CastleCops® - WinProxy Prevents Spyware from Reaching the Desktop

The WinProxy anti-spyware solution prevents spyware in seven ways:

1. Stop spyware installs with executable content blocking
2. Block spyware sources with URL Filtering
3. Block spyware from phoning home with firewall technology
4. Scan data traffic for spyware files and block them when detected
5. Block viruses, worms, and Trojans with WinProxy Gateway Antivirus
6. Block spyware in email with gateway anti-spam
7. Block spyware and phishing scams with Winproxy Anti-Phishing

Stop Spyware Installs

The WinProxy Gateway position as an all-in-one security platform, coupled with rich content controls, enables customers to develop comprehensive policies that identify protocols, methods, and types of Web content that are permitted to enter the network environment from the Internet. These policy controls include permit/deny decisions on drive-by installs, which are the prevailing method of spyware dissemination. WinProxy also controls Web content access through deep packet inspection. Coarsely blocking all drive-by installs will have undesirable effects (e.g., Windows Update will no longer function). Administrators have the option of implementing white list policies (only accept drive-by installations from specified sources) or black list policies (specifically deny drive-by installs from a list of sites/categories) for this control. Additionally, the WinProxy policy can identify combinations of phishing and spyware threats that employ legitimate Web sites or pop-ups in their scams.

Block Spyware Sources With URL FIltering

The WinProxy Security anti-spyware solution includes high-performance, best-of-breed On-Proxy URL filtering, which enables organizations and home users to block web sites that host spyware installs- spyware sources.

WinProxy supports integrated URL filtering from two vendors (Blue Coat Content Control and Secure Computing), and while URL filtering does not address all aspects of spyware control as outlined above, it is a critical component of an effective spyware solution. The Full Content Control from Blue Coat URL database includes 57 categories and over 7.4 million URLs.

We recommend that users employ the Full URL database rather than rely on the spyware URL categories that are included as part of the WinProxy Anti-Spyware Solution. The WinProxy Anti-Spyware includes: Blue Coat Content Controls Spyware Sources and Spyware effects URL database categories, and a specialized Anti-Spyware 100+ vendor whitelist/blacklist of good and bad security vendors that are user modifiable. This list allows access to online spyware and virus scanners and sources for other security tools.

Block Spyware from Phoning Home

While the WinProxy anti-spyware solution has comprehensive preventative coverage at the gateway, spyware is most likely already installed on many users desktops and laptops. Furthermore, users often take laptops home and become infected via an insecure broadband connection. Accordingly, WinProxy has several techniques, based on its network position as the Web proxy, that address the detection aspect of spyware defense.

Because WinProxy sees all data traffic coming in and out of the network, and can apply a variety of policies, customers can report on all spyware-suspected desktops based on surfing patterns and sites visited. Furthermore, when known spyware programs attempt to phone home, On-Proxy URL filtering and WinProxys network firewall can block the communication. Simultaneously, WinProxy can send the user an internal message within a Webpage, informing them that they are infected with spyware, and provide them guidance on cleaning their desktop. To aid users in removing installed spyware, WinProxy Security has partnered with a best-of-breed spyware cleansing vendor InterMute.

Scan Data Traffic for Spyware Signatures

WinProxy Anti-Spyware includes thousands of known spyware files in its Anti-Spyware database which are provided by the Blue Coat Content Control Group, a Division of Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (formerly known as Cerberian). Blocking URLs alone is not enough to catch new and uncategorized Web content, which is constantly being added to the Web. As a result, Content Control from Blue Coat analyzes all requested Web pages in real-time to ensure the highest level of protection while building the most relevant Anti-Spyware file database available, resulting in effective coverage of more than 1 billion Web pages. This technology is constantly spidering the web and receiving submissions of uncategorized content from its millions of users which keeps the database growing and assures that the WinProxy Anti-Spyware file database is protecting users from even the newest threats. WinProxy has also built in support for various third party anti-spyware signatures and will be offering this technology to users on a subscription basis as additional protection against spyware in future releases.

