The new suite of e-mail and document security and archiving applications aims to give admins consistent performance and control throughout a Microsoft-centric IT system.Data storage and security vendor Symantec Jan. 29 introduced a new integrated information security and archiving suite of applications that offers consistent enforcement of content control policies across a Microsoft-centric enterprise—from e-mail gateway security to archiving.
Using Symantec Information Foundation 2007, IT professionals can proactively prevent the risk of data loss and policy violations while responding to legal e-discovery requests, a company spokesperson said.
Also on Jan. 29, Symantec made available the beta version of Symantec Information Foundation Mail Security 6.0 for Exchange, a key component in the Symantec Information Foundation suite.
Scheduled to be generally available in March, the Mail Security software aims to reduce risks to information flowing internally as well as in and out of the enterprise via Microsoft Exchange servers, including Microsoft Exchange 2007.
"All systems that are used to exchange and store information within an organization are vulnerable to an increasing range of security, compliance and legal risks," said Francis deSouza, vice president of Symantecs Information Foundation Group.
"Symantec Information Foundation helps organizations protect themselves against theses risks across the wide range of e-mail, instant messaging, Web communications, file sharing and other information systems within the enterprise."
The new suite offers three key features—what Symantec marketing manager Nick Mehta called "intelligent archiving, user classification and encryption of sensitive documents."
"For example, a user can send a message that the receiver wouldnt be able to print out, or otherwise recirculate—if thats the policy on that particular piece of e-mail," Mehta told eWEEK. "It all depends on what the rules are, and those can easily be reset as needed."
Also, if a litigation is taking place involving the company, the software can be set up to sift through and locate any communications involving e-mail, documents, IM or file sharing within the company that might be related to that litigation through key words, phrases and other flag points, Mehta said.
Mehta said that Symantec already has about 5,000 customers and some 8 million users of the companys e-mail security software.
"Disjointed, piece-part compliance solutions offer little extensibility and suffer from high administrative overhead," said Christian Christiansen, vice president of security product and services at IT researcher IDC, based in Framingham, Mass.
"With Information Foundation, Symantec offers a compliance infrastructure that can handle future regulatory and internal compliance demands. Its integration provides the capability to reduce IT workloads, simplify policy administration and improve audit execution."
Click here to read about Symantecs updated application performance management suite.
Specifically, Symantec Information Foundation offers the following capabilities:
Consistent content controls with automatic classification and policy enforcement for effective risk management: As information flows across the network gateway, internal servers and enterprise archive, Symantec Information Foundation consistently captures, scans and classifies content based on risk and business value.
Integrated incident management and remediation for ensuring risk management compliance: As policy violations such as confidential information loss, customer data disclosure and regulatory compliance breaches are detected, incidents are automatically created and escalated for review and action.
Centralized archiving, audit and discovery: Data flagged as suspicious or violating policy can be proactively retained as evidence for future discovery and investigation.
Symantec Information Foundation includes the following components: Symantec Enterprise Vault; Symantec Enterprise Vault Discovery Accelerator; Symantec Enterprise Vault Compliance Accelerator; Symantec Mail Security 8300 Series; Symantec IM Manager; Symantec Information Foundation Mail Security for Exchange; Symantec Mail Security for Domino; and Symantec Web Security for Microsoft ISA (Internet Security and Acceleration) Server.
Pricing and availability
Symantec Information Foundation is available as a single enterprise license and is priced on a subscription basis, per user, per year. Estimated pricing starts at $95 per user, per year, with volume and multi-year discounts available.
The suite is available through Symantecs worldwide network of authorized resellers, distributors and systems integrators.
Check out eWEEK.coms Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at Ryan Naraines eWEEK Security Watch blog.
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