Spiceworks 7.1 Adds Threat Alerts By AlienVault

Spiceworks has integrated cybersecurity warnings from AlienVault into the latest version of its social network and toolset for IT professionals.

The Threat Alerts feature, based on the Open Threat Exchange (OTX) database, will offer real-time intelligence on all known security issues to help identify and mitigate threats facing the users’ networks.

“In today’s modern world, technology alone is not enough to combat the threats that now face organisations of all types and sizes,” said Russ Spitler, vice president of product management for AlienVault. “With the integration of continuous threat intelligence updates from OTX and AlienVault Labs, we can now provide millions of Spiceworks users with insight into the threats that could impact their business and the guidance they need to take preventative measures.”

Knowledge is power

Spiceworks has over four million users worldwide, and sometimes calls itself the ‘Facebook of IT’.  The platform is completely free, supported by advertising, and combines network management applications with an online community.

Meanwhile, AlienVault maintains the world’s largest crowd-sourced threat intelligence database. Back in 2012, in an interview with TechWeekEurope, AlienVault’s Richard Kirk explained that OTX is about collecting data from individual installations of AlienVault, bringing it together, analysing it, and then sending it back so it can be automatically installed and used in threat management and correlation.

As a result of the partnership, Threat Alerts will constantly scan network assets monitored by Spiceworks to look for connections with known malicious hosts, and trigger an alert within the platform when it discovers a problem. It will also offer advice on how to best mitigate the threat.

The new tool is available in Spiceworks version 7.1, released on Wednesday.

“Network security continues to be a thorn in the side of IT professionals everywhere. Integrating AlienVault’s Threat Alerts feature into Spiceworks will simplify how IT professionals locate and manage network threats, all from the application they use each day to manage their technology environment,” commented Jay Hallberg, co-founder and COO of Spiceworks.

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