Introducing the Next Generation Proxy Server

The Internet has been with us for over 17 years now, but companies still need to make sure that the Internet supports their business rather than detracts from it. Web security needs to rise to the challenges presented by today's technology trends rather than trying to plug IT Security gaps by fitting yesterday’s square pegs into today’s round holes.

The major change in Internet usage that has taken place over the past 2-3 years has been the arrival of social media such as Facebook and YouTube. At the same time, cyber-criminals have turned from email to the web as a means of disseminating their malicious code that it designed to take advantage of unpatched workstations on your network to obtain your employees' personal login credentials. Simply installing web filter software doesn't adequately address the demands for web security that now arise. More granular controls are required for web security that allow companies to market themselves using social networking whilst protecting themselves against the new generation of web threats.

SonicWall firewall appliances not only provide companies with firewall security, but also URL Filtering, antivirus, and control over web applications such as Skype, Facebook and Spotify. It is even possible to permit access to Facebook to update company marketing information whilst blocking the ability to play Facebook games. If however you want to make sure that you have the highest level of web protection against today’s zero-day threats, you need to look at the current generation of proxy servers.

Trend Micro Interscan Web Security and McAfee Web Gateway both go beyond traditional web filtering in providing protection against zero day threats spread by “drive-by” infections. They examine the behaviour of executable code that is downloaded from the internet and simply block the delivery of any code that appears to perform potentially malicious actions. By blocking execution of the Java / ActiveX code that is used to run exploits against unpatched workstations and laptops, you are able to go a long way to preventing prevent the installation of Trojan applications on your company’s systems.