IBM has made a series of major upgrades to its security products for small and medium sized businesses designed to help cut costs and simplify security environments.

The announcement was made by IBM's Internet Security Systems (ISS) unit, and includes IBM Proventia Network Multi-Function Security, a unified threat management product which now features an SSL virtual private network for secure remote access for mobile workers.

"With the Proventia product line and services we are trying to help our customers slash costs and the complexity of maintaining security," said Leslie Horacek, IBM ISS European product manager.

"The unified threat management space has been changing in the last few years, and the latest attacks are getting past the firewalls."

The product also features the ability to create policies for the firewall, and gives network administrators greater visibility into blocked threats and user behaviour, according to Horacek.

IBM ISS also announced upgrades to its Virtual Intrusion Prevention System and Network Security Controller products, as well as its Network Enterprise Scanner tool.

The latter now features greater scalability, with support for multiple ports, faster scanning capabilities and the ability to scan multiple networks from a single appliance, said IBM.

"We have enhanced usability and … we are making industrial security protection available to SMBs at their prices and for their networks," said Horacek.