Business security innovator WatchGuard has released a new software update for its extensible content security (XCS) family of web and messaging security appliances. This software release is designed to enable SMBs to employ data loss prevention features, and content and policy controls for accelerating web traffic and spam and phishing prevention technologies.
“Company email is the leading vector that criminals use in order to steal sensitive data,” says Roula Vrsic, WatchGuard’s XCS product manager. “Not only is email the easiest way into the business network, but it is also the primary egress point for confidential data. Because of this, WatchGuard has improved its DLP capabilities so that sensitive data stays safe behind the corporate firewall.”
New XCS software features include:
- Two Minute DLP Wizard
- Frequent Tasks Tool (for quick access to commonly used configuration and management tools)
- Signature-Based Anti-Spam
- Enhanced Attachment Controls
- Granular DLP (with complex rules and nested rules)
- Per-Rule Notifications (for increased visibility into data loss violations)
- Message Tracking Enhancements (for simplified audit and compliance)
- Completely Re-Architected Web Proxy
- FTP Scanning (expands protection and eliminates security gaps)
- Web Caching (increases scanning efficiency and accelerates web usage)
- Enhanced Controls (for managing uncategorized URLs, including ability to bypass scanning of trusted, uncategorized URLs)
- Multiple Software Updates Management Tool
- Web Bandwidth Usage Visibility & Reporting
WatchGuard has designed it XCS to be simple to deploy with intuitive controls, graphical displays for easy interpretation of results, and reduced steps for defining content controls. With this latest release, businesses can enjoy the added ability of easily defining simple policies via new DLP wizard.
For more granular data loss prevention controls, XCS provides the tools to apply in-depth controls with the ability to apply an arbitrary number of conditions to a content rule, or even apply nested rules within any grouping. Bi-directional attachment scanning and attachment controls of over 400 attachment types can be applied in minutes from a convenient, single UI.
WatchGuard XCS also provides the ability to combine new powerful spam signatures with its content and context-based anti-spam protection. The new XCS Spam Rules feature provides enhanced protection from unwanted spam and criminally motivated phishing campaigns seeking to obfuscate confidential data from end users.
Also with this new release, administrators gain access to a Frequent Tasks screen that ensures fool-proof setup and provides quick access to commonly used configuration and management tools, which includes new tools such as the QMSIntegration Wizard and the Data Loss Prevention Wizard. The Frequent Tasks screen appears after the XCS Initialization Wizard, and remains as the administrator’s landing page each time upon login, unless he/she opts out of it.
The new WatchGuard XCS release will be available for upgrading all XCS products immediately. Web security subscription pricing is dependent on the XCS appliance purchased. The QMS Wizard provides interoperability between the XCS appliance and the WatchGuard QMS appliance or the Virtual QMS.
