Finjan Upgrades Unified Web Security Appliance
Security vendor Finjan has announced an upgrade to its unified Web security appliance. Secure Web Gateway 9.2 combines multi-layered Web security, data leakage prevention (DLP), content caching, application control, URL filtering, and Web 2.0 security.
"Customers are concerned about total cost of ownership," said Ophir Shalitin, vice president of marketing for the company. By reducing the number of appliances used for Web security, users also "reduce licenses and other operational costs. We're trying to make the life of the IT team as easy and effective as possible."
Web security in the new version of the appliance combines real-time content inspection technology and optional anti-virus modules with enhancements that enable the appliance to inspect rich content, including Flash and PDF files.
A DLP feature, also new with version 9.2, allows the user to troll for specific types of data leaving the organization. Shalitin explained that administrators can define words or patterns, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, or other forms of confidential data, and bundle those templates into a dictionary that enables the appliance to monitor for those patterns and stop their transmission. "If somebody tries to send out Word document with sensitive information, you can block that action by applying a rule," he explained.
A new content caching function eliminates the need, said Shalitin, for the network team to maintain a separate proxy or caching appliance. He estimated that its use could save "up to 20 to 30 percent of bandwidth."
An outbound communications inspection includes HTTP/SSL traffic and the prevention of "Trojans phoning home" communications.
Existing capabilities in applications control have been enhanced to prevent Internet users on the network from accessing applications such as peer-to-peer, IM, Skype, or social networking sites outside of specified group policy settings.
"I meet many chief information security officers who want to resolve the issue of DLP. They are, however, faced with issues relating to classifying and controlling data that require huge investments in resources and new technology. Recently we have seen a change in emphasis by CISOs who now want to invest in simplified DLP solutions while delaying broader solutions," said Andy Kellett, senior research analyst at Butler Group, in a statement. "It is good to see that Finjan now covers the major areas of the Web security market that Butler Group predicts will be important in 2009: Web protection, information security and data loss prevention."
Shalitin said the base price for the appliance would be around $18,000.