WorldTalk Bundles E-Mail, Security Management

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October 30, 1998 (1:56 PM EST)

WorldTalk Bundles E-Mail, Security Management

By Rutrell Yasin,

WorldTalk, an e-mail security software vendor, will launch next week WorldSecure/Web at the Computer Security Institute conference in Chicago.

The server-based product lets IT managers define and manage Web and e-mail policies from a single management console.

WorldSecure/Web integrates several security countermeasures, including content-filtering, detection of malicious mobile code such as Java and ActiveX, and virus detection and website-blocking, WorldTalk officials said.

As e-mail and Web usage converge, companies need better ways to manage their security policies and control Internet access, industry analysts said. Although there are many URL and content-filtering tools emerging, such products aren't integrated and don't tie into enterprise directories.

WorldSecure/Web addresses that problem by offering policy management for Web usage and e-mail, according to Meta Group analyst Bruce Robertson. Still, "WorldTalk will have to partner with firewall vendors," he said.

For virus and malicious code protection, WorldTalk will bundle WorldSecure/Web with software from Java security supplier Finjan Software.

But WorldTalk officials said WorldSecure/Web can be an alternative to implementing content security at the firewall.

The company also is leveraging its WorldSecure/Mail policy manager engine to let WorldSecure/Web provide security countermeasures for Web traffic, said Simon Khalaf, WorldTalk's vice president of marketing. "We're tying everything -- e-mail, content filtering, Web usage -- to a policy-management infrastructure."

As a result, IT managers can define and enforce policies that block users from posting valuable corporate information and intellectual property on popular message boards and Web mail sites such as Hotmail, Khalaf said.

In addition, WorldSecure/Web has an LDAP interface that lets IT managers use enterprise directories to define user policies based on their defined roles in a company.

Detailed reports can be generated on Web usage, blocked websites, numbers of seized viruses, and intercepted transmissions.

WorldSecure/Web initially will be available as a plug-in to Microsoft Proxy Server during the first quarter of 1999. Pricing starts at $3,995 for 50 users.