Shavlik Technologies, a global leader in simplifying the complexity of IT management, today announced a new browser-based security advisory that helps small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) identify potential security vulnerabilities on their networks. Available from the Shavlik home page, Shavlik Security Advisor scans all physical and virtual machines to determine missing patches that provide significant security risks without immediate remediation.   

The assessment is offered as part of the company’s “Freemium” business model, which makes enterprise-class IT management solutions accessible to budget-conscious SMBs. In addition to Shavlik Security Advisor, Shavlik also offers no-cost versions of IT.Shavlik™, its leading cloud-based IT management product, and Shavlik NetChk vProtect, an extension of Shavlik's industry-leading patching and IT management technology that is focused entirely on virtual machine (VM) environments.

“We are seeing an increased need for IT management technologies that help SMBs address the same challenges that the world’s largest enterprises are grappling with,” said Mark Shavlik, CEO, Shavlik Technologies. “This is especially true for security. We commonly partner with smaller companies that are concerned about network vulnerabilities, but lack a cost-effective way to identify them. With Shavlik Security Advisor, SMBs not only have a way to identify missing patches, but also gain a greater level of visibility into the number of vulnerable machines and applications in a matter of minutes. And they don’t have to pay a dime for that valuable knowledge.”

Shavlik Security Advisor is a free browser-based security assessment that is publicly available by visiting www.shavlik.com. Following a quick scan of all designated machines on a network, a detailed report is provided with many valuable components including:

• A snapshot of the network environment including the number of missing patches, number of missing security patches and the average number of missing patches per machine as compared to the Shavlik user community
• A Systems Center that ranks machines by severity and identifies the machines requiring patches
• A Software Center that shows the software by vendor as well as the software titles requiring patches
• A Patch Center that indicates the percent of products missing patches not covered by WSUS, as well the number of missing patches and number of vulnerable machines
• A Community Center that identifies how the security of an IT environment compares to the community

Shavlik’s “Freemium” Business Model

In addition to Shavlik Security Advisor, SMBs exploring solutions for their IT management needs can also use Shavlik NetChk vProtect and IT.Shavlik, at no cost. The “Freemium” model allows new users of IT.Shavlik to receive free unlimited patch and asset scanning, remediation/scheduling for one machine, as well as unlimited community support. Users taking advantage of NetChk vProtect receive one free CPU (approximately 10 virtual machines) license for managing the scanning and deployment of patches in their virtual environment.

“With just about every major asset in the IT department ripe for virtualization and cloud-based solutions becoming increasingly popular, IT managers are looking for solutions to the many challenges these increasingly ubiquitous technologies present,” said Shavlik. “Yet SMBs may be skeptical at the promise of enterprise-class IT management since it has been so hard to deliver. Shavlik Technologies believes the Freemium offering will give these organizations the confidence to embrace IT.Shavlik and NetChk vProtect for their entire company.”