Wow!  I should change "released" to say "soon to be unleashed upon the world" !!!

<a href="http://trendmicro.com">Trend Micro</a> has done it AGAIN - hitting the ground running this year - easily outpacing most of the competition in the race to win the cloud-enabled anti-malware software market.

From <a href="http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/enterprise/officescan/">cloud-enabled, VDI-aware endpoint protection</a>, to <a href="http://us.trendmicro.com/us/solutions/enterprise/security-solutions/virtualization/virtual-machines/">vmsafe API-based virtual machine protection through the core protection modules</a>, Trend has a forward-looking and effective (and affordable) security solution for every cloud-savvy Data Center.

Earlier this summer, and given our track record with both messaging and security, eGroup was invited to participate in the <a href="http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/enterprise/interscan-messaging-security-virtual-appliance/">InterScan Messaging Security Virtual Appliance</a> (IMSVA) 8.0 Hybrid SaaS Email Security Early Adopter Program.  The results were pretty fantastic!

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The Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security Virtual Appliance 8.0 "Hybrid" Solution introduces a new and more cost-effective method of protecting enterprises from incoming spam and malware and outbound information loss, by integrating "in-the-cloud" security with the customizable content control of a VMware Ready virtual appliance.  So you get "defense in depth with containment" all from one single "pane of glass" management interface.  Pretty fantastic - on-premise and off-premise all in one easy-to-use package!

I've attached a screenshot (click to enlarge) of the integrated "cloud pre-filter" console - this was easy to deploy, easy to configure, and includes intrgrated logging for both local and cloud message tracking.  Very impressive.

<a href="http://blogs.eGroup-us.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMSVA8.0Beta.jpg"><img src="http://blogs.eGroup-us.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMSVA8.0Beta-300x168.jpg" alt="" title="IMSVA8.0Beta" width="300" height="168" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2680" /></a>

IMSVA Hybrid SaaS Email Security reduces ~ 90% of inbound email traffic hitting your gateway, as spam, viruses and other malware are deleted with the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network “Pre-Filter” before it arrives at the network.  

Enterprises retain control of their email privacy, as no email is stored in the cloud; all email queues are located on premise on the IMSVA.  In addition, granular content filtering for both inbound and outbound email occurs with the IMSVA on premise.  Outbound email security with optional policy based encryption is available with the Trend Micro Email Encryption Gateway with IMSVA to protect confidential, regulatory and intellectual property related content.  Very, very thorough!

The real carrot (to me) is that the purpose-built IMSVA cloud Pre-Filter console is seamlessly integrated into the IMSVA console for single management, isolation queues, message tracking and reporting.  

In addition to providing true Hybrid Email Security, IMSVA 8.0 introduces several new features on the VMware Ready virtual appliance. These features (listed below) provide the latest in spam and malware detection as well as detect and block phishing and spoofing attacks.  Improvements have also been made to the product usability. 

<strong>New Features</strong>
<em>Email Threat Protection:</em>
* Seamless integration of Hybrid Email Security
* Detect & block emails with embedded URLs that are associated with websites that have bad reputations through web reputation service
* Sender Authentication using industry standard DomainKeys Identified Mail
* Up-to-the-minute bot-net spam outbreaks using the IP-Hash technique
* Extended, more flexible Transport Layer Security (TLS) controls that can force the use of encryption and verify certificates

<em>Ease-of-Use:</em>
* Expanded End-User Quarantine (EUQ) capabilities that can report on virtually any defined quarantine decreasing administration burden in seeking false positives for non-spam related policies.
* Centralization of commonly used policy components such as keywords, expressions, notifications, address groups and others. This allows the admin to have a single place to create and change these components and the changes are immediately reflected in policies that use them. 
* Migration support from previous levels of IMSVA as well as other IMSS platforms (Windows, Linux, etc.). 

eGroup will likely be featured in an upcoming "beta reviewers interview" for this awesome new product - so if you're a "home brew" customer who has traditionally used a combo approach like Postini or an MX Logic - in combination with "classic" premise security such as McAfee IronMail, Symantec Brightmail, or even a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bt_-R5LInU&feature=related">(ooooooh!) Barracuda</a> - definitely check this one out!  Revolutionary!

Enjoy!

