Trend Micro Offers HTTP Virus-Scanning Tool
By Dennis Fisher
September 8, 2003

Trend Micro Inc. on Monday announced a new gateway anti-virus product designed specifically to stop viruses coming in through Web traffic. InterScan Web Security Suite inspects HTTP and FTP traffic and is meant for the high-end enterprise market, where speed and performance are major considerations.

The new offering from Trend Micro is aimed at eliminating the threat posed by Web-based e-mail services. Many corporations have banned employee use of such services because there's no real way to control what information is sent out of the corporate environment, nor what types of viruses, Trojans or other malware are coming in. Free Web mail services are favorite targets of spammers, who often lace their messages with spyware or other undesirable software.

Typical anti-virus gateways inspect and clean mail messages coming in over the SMTP protocol, which is used by most of the major enterprise mail solutions. Desktop anti-virus is also focused on SMTP traffic, and most AV clients have no ability to inspect e-mails that corporate employees send using services such as Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, which are both Web-based and use HTTP.

One of the only other security vendors to offer an HTTP virus-scanning solution is Blue Coat Systems Inc., which uses Trend Micro's software in its Proxy SG appliances.

InterScan Web Security Suite also integrates with the other components of Trend's Enterprise Protection Strategy. The new offering is only available on Windows and Solaris right now, although officials at Trend, based in Cupertino, Calif., said a Linux version would be ready in late 2004. Pricing for the Windows and Solaris versions starts at $16 per user.

Also on Monday, Trend released a new version of its Spam Prevention Service, which now includes more customization options and an updated white-list feature.

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