Online Security Solutions Suite (OSSS): Next Generation Host Protection

As far as i can notice, people often go for the big guns in security software - i mean established security software companies such as Norton, Kaspersky & Avira - that they didn't realize that some up-and-coming security software are as good as, if not better.

Online Solutions's Online Security Solutions Suite (OSSS) is one of the good examples of how the sprouting security companies can also compete with existing major companies in terms of effectiveness and creativity in providing security.

Established in January 2006, Online Solutions is a Russian-based team consisting of several young and talented IT security experts with the sole mission of creating a safe IT environment for end users via experimenting & creating new/better security technologies. On its start, the group only consists of 8 active members, but within the span of eight months, their first ever Firewall module had already surfaced. I truly find this efficient effort very inspiring.

OSSS is their latest offerings which includes a Firewall Module (OSPF) and a Proactive Defense System (OSPD) bundled in one package, though they do offer separate installers as well. This security suite aims to prevent not conventional malwares, but instead, target at protection from hackers, malicious codes and surprisingly to me, rootkit as well. The software itself is currently the third beta release, and so far only supports Windows XP & Server 2003, with other newer version of Windows being supported on the next release.

This is the Proactive Defensive System of OSSS.

This is the Firewall Module of OSSS

Proactive Defense System Configuration Tab of OSSS

The development team, however, specified clearly that this security software is not for the average novice user and so, does not recommend OSSS for users that don’t know how to:

• use virtual machines (VMware, VirtualPC, Virtual Box, Paralles etc.),
• work with the system registry,
• work with dump files,
• use “Recovery Console”.

After running this software on a virtual XP, i do find it unsuitable for the average users, as most would definitely find themselves unable to understand the various information that the software shows. But if you had enough knowledge on the interaction between windows services & files plus some networking knowledge, this software is definitely a gold. It is highly responsive, light on resources and most importantly, it works effectively as a beta. The user interface is organized and harmony in terms of color choice, making it a pleasant software to work with.

I would recommend this tool to everyone running Windows XP who believes themselves to be an advanced user capable of interpreting the interactions between software components of a PC and networks. I also encourage anyone interested in OSSS to keep up with their development news, seeing that Vista & 7 will soon be supported as well!

To visit their official website, click on this link. To download the latest version of OSSS, simply follow the links in the official site.