MessageLabs Unveils Security Services

MessageLabs has announced 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 feature 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.

Company Sets Parameters

Its Web Control product includes URL filtering that allows companies to be in control of how its employees use the Internet.

Company IT managers can set restrictions tailored to a company's Web use policies, said Martin Brown, group product manager for MessageLabs. 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, $5.26 per user per month for antivirus with antispyware protection or $7 per user per month for antivirus, antispyware, and URL filtering services, Brown said.

Greater Need

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, Brown said. The company is among those that have spotted a jump in cybercrime.

"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.