Other anti-spyware start-ups are also finding success in the market. Yahoo used a software development kit from PestPatrol (which was recently acquired by Computer Associates) to build a free anti-spyware tool. Sygate licenses detection and removal technology from Lavasoft, which makes the popular Ad-Aware detection and removal software, to power the spyware engine in its Sygate Secure Enterprise suite.
The newest entry to the anti-spyware market is Microsoft. In January, the company acquired Giant Company Software, which made a consumer anti-spyware product that included a user-driven forum known as SpyNet for reporting suspected spyware to Giant's researchers.
The current product, known as Microsoft AntiSpyware, is being offered as a free beta to consumers, but has been hardcoded to expire at the end of July. Microsoft says that on or before the expiration date, it will announce whether the software will remain a free product. The SpyNet forum is still active.
At press time, Microsoft wouldn't comment about a corporate version of AntiSpyware, but Paul Bryan, director of product management at the company, acknowledged that spyware was both a consumer and an enterprise problem. Given the company's plans to enter the anti-virus market, a corporate anti-spyware product seems likely. But even if Microsoft enters the enterprise anti-spyware market, it doesn't mean game over for everyone else. For one thing, Microsoft's competitors have a significant lead against the Redmond giant. It's also not clear that enterprise buyers would buy a security cure from a company whose OS and applications are such a significant enabler of the disease.
The upsurge in activity in the anti-spyware market may also have masked an important point: Anti-spyware technology is still immature, and security departments are factoring this into their buying decisions.
