Netgear UTM Solution Most Effective: Study

The results of an independent lab test of the ProSecure UTM family of unified threat management appliances are in—and they are good news for ProSecure, Netgear's network security brand.

A partnership of IT test labs AV-Test and The Tolly Group performed the tests, focusing on the ability of ProSecure UTM to stop malware and viruses by testing security effectiveness against 3,583 virus and malware samples from the WildList Organization International's latest list of viruses "propagating in the wild" and 60,000 zoo malware samples from AV-Test.

Results of the study found ProSecure blocked 100 percent of WildList samples and 90 percent of zoo malware samples, while competitor Fortinet blocked 81 percent of WildList samples and 29 percent of zoo malware samples. SonicWall blocked between 75 to 81 percent of WildList samples and 35 to 70 percent of zoo malware samples, depending on model, and Watchguard placed fourth, blocking 32 percent of WildList samples and 20 percent of zoo malware samples.

In addition to ProSecure's UTM products, the detection accuracy evaluation was performed on the Fortinet FortiGate-60B, SonicWall TZ 100 and TZ 210, and WatchGuard Firebox Edge X55e UTM appliances. The tests focused on the malware detection capabilities of these appliances using their default security policies, over the Web traffic and e-mail vectors using HTTP, POP3 and SMTP protocols. Test malware samples consisted of The WildList Organization International’s latest WildList (a list of viruses and worms found propagating on the Internet) along with other major Win32 malware.

Netgear claims the ProSecure UTM series can deliver the best results because they employ more than 1 million antivirus signatures, while the competition provides between 3,000 and 60,000 signatures, and the series employs a hybrid in-the-cloud approach for spam analysis and URL filtering. The UTM10 and UTM25, available through resellers, retail for around $375.

"The ProSecure UTM has been exceptionally effective at eliminating malware infestations at J. Peterman, and has afforded us the ability to maintain tight control over the URLs that our users surf," said Matt Rogish, CTO of J. Peterman, a lifestyle brand that delivers apparel and home furnishings through catalogs, retail and the Internet. "This has resulted in less desktop downtime, increased productivity for end users, and fewer headaches for my desktop support staff."

Jason Leung, Netgear's senior product line manager for SMB Security, said while the WildList results speak for themselves, the zoo malware results are particularly important as such older malware is still circulating the globe, wreaking havoc on out-of-date and unprotected computers. "Vendors often sacrifice zoo malware catch rates in order to meet growing-business price points. Yet, mass botnet infestations often employ zoo-malware to infect its targets,” he said. “At ProSecure, we have found a way to deliver security effectiveness and performance at a price point that is attractive to growing businesses and our channel partners alike."