Web Antivirus

As technology evolves, so do technology-based threats. Email and Web access, critical applications for today's connected businesses, provide a new set of open doors into corporate networks. Virus scanning at the Internet access point plays a critical role in network security by removing harmful content at the security perimeter - before it enters and infects the network. Just as organizations deployed virus scanning on corporate email servers to secure SMTP-based services, they are deploying virus scanning to protect against new Web-based threats that utilize proxy server based services.

Recent examples of these new Web threats are the "Code Red" and "Nimda" viruses. These viruses found their way into corporate networks on the very protocols firewalls allow into an organization's network. Clever virus developers use protocols such as HTTP because they understand that web traffic - is essentially an unlocked door into corporate networks. And, because the firewall was designed to operate at a packet level, it is ill-suited to handle these new threats hidden across multiple packets of a given Web object or content type.

In today's Web-enabled businesses, effective network security requires implementation of a proxy server that operates at the content level. To protect against web-based threats from both outside and inside the network, more organizations implement BlueCoat secure web proxy server appliances specifically designed to secure web traffic from viruses and malicious code. These dedicated appliances complement firewalls and existing anti-virus products as part of an overall security architecture. Optimized for content and object level processing, these servers incorporate powerful, patent-pending technology needed to inspect the web traffic and handle that content according to policies set by the administrator.

The BlueCoat Solution

Blue Coat proxy server antivirus solution

BlueCoat Systems security appliances in conjunction with leading virus scanning products provide a policy-based approach to real-time virus scanning for Web content.

Comprehensive Internet Antivirus Solution
BlueCoat Systems has developed strategic partnerships to complete its Web traffic virus scanning offerings. The company has strategic partnerships with Trend Micro and Symantec for integrating those virus scanning solutions with the BlueCoat Systems secure proxy server appliances. Leveraging the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP), the companies partnership includes joint development, testing and marketing of Web virus solutions. For the first time, organizations have complete policy-based control over high performance Web virus scanning. For example, administrators may choose to have data deemed safe, like images from trusted sources, not vectored to the virus servers for scanning. Other data requested from internal sites could be sent to a service for light scanning, while all other content could be sent to a second virus scanning service for deeper inspection.

The BlueCoat Systems Director adds a critical element to the web security solution - providing centralized configuration management and security policy administration for all enterprise web traffic.

Finally, BlueCoat Systems Reporter provides identity-based reporting and monitoring to evaluate Web security policies, usage and resource management. Ideal for the complex web traffic patterns, Reporter translates raw network and user data into meaningful, easy-to-use reports for planning purposes.