Trend Micro beefs up web security offerings

Trend Micro is beefing up its enterprise security lineup, adding new features to its web security and monitoring tools, as well as an update for its virtual software appliance offering.

Ken Beer, web security director at Trend Micro, said that the updates will largely address new challenges presented by the changing web, particularly the rise of web services.

Beer explained that many of the older web security applications implement URL filtering to label and block malicious web pages. Many web services, however, run multiple applications and even data from other sites under a single web address. This, argues Beer, makes filtering ineffective for many sites.

"Web 2.0 says that the page itself changes every second," he said. "The vendors who are doing web crawling cannot keep up with these new threats. They need a new business model."

Trend also plans to change the way administrators monitor web activity. Beer said that the company's new management console will allow traffic to be analysed in real time, making it easier for administrators and managers to catch employees in the act of violating company policy.

"One of the problems we have heard from customers is that it is difficult to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt," Beer said, noting that when activity is spotted users can often claim to be away from their desks or that someone else was on the computer.

"Now there is a window where someone can walk down the hall and catch that person."

In addition to web security and monitoring, Trend is also updating its virtual software appliance. The tool allows companies to install and operate security software either on a virtualised or third-party server.

By separating the software from the hardware, Beer argues that Trend is able to offer a better deal than systems which force the user to buy a single appliance with security software. Rather than paying for new hardware, IT departments can install the tools on an existing server or purchase a new server at a lower cost than that of an appliance.