WatchGuard Enhances Security Software
Announcement posted by WatchGuard Technologies 06 Dec 2011
New Release of WatchGuard XTM OS Provides Increased Networking, Management & Reporting Features
WatchGuard Technologies, a global leader in business security solutions, has unveiled their latest security operating system for the award-winning XTM line of unified threat management appliances. With this new release, businesses gain advanced networking capabilities for today’s mobile workers, as well as superior management and reporting functions that provide unparalleled insight into applications, bandwidth usage, user behaviour and more.
“The ultimate firewall is a result of continuous innovation and product improvement,” said Scott Robertson, APAC Vice President Channels and Alliances, WatchGuard Technologies. “This release is another step in the ongoing march to provide unbeatable network security, data protection and advanced reporting intelligence.”
New Improvements that Increase Security and Productivity
One of the new features provided by this latest WatchGuard release includes the ability to create secure connectivity for mobile devices. By supporting the IPSec functionality already present on the Apple devices, WatchGuard provides mobile users of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices an easy way to securely access corporate resources from any place, at any time. Easy for administrators and end-users alike, this new XTM functionality embraces the growing business adoption of these popular devices.
As a cornerstone feature, WatchGuard products have always provided business decision makers with valuable intelligence about the traffic on their network and the usage patterns of their users. This new release delivers an all new logging interface with dramatically faster for log searching, while the all-new, interactive reporting dashboard provides a concise, easy to interpret high level view of network activity, combined with the ability to drill-down to find out more about specific users, applications, URLs, and much more.
The new WatchGuard release enhances email security by providing options to require Transport Layer Security (TLS), which encrypts sensitive email communications to prevent electronic eavesdropping. With TLS support, companies can enforce email security policies that require encryption for some, or all emails. Administrators can also set up rules to block unencrypted mails sent to specified address/domains, or enforce the use of TLS when the remote server supports it.
WatchGuard appliances have long given administrators the option to create firewall rules based user and group names, rather than just IP addresses. Single Sign-On with Active Directory is used to map end user computers to their user names, with the added convenience of not requiring users to first visit a firewall login screen to begin their browsing sessions. With this new release, the SSO Agent has been enhanced to better detect user logon and logoff activities. This makes it easier to define, enforce, and audit user and group-based policies without having to install SSO software on each client computer.
Lastly, WatchGuard continues to innovate by adding IPv6 functionality. The IPv6ready Gold logo for routing validates this phase, confirming that the basic “plumbing,” the packet routing building blocks of IPv6, works correctly. This release includes support for static network routing through the firewall, and WatchGuard XTM appliances running this latest release have achieved the Gold logo certification for routing from ipv6ready.org.
Pricing and Availability
The new release of WatchGuard’s XTM appliance software is available now. It is free to customers with current WatchGuard LiveSecurity subscriptions.
About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of business security solutions, providing mission-critical protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances, messaging, content security and SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network, application and data protection, as well as unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit http://www.watchguard.com/.
“The ultimate firewall is a result of continuous innovation and product improvement,” said Scott Robertson, APAC Vice President Channels and Alliances, WatchGuard Technologies. “This release is another step in the ongoing march to provide unbeatable network security, data protection and advanced reporting intelligence.”
New Improvements that Increase Security and Productivity
One of the new features provided by this latest WatchGuard release includes the ability to create secure connectivity for mobile devices. By supporting the IPSec functionality already present on the Apple devices, WatchGuard provides mobile users of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices an easy way to securely access corporate resources from any place, at any time. Easy for administrators and end-users alike, this new XTM functionality embraces the growing business adoption of these popular devices.
As a cornerstone feature, WatchGuard products have always provided business decision makers with valuable intelligence about the traffic on their network and the usage patterns of their users. This new release delivers an all new logging interface with dramatically faster for log searching, while the all-new, interactive reporting dashboard provides a concise, easy to interpret high level view of network activity, combined with the ability to drill-down to find out more about specific users, applications, URLs, and much more.
The new WatchGuard release enhances email security by providing options to require Transport Layer Security (TLS), which encrypts sensitive email communications to prevent electronic eavesdropping. With TLS support, companies can enforce email security policies that require encryption for some, or all emails. Administrators can also set up rules to block unencrypted mails sent to specified address/domains, or enforce the use of TLS when the remote server supports it.
WatchGuard appliances have long given administrators the option to create firewall rules based user and group names, rather than just IP addresses. Single Sign-On with Active Directory is used to map end user computers to their user names, with the added convenience of not requiring users to first visit a firewall login screen to begin their browsing sessions. With this new release, the SSO Agent has been enhanced to better detect user logon and logoff activities. This makes it easier to define, enforce, and audit user and group-based policies without having to install SSO software on each client computer.
Lastly, WatchGuard continues to innovate by adding IPv6 functionality. The IPv6ready Gold logo for routing validates this phase, confirming that the basic “plumbing,” the packet routing building blocks of IPv6, works correctly. This release includes support for static network routing through the firewall, and WatchGuard XTM appliances running this latest release have achieved the Gold logo certification for routing from ipv6ready.org.
Pricing and Availability
The new release of WatchGuard’s XTM appliance software is available now. It is free to customers with current WatchGuard LiveSecurity subscriptions.
About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of business security solutions, providing mission-critical protection to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances, messaging, content security and SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network, application and data protection, as well as unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit http://www.watchguard.com/.
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