MessageLabs releases new security services

IDG News Service - MessageLabs Ltd. announced today the release of new security software that scans Web traffic for viruses, detects spyware and filters content to enforce company Internet policies.
The company's Web Protect service's antivirus functionality uses a heuristics approach with multiple virus-scanning engines, while its antispyware features scans in real time. Incoming and outgoing Web traffic is scanned for malicious code, spyware, adware and phishing attacks, it said. The services are administered through MessageLabs' portal.
Its Web Control product includes address filtering that allows companies to be in control of how its employees use the Internet.
"We started to see an increasing amount of spyware and malware in the Web browsing area," said Mark Sunner, chief technology officer for MessageLabs. "We've realized there's quite an unplugged gap here."
Users are increasingly seeing spam messages with URLs that may lead to malware or viruses, a convergence between e-mail and HTTP threats, Sunner said.
MessageLabs' Web scanning product has "near-zero latency," according to Martin Brown, group product manager. IT managers can set restrictions tailored to a company's Web use policies, Brown said. Web Protect and Web Control were in beta testing for about five weeks among 10,000 end users in the U.S. and U.K, he said.
If employees try to access a restricted site, they can be directed to a link for the company's online use policies, he said.
Pricing for antivirus and the URL filtering service is $3.53 per user per month, about $5 per user per month for antivirus with antispyware protection or $7 per user per month for antivirus, antispyware and URL-filtering services, Brown said.