New SurfControl products add muscle against emerging enterprise risks

To help protect customers from emerging Internet threats, including spyware, malicious downloads, blended threats and threats posed by mobile computing, SurfControl, the world leader in enterprise Web and e-mail filtering, today announced three major enhancements to the company`s product line.

The company`s three updated products, SurfControl Web Filter 5.0, SurfControl Instant Message Filter 2.5 and SurfControl Mobile Filter enhance an organisation`s ability to safeguard employee productivity, enhance network security and performance, and limit legal liability by stopping unwanted content in the workplace. Together, the products protect against risks to the network posed by Web-based, mobile, peer-to-peer and instant messaging services and applications.

"Internet threats are becoming more sophisticated each day, and organisations need a comprehensive defence to mitigate risks to the corporate network," said Wayne Bird, director at Networks Unlimited, distributor of SurfControl in southern Africa. "As IT managers continue to face new vulnerabilities from a constantly evolving Internet, these new tools will help them protect against Internet-based risks, while easing administration."

SurfControl Web Filter 5.0 provides customers with the most comprehensive protection against emerging Internet threats, including spyware, phishing attacks, malicious downloads and inappropriate content in the workplace. The newest version of the product features an enhanced category database to strengthen protection against these threats.

New features include a spyware category, which tracks and filters sites that are sources of spyware, adware and other inadvertent downloads. This kind of unwanted content slows down network performance and jeopardises network security. The product also can filter peer-to-peer application sites, which are a growing source of legal liability, network vulnerability and even confidential data theft.

SurfControl`s Virtual Control Agent (VCA), a key component of the Web Filter, uses proprietary artificial intelligence to dynamically track and categorise harmful, previously uncategorised Web content. Enhancements to the VCA make SurfControl Web Filter 5.0 more accurate and efficient than ever in identifying and filtering Web sites that are a threat.

SurfControl Web Filter 5.0 also has new features to ease the administrative burdens on IT managers with distributed enterprise networks. SurfControl`s updated reporting engine gives administrators the freedom to delegate reporting and administration duties to designated managers in remote locations. This both eases the burden on the IT manager and improves business communication flow throughout the organisation.

The new version of SurfControl Web Filter provides IT staff with a single management console for viewing all of the organisation`s SurfControl installations in one spot. IT managers can view administrative functions as a whole based on office location or by server/installation type.

SurfControl Instant Message Filter 2.5 responds to threats from instant messaging and peer-to-peer activity in the workplace, such as those identified in an American Management Association survey. That survey found 31% of respondents using IM in the workplace, and 78% of these users downloading free IM software from the Internet, unaware of the threats posed by such downloads. Unfiltered IM use leaves organisations open to liabilities such as inappropriate content and confidential data leakage, as well as significant lost productivity.

"One of the major challenges to managing employee instant messaging use is the proprietary nature of IM protocols," said Networks Unlimited`s Bird. "SurfControl Instant Message Filter 2.5 features enhancements that increase the number of supported protocols. It also provides automatic updates so that protocols can continue to be managed as they evolve."

The product features extended platform support for the major instant messaging protocols, including the newest versions of AOL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo and Sametime/AOL (AIM). The product also supports and enforces major peer-to-peer protocol updates, such as WinMX, OpenNapster and BitTorrent, as well as Web-based IM and chat interfaces.

SurfControl Instant Message Filter 2.5 offers the ability to run the product from the same server as SurfControl Web Filter. Reporting capabilities have also been enhanced, to help IT managers track employee activity over IM networks on criteria such as the number of communications blocked for a particular user.

SurfControl Mobile Filter gives businesses the ability to filter their employees` Internet access regardless of where they are working or how they connect to the Internet.

"Un-tethered employees create unmanaged risks to corporate networks," said Bird. "SurfControl Mobile Filter provides a first line of defence for the employees outside the wired network."

The surge in mobile computing, combined with today`s onslaught of Internet-based threats, creates significant vulnerabilities for corporate networks. Fifty-seven percent of US companies already support mobile wireless networks, with an additional 22% planning to implement wireless technology by the end of 2004, according to Jupiter Research. The growing popularity of laptop sales over desktops strongly reinforces this trend. In 2003, laptops outsold desktop computers for the first time ever.

Further complicating filtering efforts is the exploding number of wireless hotspots, which currently stands at over 3 000 locations nationwide. SurfControl Mobile Filter customers have a thin client installed on their mobile devices. This client communicates with the SurfControl Mobile Filter server installed on the organisation`s own network, and filters Internet access based on the organisation`s acceptable use policy.