CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 beta

Hi All,
Registration for CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 beta is now open at:
http://supportconnectw.ca.com/cso/beta/caiss2009/caiss2009beta.asp

Looks like CA is ramping up its product line. Let have a look how good it turns out be

 

Hope they improved their detection

 

Think Ill have a go on this one. Long time since I last tried CA products. Testing and helping them to improve are my goal for any betas, no matter what company it is

 

Looks like it has been running from May on.

 

I don't quite know when it started. I wanted to try the new Tiny Firewall a.k.a. CA HIPS beta. On the beta site, I saw CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 beta and posted the same.

 

I'd rather avoid CA.

 

Since I started the thread, I feel the moral responsibility to give you more info as I get it.
The Beta is now started, BETA v3 is latest doing rounds.

Some of my observations below:
* CA Antivirus Engine is 31.6.0, same as in CA Antivirus 2008. Hence detection should be same. So any test done on latest CA Antivirus 2008 should be applicable to CA 2009 also.
* It now uses CA HIPS Engine 1.5.0276 which seems to be same as the one used is the now revamped Tiny Firewall (a.k.a.) CA HIPS. But GUI is different, so there is no option to make all precise rules.
* CA Antispyware (formerly PestPatrol) is still independent and not integrated with AV. Is buggy and CPU spikes when you try to clean threats.
* Parental Control is licenced from K9, so is easy to use and damn good. It even blocks most unwanted junk for non-adult users. Including Wilders
* CA DNA Migrator included as a Backup and Migration Tool. Very buggy crashes effortlessly.
* CA Antispam is decent, nothing great.
* LinkAdvisor plugin for IE and FF. Displays GREEN,YELLOW,RED warning for site surfed. Also if you hover over any link, it will compute the risk and show you. It uses CA's online rep. of bad sites and WHOIS service to check credentials. Hence if you are behind Domain Proxy services which hide WHOIS info, it flags the site as Low Risk.
*Isn't very heavy on the system. Moderate Memory usage. Runs 18 processes, takes about 88 MB on my system for everything.
* One interesting thing I observed on Vista was that to make any changes to settings or disable, you get a UAC prompt. Hence making self-defense against malware damn good while not wrecking Windows like someother products.

Now a look how well the new feature delivered :

Pretty good since its uses the proven CA HIPS engine. Was able to spot many injection and leak apps.

Mix of bull and functionality. Actually CA has made preset rules in firewall to automatically allow all items in startup,Windows System folder and other common locations. It is able to detect some common apps like IE, Windows Mail but limited whitelist. For most part user will be asked to validate. Once validated, CA continues to monitor and if found suspicious it will blank it. Its like KIS 2009 except that instead of automatically putting in low risk group, it asks user to confirm first.
Good thing is that for all actions taken automatic or manual, pop-up/notification is shown. Which I like, over the Norton approach of hidding everything. As always you can disable pop-up if needed.

Nothing great about it, some me-too features. Game mode is buggy in beta and is a known issue.

I am adding some screen shots below. Doesn't seem very different from CA 2008, but the main change is the new HIPS. Which should help CA score better in proactive detection.


Screenshots:
Main AV GUI


AV Options

 

will give it a try i think.....haven't tested it since 2007 version,...

 

Thank you vijayind, very interesting.

Please, can you make more screenshot's? When it's allowed.

 

Its in Public Beta, so no issues with the screenshot postings. If you want screenshot of any particular module/part/scenario, let me know.

 

Huh, that was a mistake to write that....

Can you make one, that shows the main programm (security center)?

 

I am attaching the Security Center screenshot below.
Basically CA ISSP is amalgamation of many apps that CA has licensed or bought.
* CA Antivirus ( Vet Antivirus )
* CA Firewall ( Tiny Personal Firewall )
* CA Antispam (Qurb)
* CA LinkAdvisor (CallingID)
* CA AntiSpyware (Pest Petrol)
* CA Parental Control ( K9 Web Protection )

Perhaps the only CA component is CA backup and migration which is taken from CA DNA Migrator app.
So if you have used any of these programs or like them. You'll be right at home with CA ISSP.

Screenshot: CA Security Center

 

Thank you vijayind!
Looks much better than 2008 version. How much ram it use? Is it heavy? Maybe i'll give it a chance.

 

Hi Ro4dRuNn3r, please see my earlier post.As stated earlier, it runs 18 processes and takes up 88 MB of memory on my machine.
Startup is slightly sluggish ( Its due a incompartibility issue between CA HIPS and my drivers), but after start-up its OK/Moderate/Decent.
Not as light as NIS 2009, but still very usable.

 

Again, Thank you.

 

Is it just me, or does that interface look like security suites from several years ago where the suite really looks like a set of tools mismashed together? For example, why would you want to run your AV scan and your AS scans separately if you bought a security suite? The fact that there are so many processes makes me believe that this is the case, and more than likely inefficient (i.e. is a downloaded / changed file being sent through multiple services / components for scanning, rather than just once)?

I understand having different components if you prefer rolling your own, but if you buy a suite I think there's certain expectations these days that those components are integrated to a certain extent.

I'm not using it, so definitely take this opinion with a grain of salt - I'm going purely by the screenshot presented.

 

CA has always created Software Frankenstein suites. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, the only thing in this suite that is from CA is probably the Backup tool.Everything else has been purchased or licensed.
About the GUI, I am not a very avid fan of fancy looks. If its simple and does what it should its ok for me. So I have nothing against the GUI, it works for me.Yes, 18 processes and 88 MB is nothing to be proud of. Certainly falls far from the impressive suites from other vendors.

But if you see how CA sells their product, you can understand their motives.They don't sell many suites to home users. But more to corporates and ISPs. So this kind of mashup allows flexibility.
For example: I know a ISP who offers the CA suite. You get the AV free as ISP bundle. Then you can buy the AS module for a monthly extra. Similarly for Firewall and so on.

Why am I using it ?? Only because I signed up for beta and have logged in a couple of bugs. Even if I don't like it, I must help resolve the issues that I have stated. And I must say CA tech. Support for beta, is by far the best I have seen. No forum, direct reply from tech support in 24 hrs. It seems they treat beta support tickets, at par with infield tickets. Which is the best part of this suite