We at Secunia are proud to announce the availability of the Secunia Software Inspector (check it out here: http://secunia.com/software_inspector). It's a free service that detects insecure versions of software that you may have installed in your system. When insecure versions are detected, the Secunia Software Inspector also provides thorough guidelines for updating thesoftware to the latest secure version from the vendor.

The Software Inspector is a Java applet, which makes it easier for you to use; no downloading required!

It detects the most popular consumer-oriented applications, such as browsers, plug-ins, IM clients, email clients, and media players, and their respective versions.

If you are familiar with our site, then you may also be familiar with the fact that Secunia has provided vulnerability data for over four years. The Secunia Software Inspector was developed to make use of the staggering amount of information acquired over the years. However, its development would not have been possible without the use of another of our technologies: The Secunia File Signatures technology, which has over 100,000 rules to detect over 4,000 applications (25 of which are included in the Secunia Software Inspector). By combining the File Signatures with our Advisory Intelligence, we have come up with what I think (though I may be biased) is a pretty useful service.

We may provide vulnerability information, but we also believe that we have a responsibility to "spread the word" so to speak about the danger of vulnerabilities, and the importance of upgrading to secure versions of software. We cannot emphasize this enough: Vulnerabilities exist; at their mildest, they may cause the program to crash; at their worst, they can give a remote attacker complete control of a computer, facilitate malware attacks, or even figure in internet crime like phishing or information theft.

By developing the Secunia Software Inspector, we hope to make the job of upgrading software a little easier, especially for people or institutions, who don't really have a lot of time to spend checking vendor websites or IT security forums for new versions. It has a user-friendly interface and each step is clear and understandable for even novice computer users.

We also have a Referral Programme for the Secunia Software Inspector. Users, who sign up for the programme, will have access to scripts that they can place on their site to encourage their visitors to check their systems as well. They will also have access to vulnerability statistics gathered from those, who access the Software Inspector, such as what is the most popular software, what is the most popular secure version of a certain software according to the number of installations, and so on.

As with all our work, we are open to your suggestions and feedback about this newest tool from Secunia. Please feel free to explore the Secunia Software Inspector. We look forward to hearing from you, and learning more about you and your software needs.

The Secunia Software Inspector

Best regards,

Jakob Balle
IT Development Manager