Viatel adds ScanSafe WebControl to security portfolio to protect users from Web threats

WebControl protects companies from spyware, web viruses, phishing, unwanted content and adware by filtering browsed content and blocking threats at source before they get back to the end user and company network.  

“According to Gartner, the web will be the primary source of malware infection in the enterprise in 2008¹.  WebControl addresses this issue and compliments our existing managed firewall and email security services,” said Arjan van Proosdij, security product manager, Viatel. “With the web being an essential part of day-to-day business life, companies simply cannot afford to neglect security in this area. When you also consider that many employees are also browsing social networking sites such as Facebook, it is becoming increasingly important to make sure that employees stay productive and corporate web use is safe and secure.”   

Webcontrol is a “Software as a Service” (SaaS) solution, so requires no hardware, maintenance or upfront capital costs, making it ideal for companies looking to increase their security and control their costs.  “Our customers want their bandwidth to be cleaned at source without having to worry about the risk to business reputation or operations that can result from Web security breaches. While many of our clients do not have the in-house resources to monitor Web use and threats, others don’t want the time and cost of managing another vendor relationship,“ continued Van Proosdij. 

WebControl redirects all corporate web traffic through its own dedicated servers and analyses it before displaying the content to the end-user, with zero latency.  Looking ahead at the results, WebControl alerts users to potentially damaging websites, proactively blocking them and preventing harm to company IT systems.

WebControl can also filter or block traffic such as video streams and IM traffic, which can help companies manage their bandwidth and control how it is used more effectively. In addition, IT managers can use the service to obtain detailed metrics and insight into the web activity of the company down to an individual employee level, helping to trace security breaches and enforce the company’s web use policy.  

“With increasing numbers of companies using the web from mobile devices, we are also offering ScanSafe’s “Anywhere+” service, which provides real-time web security and policy control regardless of the location of your employees, whether at home, in an airport or hotel hotspot, helping to keep the corporate network secure,” concluded Van Proosdij.  

Viatel is the only UK ISP to offer ScanSafe’s WebControl product. 

*1 Gartner, Inc., “Introducing the Secure Web Gateway,” Peter Firstbrook, Arabella Hallawell, Lawrence Orans, 20 March 2007.