GFI today announced that TechTarget’s SearchWindowsSecurity.com has selected GFI’s security scanning and patch management application, GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.), as Gold Winner of the Patch Management category of its 2006 ‘Product of the Year’ awards. Every year, editors at TechTarget's portfolio of Windows sites, together with a panel of independent judges, scour the market for the year's most innovative products delivering value to Windows IT shops.

After having won the Gold Award for Security Testing in last year's Products of the Year contest, GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner was chosen as the winner of the Gold Award in SearchWindowsSecurity.com's Products of the Year 2006 Patch Management contest. The winners were selected by a panel of judges composed of independent industry experts, Windows security professionals and SearchWindowsSecurity.com editors according to innovation, performance, ease of integration into existing environments, ease of use and manageability, functionality and value.

With the constant rise in security threats, patch management is still a priority for organizations today and this has been reflected in a number of new products being released in 2006 to meet this challenge. “GFI LANguard N.S.S. 7.0 combines the best of breed vulnerability scanning, patch management and information acquisition technology into a single package. It scans each networked machine IP by IP to determine service pack level, missing security patches, wireless access points, USB devices, open shares, open ports, services/applications active on the computer, key registry entries, weak passwords, users and groups,” explains SearchWindowsSecurity.com.

A feature that was noted by the judges was that GFI LANguard N.S.S. is Unicode-compliant and supports the download as well as deployment of missing Microsoft security updates in all languages supported by Microsoft Operating Systems. They also appreciated the fact that GFI Software can provide 24-hour support thanks to support call centres in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Malta and Australia.

“GFI LANguard N.S.S.’ recognition as the 2006 best product in the Patch Management category is truly an honor,” said Andre Muscat, Director of the GFI Network Security Division. “After last year’s award in the Security Testing category, this is yet another acknowledgement of GFI’s mark of excellence in developing state-of-the-art security software. It lends credibility to the consumer’s choice of GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner as the premier tool that assists them in meeting and adapting to network security challenges.”

New version 8.0 available soon GFI LANguard N.S.S. 8.0 is now out in BETA and will be available by the end of Quarter 1 2007. For more information about GFI LANguard N.S.S., visit http://www.gfi.com/lannetscan/.

About GFI LANguard N.S.S. GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.) checks a network for possible security vulnerabilities by scanning the entire network for missing security patches, services packs, vulnerabilities, open shares, open ports, unused user accounts and more. With this information (displayed in customizable reports), administrators can easily lock down their network against hackers. GFI LANguard N.S.S. can also remotely deploy missing patches and service packs in applications and OS. GFI LANguard N.S.S. is the leading Windows security scanner and very competitively priced, starting at just USD 495 for 32 IPs.

About SearchWindowsSecurity.com SearchWindowsSecurity.com is the Web's best Windows-specific security resource for enterprise IT professionals. It is designed to help those working in the trenches of Windows administration, deployment and infrastructure security. The site provides targeted search, news, research and interaction with peers and experts. Our readers are kept abreast of the most up-to-date, must-know Windows security tools, patches, flaws and technical information, while learning how to proactively handle security issues in the process. SearchWindowsSecurity.com is the largest online source of Windows security e-newsletters, white papers and Webcasts. More information can be found at http://www.SearchWindowsSecurity.com.

About GFI GFI is a leading software developer that meets network administrators’ network content and email security needs. With award-winning technology, an aggressive pricing strategy and a strong focus on small-to-medium sized businesses, GFI is able to satisfy the need for business continuity and productivity among organizations worldwide. Founded in 1992, GFI has offices in Malta, London, Raleigh, Hong Kong, Adelaide, Hamburg and Cyprus which support over 200,000 installations and 10,000 partners worldwide. GFI is also a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. For more information, visit http://www.gfi.com.