"Russians are known as some of the most talented hackers and cybercriminals. So who better than Russian security experts to stop them from breaking into your PC?" That comment was from Mikhail Penkovsky, global vice president of sales and marketing at Agnitum, developer of the Outpost line of security products.

Agnitum is an interesting company. It has a programming office in St. Petersburg, Russia, a sales office in San Jose, and is headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus. Well, at least in the winter, I'd rather be in Cyprus than St. Petersburg, too!

The company's major offering is Outpost Firewall Pro and Version 4 has just been released. The other product is a networked and centrally managed version called Outpost Network Security. Both are aimed at the small and midsize business market that's historically underserved in the security arena. The major difference is simply the scope covered by the product - networked computers or stand-alone.

The company is quick to point out that SMBs are generally more vulnerable to outside attack while at the same time being unaware of their vulnerability. Too often, they feel that they offer too small a target for hackers. But today's hacking tools don't go after corporations, they go after unprotected computers - wherever they happen to reside.

Outpost Network Security is for the organization that not only doesn't boast a chief security officer but also may only have a part-time IT department.

An added plus, from our point of view, is that it's a Windows-only system:

* Server-side: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003.
* Client-side: Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003.

It's designed from the ground up for a network just like yours.

Ease of use, low overhead and quick-start functionality are added pluses. Among the features:

* Centralized deployment, management and updating to facilitate trouble-free, automated protection and low IT overheads.
* Support for groups enables different configurations and access policies to be deployed to different users depending on their degree of vulnerability.
* Automated spyware and firewall protection keeps client machines functioning smoothly and keeps users productive.
* Firewall presets for commonly used applications and network-specific communications ease the initial access configuration definitions.