Eastbourne College protects its computers from web-based threats
with the Sophos WS1000 Web Appliance.
IT security and control firm Sophos today announced that its web
appliance, the WS1000, now
offers enhanced URL categorization with a database of 24 million
sites, and gives systems administrators the ability to quickly and
easily create and enforce group-specific policies. Eastbourne
College, housing 625 students, 350 workstations and complex network
infrastructure, was an early adopter of the WS1000, a result of
being impressed with the installation and configuration process as
well as the detailed reporting capability.
Designed to deliver trusted content security and URL filtering
in a single appliance, the WS1000 ensures a secure web browsing
experience as it protects against all forms of malware and
productivity threats, combining security and URL filtering to
ensure that users are supported with continuously updated threat
definitions. It now also provides businesses with greater control,
management and oversight of their web security solutions.
Sophos's recent research, detailed in the Sophos
Security Threat Report, shows that a new infected webpage is
found and blocked by Sophos every 14 seconds. As the majority of
businesses now have security solutions in place to defend
traditional vectors of attack, such as infected email attachments,
cybercriminals have honed their approach - emailing links to
infected webpages in sophisticated socially engineered emails, as
well as using web ads and other marketing tactics to get victims to
their sites. Legitimate websites are increasingly being targeted by
hackers to host malware in an attempt to circumvent conventional
security measures and trick unwary users.
Sitting at the gateway, the WS1000 allows administrators to
secure their networks against these modern web attacks that
traditional URL filtering techniques, relying on URL
categorization, cannot defend against. Powered by SophosLabs - a
global network of researchers and analysts which constantly
monitors billions of webpages for new malware, virus, spyware and
phishing threats - the WS1000 is automatically updated every couple
of minutes with the latest threat defences, including updated
proactive technology and malicious URLs.
The Sophos Web Appliance features an
easy-to-use interface.
With advanced policy control via a simple web-based management
console, the WS1000 also allows for group, user, content-type and
time-based polices to be easily configured against a database of 24
million sites, divided into 54 URL categories, to protect against
productivity, security, legal and bandwidth risks.
Increasing threat levels, the need to vigilantly manage policies
and accurately report on network activities, as well as a desire to
reduce administrative requirements, prompted Eastbourne College in
Sussex to deploy the WS1000. With a specific need to define and
monitor a number of user group policies, the web appliance
presented a flexible solution.
"Time spent on internet filtration management has decreased
significantly with the WS1000 and I believe this is due to the ease
of the menus, simple point-and-shoot actions and the absence of
technical jargon to decipher," said Robin Wilson network manager at
Eastbourne College. "The upgrade was installed remotely overnight
by Sophos. When I returned the following day, the same simple
interface had been upgraded, but with more configuration options to
give me much greater control over the policies I can set and the
reports I can generate."
The WS1000 provides 13 key reports, allowing administrators to
quickly analyse security threats, recognise policy violators and
identify top bandwidth users, amongst others. All reports are
generated in real-time, facilitating instant reaction and increased
network control.
"The configuration of the WS1000 was particularly
straightforward and easy, taking just 40 minutes," continued
Wilson. "It is very reliable - I have had no hardware or software
problems, and it has reduced the stress in my office due to ease of
use and the fact that it sits as a background task within our
infrastructure and gets on with the job."
"Current URL filters are cumbersome to manage and ineffective at
addressing the growing threats against the web," said Richard
Baldry, WS1000 product manager at Sophos. "As web threats propagate
quickly, organizations need a solution which takes the guess work
out of security by automatically identifying and protecting against
threats before they impact operations."
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.