Security Overview

A corporate antivirus and antispyware client product is planned for the first half of 2007. Forefront Client Security will be a unified malware scanning product for PC viruses, worms, Trojans, adware, and spyware. It will probably not have the firewall, health monitoring, or backup-and-restore features of the consumer-oriented OneCare, but will support central configuration using Active Directory and Group Policy. Forefront Client Security will also support distribution of malware signatures through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). (The Forefront name will eventually apply to all of Microsoft’s enterprise security products.)

For e-mail and other collaboration services, Microsoft continues to sell the Sybari Antigen antivirus and antispam software (which uses virus-scanning engines and signature services from other companies) acquired in 2005. Some Antigen products got Microsoft-branded refreshes in July 2006. When Exchange 2007 and related server products are released in late 2006 or early 2007, all subsequent corporate antimalware products will ship under the Forefront brand. Exchange 2007 will also incorporate the antispam capabilities of Antigen Spam Manager.