Bye-bye digital pollution

We have all heard about our carbon emissions, what they are doing to the environment and how they threaten the demise of our planet. However, Kaspersky Labs is concentrating on a different type of pollution ‚ digital pollution. Because many of our lives revolve around digital solutions and devices, we are susceptible to a range of viruses and malware. Furthermore, incidents such as an unplanned power-outage could cause our hard drives to crash. It is for this reason that Kaspersky Labs has announced its PURE package which is said to provide a blanket security solution for our home networks. The PURE package offers users everything from virus and malware protection, to parental control and data back-up.

Kaspersky PURE combines complete protection against all types of web-borne threats with new, advanced features including extended parental control features, data backup and encryption tools. Additionally, the product boasts a password management program and the ability to manage your entire home network or fine tune the security settings of your Web browser and operating system from any computer on the network.

‚We have applied a new approach to the product’s development,‚ says Vasily Dyagilev, Head of Regional Retail Sales at Kaspersky Lab. ‚The name, PURE, was deliberately chosen to convey the concept of a solution that is genuine, clean and total. We believe that each and every user has the right to enjoy the myriad opportunities that modern-day computing and the Internet offers us, safe in the knowledge that they are properly protected.‚

With the launch of Kaspersky PURE, Kaspersky Lab has introduced a new class of products that provide a secure and productive digital environment. PURE retains all the features that users of Kaspersky Anti-Virus and Kaspersky Internet Security have come to know and appreciate, including ‚sandbox’ technologies. These technologies allow suspect applications to be run in a secure virtual environment, proactive detection of unknown threats, application control and restrictions on the level of access that suspicious programs have to passwords, logins, personal information and operating system settings.

For those with children, Kaspersky PURE’s Extended Parental Control helps to limit the time that minors spend on the computer, regulates access to specific programs on the Internet and blocks users attempting to access Web sites displaying adult content, whilst notifying you. The IM control feature can be set to block messages containing obscene language or predefined words such as your home address or telephone number.

Continues Dyagilev: ‚Protection doesn’t just mean guarding against malicious programs and cybercriminals. An unexpected disruption to the electricity supply may irretrievably destroy your hard disk, along with all the documents, photos and video clips stored on it.‚

Kaspersky PURE includes a dedicated module to help you create backup copies of your data and restore it if needed. The module can be fine-tuned to suit your specific needs. You can configure it to perform scheduled backups of all of your data, or choose only certain files or folders that are of particular importance. Selective backups allow only those files that were modified since they were last saved to be backed up, preserving backup disk storage space. Previous versions of your files can be saved at specific restore points, thus allowing them to be recovered in the event of accidental data deletion.

Installing and configuring a complete home network security system, scanning for malware and managing backup and parental control routines can be time-consuming, but with Kaspersky PURE one person with administrator rights and can do it all easily from anywhere on the network. With just a few clicks of the mouse you can view the entire network’s security status, whilst system-generated logs and reports will keep you up-to-date on any network events.

Alongside all the other great features of the product designed to make the user feel completely secure, Kaspersky PURE includes a password manager program that can save the user an awful lot of time. This feature will help you to select unique, strong passwords for your email, forum, blog and online bank accounts, and most importantly, it automatically inserts them for you during the login process. It’s even possible to configure the program to launch automatically or manually, whichever you prefer. For example, you can use your mobile phone as your key to the online world: you don’t even have to take it out of your pocket. Once within range of your computer, Kaspersky PURE will detect your phone via Bluetooth and unlock the password database automatically.

‚Being confident that your data is secure takes more than just blocking the threats that come up during an online session. Even when your computer is switched off and your regular protection is subsequently disabled, cybercriminals can still physically access the data stored on your hard disk or USB device. With Kaspersky PURE’s encrypted container feature, you can be absolutely confident that your valuable data will not fall into the hands of cybercriminals, even if your hard disk is lost or stolen. All it takes is to regularly backup the data stored in the containers. If you no longer need specific files and folders, deleting them with Kaspersky PURE means that they cannot be restored at a later date, even by using advanced data recovery techniques,‚ says Dyagilev.

Kaspersky PURE’s Security + toolkit will help you to fine-tune the security of your operating system and browser. The product analyses those settings that are either hidden or generally overlooked and prompts you to take action if any of them pose a threat to your digital well-being.

‚Security solutions have always developed in line with the evolution of digital threats. The emergence of the first computer viruses prompted the development of the early antivirus products. The arrival of the first web-borne threats gave impetus to the development of Internet Security-class solutions. Now that it has become common for many users to store their digital assets in electronic format, a need has arisen for new types of comprehensive solutions that offer protection against all types of digital threats and mitigate the risks to our digital assets,‚ concludes Dyagilev.