Sophos - Computer Definition
Anti-virus software developed for businesses and networks so that it can be administered and maintained from a single location, with version updates of the virus-scanning engine delivered regularly. As soon as new viruses are discovered, virus definition updates can be downloaded from the Internet by users.
See Also: Anti-Virus Software; Internet; Malware; Virus.
Paul Smith Computer Services. VPOP3 and Sophos Anti-Virus. [Online, 2004.] Paul Smith Computer Services Website. http://www.pscs.co.uk/products/vpop3/sophos .php.
Antivirus software from Sophos Plc, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England (www.sophos.com) that runs in a wide variety of environments including Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, NetWare and Network Appliance storage systems. Used worldwide, Sophos is noted for its fast performance. Scan Once and Create a Checksum Instead of scanning for all virus signatures each time a file is opened, Sophos performs a full scan on the file one time. If the file is free of viruses, Sophos creates a checksum for the file that it stores in a database. The next time the file is opened, Sophos recomputes the checksum and compares it against the stored checksum. If they match, the file has not been altered. A non-match means the file has been changed, and a full scan is performed against the file. When new antivirus signatures are downloaded, the checksums are deleted, and the executables are rescanned, and new checksums are computed. Computing and comparing a file's checksum is considerably faster than matching the file against the huge volume of virus signatures that only continues to grow. See virus and polymorphic virus.