Sophos goes virtual with email security appliance

Sophos has expanded its range of email security and data protection products with a virtual email security appliance, designed to offer enhanced inbound and outbound threat protection with simplified management at a low cost.

Available immediately for VMware virtualised environments, the Sophos Virtual Email Appliance integrates data loss prevention with email encryption and proactive spam and malware protection.

The appliance features the vendor's Behavioral Genotype technology, which helps protect against zero-day threats, alongside Sender Genotype and live in-the-cloud anti-spam lookups that block over 99 per cent of spam, according to Sophos.

SPX email encryption and data loss prevention is also integrated, using data intelligence supplied and updated via SophosLabs, the firm added.

The virtual appliance also means that there is far less for administrators to do. A 'three-clicks-to-anywhere' task-based administration interface enables IT staff to use simple wizards for policy and configuration, while most routine maintenance tasks are automated.

It is also completely interoperable with Sophos hardware appliances and other products.

"We believe the Sophos Virtual Email Appliance provides organisations with the most complete option for email security, providing reliable protection against all forms of spam and malware while also addressing the latest demands in safeguarding data through our patent-pending SPX encryption and data loss prevention capabilities,” said Chris Kraft, vice president of product management at Sophos.

"All of these capabilities are delivered through our exclusive managed email security appliance platform, which provides full 24x7 monitoring of email traffic and system health."

Security vendors are increasingly offering virtual appliances as an option as they require no upfront expenditure on costly hardware and can be easily scaled to cope with increases in mail volume, among other benefits.

The virtual security appliance market will experience staggering compound annual growth of around 98 per cent between 2007-2013, according to IDC.