Sophos touts application control features

U.K.-based antivirus company Sophos has built application controls into its software. The controls let business users of its products control employee use of applications, including distributed applications such as SETI@Home, the company said in a statement Thursday. Such applications could eat up resources on an organization's network, Sophos said.

Application control is an optional feature of Sophos Anti-Virus Version 6, released late last month. In addition to distributed applications, Sophos has found that its application control features are being used to detect and block voice over Internet Protocol, peer-to-peer, instant messaging and other applications that can present risks to company data and networks, it said. Sophos added application control to its products as a way to expand beyond its antivirus niche and offer more desktop management capabilities in its products, which are mostly used by businesses and organizations, instead of consumers.