Sophos, the largest privately-held vendor in the secure content
and threat management market, today announced new key features to
its managed WS1000 Web
Security Appliance that significantly improve IT's ability to
keep pace with evasive end-user tools, and the latest threats to
security and compliance. Offered as a free and automatic upgrade,
the new features include multi-layer protection against anonymizing
proxies, HTTPS scanning, and a host of end-user enforcement and
reporting improvements to one of the industry's most comprehensive
solutions.
The latest research from Sophos highlights the worsening state
of security on the web. SophosLabs™ today finds an average of
one new malware-infected webpage every five seconds - a threefold
increase over 2007 - with 90 percent of compromised pages being
found on legitimate sites. Exacerbating the situation for IT are
tools such as anonymizing proxies that allow users to circumvent
URL filtering controls. This is particularly prevalent and
problematic in the educational sector, where students often resist
controls, are not easily deterred, and have advanced knowledge of
web technologies. In this environment, IT departments in
educational institutions are still held to strict guidelines to
protect students from exposure to inappropriate or unsafe
content.
"Educational IT is a true proving ground for security
technologies as we balance the requirement for extremely broad, yet
controlled access to what the internet has to offer," said Brian
Meeks, IT administrator at Paideia School. "Our students were born
into social networking and online gaming, and it is a massive cat
and mouse game to ensure they have a safe and productive online
learning environment. I was spending up to five hours each week
chasing down and blocking anonymizing proxy sites. With the latest
web appliance, I've reclaimed this time and no longer need to track
these activities down myself."
With fast, full-spectrum managed threat protection - including
URL-based filtering, real-time malware scanning and content
filtering - the WS1000 had already established itself as a
best-in-class solution in the marketplace for comprehensive web
security. The new features add:
Proxy reputation service: Tracks a vast array
of online sources to identify proxy sites/services as they become
available and immediately publishes updates to the proxy block
list.
Real-time proxy scanner: Patent-pending
detection engine that decodes and inspects every web request for
signs that the traffic is being intentionally routed through a
dedicated anonymizing proxy server.
HTTPS scanning: Enables scanning and filtering
of SSL-encrypted traffic - a significant blind spot for IT with
most solutions - to ensure that no malware is being transferred or
policies violated when communicating over HTTPS in applications
such as WebMail.
SafeSearch enforcement: Enforces SafeSearch
mode within major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Live to
further protect networks from infected or inappropriate site
results.
Reporting enhancements: New user-specific
activity reporting (categories, sites visited and time online) for
tracking behaviors against acceptable use policies and conducting
forensic audits.
"Web threat authors are one step ahead of traditional filtering
solutions, leaving most businesses underprotected today," said
Chris Kraft, vice president of product management, Web Security and
Control at Sophos. "With the Sophos web appliance, and in
particular this latest release, organizations can reclaim time and
control over web usage and be assured they are protected against
the latest threat trends and productivity drains."
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.