AVG 8.0 Beefs Up Security Suite With New Phishing Blocker
Grisoft, makers of the ever-popular AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition for Windows, have announced a new version of the full (not free) AVG suite with support for a new LinkScanner app to protect users from phishing websites.
AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 integrates the previously stand-alone tools AVG Anti-Spyware, AVG Anti-Rootkit and LinkScanner, a technology Grisoft acquired from Exploit Prevention Labs last year.
The new version also features a completely revamped interface and a re-write of many internal elements which the company says make AVG faster and more effective at blocking threats.
The LinkScanner component intercepts content received from a web server and scans it for exploits before passing it on to the browser. Unlike static phishing protection options (like those from McAfee, Google and the upcoming Firefox 3) which track infected pages by querying a database, AVG 8.0 is able to block sites in real-time.
The advantage of the real-time method is that attacks set up for only a few hours have a good chance of slipping through the static system, whereas the AVG 8 system would still catch them. Whether or not that’s an issue for you depends on how often you follow suspicious links in e-mail, IM and elsewhere.
Obviously Grisoft’s PR doesn’t mention it, but we suspect there will be at least some speed penalty involved with real time scanning.
AVG Internet Security 8.0 will ship tomorrow, February 28. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but the current version retails for $70.
So far there’s been no word from Grisoft about an upgrade for the much more widely used free version of AVG, though there will be a trial version of the full suite available soon.
[via CNet]