Scan Data Traffic for Viruses, Worms, and Trojans

Antivirus scanning is yet another preventative element of WinProxys anti-spyware solution. Using best-of-breed Antivirus scanning engines, WinProxy scans for viruses and Spyware on incoming and outgoing connections to Socks (Instant Messaging), HTTP (Web), FTP (Downloads), SMTP and POP3, IMAP (Mail), and News. If spyware is found in these data streams, WinProxy can halt the threat at the gateway. With this proxy-based solution, WinProxy has proven that Web Antivirus can be performed on large traffic networks without introducing significant latency. With new browser vulnerabilities and exploits being discovered regularly, many organizations are recognizing the need to scan HTTP traffic for threats which increasingly include spyware. Antivirus vendors have begun putting spyware signatures into their scan engines, recognizing that anti-spyware capabilities are crucial for the continued success of any Antivirus engine.

WinProxy Antivirus features antivirus technology from Sophos, McAfee and Panda Software. Each of these antivirus partners has staff working around the clock and around the world to hunt down and detect new viruses. So you can always be assured that your antivirus will stay updated and keep your network safe. Don't wait for your desktop antivirus to catch a virus after it is already on your disk drive.... block the viruses from ever entering your network with WinProxy's comprehensive gateway antivirus.

WinProxy Antivirus:

* Lowers administration needs by requiring installation on only a single machine to protect the entire network from viruses and worms. * Automatically updates antivirus definitions every 3 hours and auto alerts the email recipient if a virus attempted to penetrate the network. · Acts as a central virus scanner and adds a more robust layer of protection to your network that works in conjunction with other desktop virus software such as McAfee or Norton for optimal security.

Block Spyware In Email With Gateway Anti-Spam

While several tactics exist in fighting spam on the Internet ranging from blocking the sites of known spam sources to looking for text patterns common to spam messages no single tactic alone provides complete protection from spam. As Matt Cain from Meta Research accurately states, "The strongest anti-spam defense requires a 'cocktail approach,' employing all reputable forms of spam filtering tactics." That is why WinProxy has partnered with Anti-Spam leader Sophos for this highly sought after ultimate cocktail- Sophos PureMessage Anti-Spam. With a test suite that is built upon a mature and robust pattern-matching engine, PureMessage provides the efficiency and speed required for real-time filtering by applying thousands of algorithms during a single pass over a message. The anti-spam tests analyze all aspects of a message including the message source, header and body looking for known spam and spam-like patterns in source, layout, organization and content information.

PureMessage employs approximately 1000 spam identification tests to assign a spam probability to each email message. Each test is weighted with a positive or negative value, and ultimately a message is assigned a probability of being spam. Once that probability is assigned, PureMessage routes the message based upon probability ranges defined by the administrator. Supported actions include marking and delivering (email annotation), quarantining, archiving, forwarding, and deleting. The action to mark and deliver refers to annotating the subject line or email header information with the spam probability and/or other spam-related output. Some organizations select this approach when they want to empower end users to manage spam on an individual basis. With the PureMessage email annotation, local rules using Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Eudora, and other email applications are easily created to delete, move to specific folders, or take other action.

Requiring the least amount of effort by administrators, email quarantining is the most common approach taken by organizations when a high spam probability message is identified. This method has the additional benefit of preventing all forms of Spam, including spyware advertising and links to spyware sites from reaching users inboxes.

Block Spyware Phishing Scams With Winproxy Anti-Phishing

Phishing is the new term given to scams that use 'spoofed' e-mails, popups and websites that are designed to trick you into revealing your personal and financial information such as bank account numbers, account usernames, passwords, account PINs, credit card numbers, and social security numbers. Phishing scams often mimic the exact appearance of trusted banks, online retailers and credit card companies. Once the Phishers have this information they use it to drain your bank account, open new accounts in your name, and/or other types of identity theft. Don't let this happen to you!

Phishing scams have become one of the biggest threats to Internet users and are growing rapidly. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), these attacks increased by 180 percent between April and May 2004, demonstrating that more cyber-crooks are turning to this kind of bait to commit fraud online. Phishing attacks have reached 57 million U.S. adults and compromised at least 122 well-known brands so far, according to several estimates. At the end of 2004 nearly half of these attacks contained some sort of spyware or other malicious code.

WinProxy Anti-Phishing protects users from email scams that use graphics and fake links to obtain sensitive financial and personal information. Using a complex, mutli-factor approach to identifying Spam, WinProxy assigns each email a number between 1 and 100 that indicates the probability that a particular message is Spam. WinProxy then allows an administrator the option of dropping links and/or images in messages that meet a pre-determined threshold of Spam probability. By preventing users from clicking on links to sites hosting look-alike web pages that are really fakes, users are not threatened by these scams and other spyware infested sites advertised through email.

Free Download at www.winproxy.com


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