Domino Security Gets System i Watchdog

Published: April 8, 2008

by Dan Burger

IBM's Lotus Domino is a popular choice for many System i users for intranet or Internet Web sites. Naturally, there are security issues regarding the Domino server (as there would be for any server) in either of these environments. Although Lotus Notes and Domino have a fairly solid reputation for security and the System i has near vault-like lock-down capabilities, there are holes that can be penetrated. Last week, Bytware, announced a module for scanning Lotus Domino mail and databases residing on the System i.

Bytware is a long-time provider of System i monitoring and security solutions. Its StandGuard Anti-Virus family of products (powered by McAfee) has been available since 2003 and has built a reputation of its own based on fending off Web-transmitted viruses that can infect the Integrated File System (IFS). The IFS is an operating system component that supports stream input/output and storage management provides an integrating structure over all information stored in the server. StandGuard runs natively on i5/OS and OS/400.

The Domino module works like Bytware's other antivirus products, which include protection for Linux and AIX environments in addition to the System i itself. The System i, when linked to unprotected, Internet-connected PC clients, is susceptible to viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and malware, any of which can be continually replicated between the IFS and PC clients causing reinfection. Bytware's product detects and kills Windows viruses in the IFS.

Bytware's products scan within compressed, packed, and OLE files. They also detect and clean macro and script viruses, encrypted and polymorphic viruses, as well as Trojan horses, worms, and many other types of malicious software. The Domino module requires StandGuard Anti-Virus for System i, which can be purchased separately.

The feature list for the Domino module includes:

Mail scanning
All e-mail messages are scanned for viruses and other types of malicious code, offering protection to Domino mail users from infected and potentially harmful e-mail messages.

Database scanning
Domino databases are scanned with on-demand searches that weed out viruses and malicious code embedded within document attachments and OLE objects.

Quarantine
This capability moves infected attachments to a quarantine database, where an administrator can further investigate their origin and integrity by submitting a sample to McAfee’s Avert threat center.

Real time alerts
Users can configure alerts that are triggered when certain events occur. For instance, an alert can be sent when infected messages and documents are detected, and when specific automatic activities occur. This allows administrators to be continually aware of the health and status of the system.

Automatic updating
Keeping current is taken care of with the daily automatic antivirus databases update that is delivered from McAfee's Internet servers, or from specified computers on the local network.

Scheduling
Administrators can control the schedule of automatic database scanning and automatic updating to occur at user-configurable time periods, such as nights and weekends when activity is low.

Logging
Monitoring the system includes logging all activities to a central database. This feature includes the details of infected objects detected during scans, and referencing of times when automatic activities occur.

Remote management
Remote Domino servers can be configured and managed from a central administration server, reducing the hassle of managing remote servers. For convenience, the log database is presented as a consolidated view of all events occurring across multiple servers.

Because StandGuard Anti-Virus for System i is required to use the Domino module, users can view and manage all activities via a Web browser as an option to using the traditional Notes user interface. Green screen and iSeries Navigator plug-ins are also available.

In addition to the traditional Notes user interface, the product also provides a Web browser interface to view and manage all activities across multiple remote servers.

The software is available now. Pricing was not disclosed. For more information, see www.bytware.com.

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