clearswift's Web threat assessment tool offers similar capabilities but is aimed at browser security. Testing for "Web-borne" threats is a manual process, the test interface offers a plethora of links, each associated with a particular threat from mock viruses to unauthorized content. Testers simply click through on each link to find out if their in-place security system blocks the request. That proves to be an ideal method to demonstrate how well filtering and antivirus solutions work—or don't work.
Free security assessment tools are available from other vendors also, most notably Gibson Research (www.grc.com) and GFI (www.gfi.com). Combining free and readily available tools could prove to be the ideal way to test security for customers. After all, it's the knowledge behind the process that offers the real value here.
Do you have a favorite free tool? E-mail me at [email protected]. Sign up for the free Test Center newsletters at crn.com/testcenter.