Panda DesktopSecure for Linux

Planning to cash in on the Linux Desktop bubble, Panda Software released the beta version of Panda DesktopSecure for Linux, aimed at Linux workstation environments. The product is firewall, antivirus and intrusion detection system (IDS) bundle.

Antivirus?
- Panda already offers the Panda Antivirus for Linux, a freeware product. Granted, the latest version is from August 2004, but there are alternatives. ClamAV is a nice enough completely free product, and if you want to spend, there are tons of vendors willing to take your money and protect you from both Linux viruses reported (but not really seen) in the wild.

Firewall?
- If iptables scares you, there are always graphical front-ends one can use. There are wizard-type programs that would configure your firewall for you. If iptables is not enough, I don't expect you'll find it in Panda's offering. Again, many vendors offer dedicated, time-tested and very well supported firewall solutions. “Panda” just doesn't sound interesting enough in IT security circles, yet.

IDS?
- Intrusion Detection Systems can be some of the most complex pieces of software on a network. Most, of course, are very basic - just pattern matching, but others called for enormous development, testing and tuning times.