Webroot Unveils Cloud-Based Web Security Services

Web security software-as-a-service vendor Webroot announced the availability of an e-mail archiving service to help small to medium size businesses meet industry and regulatory compliance standards and support e-discovery requirements. The company also introduced an enhanced version of its Web security service that includes new, proprietary techniques to thwart data-stealing malware, Web 2.0 threats and attackers.

The Webroot Email Archiving Service is a SaaS solution designed to meet and exceed a company’s email archiving needs. The cloud-based email archiving service enhances security and provides e-discovery and mailbox management, the company said, by allowing midmarket companies to set retention policies to meet specific industry requirements, ensure policy compliance by automatically monitoring and reviewing email and attachments, protect sensitive corporate information and securely transmit all email messages and attachments to the Webroot Email Archiving Service via TLS or SSL encryption.

The latest release of the Web Security Service also features outbound malware scanning to prevent outbound "phone-home" connections where malware attempts to send confidential data to a hacker’s machine, updated real-time threat detection heuristics and significant reporting and logging enhancements. The enhanced real-time threat detection helps increase detection of polymorphic viruses and other malicious code, cross site scripting (XSS) attacks and more advanced sandboxing capabilities. Webroot said these features are designed to fend off new variants of exploits attackers launch in real-time to evade detection.

David Naylor, IT security coordinator for Texas Trust Credit Union, said they consider the Webroot security SaaS solution a key component of their business' security strategy. “We switched to Webroot from an existing software solution to better support our distributed offices and to receive superior threat protection and automated updates when enhancements come out,” he said. “Webroot’s Web and e-mail services protect our business data, employees, network and multiple offices from data-stealing malware, spear-phishing attacks and other threats; the new reporting and logging capabilities in this latest version are stellar."

According to an FBI report released in November, email phishing attacks and malicious Trojans targeting public institutions and SMBs have led to approximately $100 million in attempted losses in the past several months. Web 2.0, social media sites and seemingly trusted Web sites – those with good reputations – are attacker’s latest playground. Over the course of 2009, cybercriminals made headlines by luring users of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter—now increasingly used by SMBs as a way to drive business-- to malicious sites.

"The new Webroot email archiving service and enhanced Web security service represent our commitment to innovation and rapid delivery of service enhancements to keep business data secure," said Don Beck, senior vice president and general manager of Webroot’s SaaS business unit. "Our SaaS approach to security lets us automatically roll out enhancements to our entire user base for better protection from emerging threats - allowing customers to avoid costly and time-intensive upgrade cycles that traditional security vendors require."