Calyptix Releases AccessEnforcer Version 3.0 Security Platform

Version 3.0 brings a host of new enhancements, expanded features and functionality to AccessEnforcer.

Security-appliance specialist Calyptix Security announced the release of AccessEnforcer Version 3.0, the latest major version of the AccessEnforcer software. Version 3.0 brings a host of new enhancements, expanded features and functionality to AccessEnforcer to deliver enhanced Internet security to small and midsize businesses and nonprofit organizations. The company said many of these improvements have been implemented at the request of partners and customers.

AccessEnforcer, an all-in-one security appliance tailored to work with Microsoft's Small Business Server, provides organizations with up to 250 users with comprehensive, integrated network security and control from a single interface in a plug-and-play format. In addition, Calyptix provides AccessEnforcer v3.0 documentation in an online handbook in response to customer preference for using Web-based support resources.

Selected highlighted v3.0 features include increased throughput (up to 800 percent faster), outbound traffic filtering, multi-WAN support with automatic WAN failover, WAN prioritization, enhanced reporting and logs, direct access to Sourcefire Vulnerability Research Team Rules, GUI enhancements, new diagnostic tools and inline v2.0 to v3.0 firmware upgrades (v3.0 supported hardware models only).

"We've paid close attention to the critical issues and goals of small and medium business owners around the world," says Benjamin A. Yarbrough, CEO of Calyptix Security. "Our development efforts in v3.0 bring options to SMBs that owners didn't think would be available to them because of their system and budgetary limitations. Because the needs and goals of each business are different, knowledge and understanding of the Internet's potential and risk is required to create security plans for the future."

When it comes to security, user misconceptions of safe online behavior may be the weakest link, according to two recent research studies. Users are in the dark about the "reality" of malware threats, according to G Data Software's global survey released June 24. The massive survey included responses from nearly 16,000 users worldwide, of which more than 5,500 were based in the United States.

More than 40 percent of the respondents from the U.S. said it was more dangerous to go to adult-content sites than to hobby sites, such as those about horseback riding, the survey found. In actuality, hobby sites are "usually easier" to attack and pose a "greater infection risk" than adult sites because visitors aren't expecting any danger, according to G Data.

A separate study by GFI Software found that users are not protecting themselves when they are on the Internet at home, and their carelessness has implications on enterprise security. In a survey of 1,070 adults and their teenage children, 65 percent of parents said at least one of their home computers has been infected by malware. Of these, 62 percent of them have been either "somewhat" or "very" serious problems, and 55 percent have been infected more than once, the report found.