Antivirus: July 2004 Archives
Symantec Platinum support is an outrageous expense. On a recent renewal we found that the software cost $20k and platinum support was aroung $12k. What do you get for this 50% premium?
- Tech support agents who actually know something about the product and have reasonable access engineers to actually get problems solved.
- Reduced wait times on hold.
- The ability to access the current build of the product.
- 24/7 support instead of 12/5
- A special knowledge base.
- Customized Email, pager, and telephone alerts for virus notification.
- The brochure says something about special akamai live update servers. I wasn't aware of that was only for platinum people.
- Online Support Ticketing
It seems to me that just purchasing the product should entitle you to the best parts of that. Why have a special knowledge base for those with deep pockets. The knowledge base for platinum customers is better than the knowledgebase available to the gold tech support (either that the gold tech support doesn't know how to use a knowledge base search).
Purchasing the product should entitle you to the latest bug fixes. They shouldn't be held aside. If its in public release it should be available to gold customers as well as platinum.
Non-Gold customers should't have to wait on hold for 60minutes on a routine basis.
Over the years it has become more and more difficult to keep up with the virus naming schemes of various vendors. Blaster, Welchia, Wachovia, oh wait not that last one. And then you have the varient names. One companies aa varient is another companies ai and anothers ah. Its tough to keep track. You hear about a new virus alert and you just dont know if you've already got that one covered or not.
If you use one AV product enterprise wide, this probably isn't much of a problem for you until you try to converse about a virus with someone an acolyte of another antivirus product. However, if you're like me you have multiple antivirus companies at the various layers of your company. You even have multiple av engines in a single product like Sybari Antigen or Message Labs. This is where the nightmare starts.
Even over at secunia.com which appears to be trying to be a repository of this information they dont get it right. I go over there to see what's up with bagle.ai and they have it as being discovered today by Panda. What about yesterday with McAfee and Trend?
Has CVE really helped in the area of vulnerability tracking? I dont know. The Common Vulnerability and Exposures Datebase started by the Mitre Corporation keeps a list of standardized names and a vulnerability number for vulnerabilities. I think that's kind of database via third party we should have for virus naming schemes. However since many viruses are flash in the pan type events, we need these names fast. Some have suggested using a preordained naming scheme link they do with hurricanes. That still would not solve the varient problem.
I dont know what the ultimate solution is. I just wish someone would stop the madness.
