Today Enterprise Networking World posted a thorough overview of the Microsoft edge, client and server security solutions. A few excerpts:
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 and Microsoft Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) 2007 provide enhanced network edge protection and application-centric, policy-based access to corporate IT infrastructure.
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The benefit of having an integrated security suite is better protection against threats, and who knows Microsoft software better than Microsoft? One feature unique to Forefront when compared to some other security suites is its support for multiple scanning engines.
A lot of people recommended client security software that’s been in the market longer than Microsoft Forefront, but I tend to disagree.
Hi all,
Bill Jensen, Senior Product Manager for Forefront TMG, here again. There’s more great news beyond just the release of Forefront TMG Beta 2.
Customers who purchase a license for Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 Enterprise Edition along with Software Assurance will receive 15% off the combined purchase. Customers with a valid Software Assurance agreement receive future versions as part of the agreement. In this case, when Forefront TMG releases, a customer with a valid agreement for ISA 2006 will receive it.
What this means is that you can get the benefits of ISA today and prepare your network for Forefront TMG when it releases. See www.microsoftincentives.com for details.
Also - check out this TechNet Edge video interview with TMG program manager Ori Yosef about the solution.
Hi all – Bill Jensen here, senior product manager for Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG.)
TMG Beta 2 is now available for download. For those that do not know, Forefront TMG is the successor to the Internet Security and Acceleration Server, more popularly known as ISA Server.
As we all know, the Web is a great boon to employee productivity. People use the Web every day and all day in the course of their jobs. Web-based applications and social networking sites grow in popularity. But at the same time, the Web presents increasingly dangerous security threats. TMG helps organizations take full advantage of business benefits presented by the Web by keeping malware out and controlling employee Web usage.
The three key features of Forefront TMG Beta 2 that will help customers to do this effectively:
Web Antimalware: This feature will inspect HTTP traffic for malware and viruses. It is a complement to desktop security suites such as Forefront Client Security and enables you to have a central point of control as well as defense in depth.
HTTPS Inspection: More and more Web traffic is being encrypted using HTTPS. This means most firewalls cannot inspect it for malware. Forefront TMG Beta 2 acts as a trusted intermediary that un-encrypts the traffic, inspects it, and then re-encrypts it. This enables it to inspect for malware.
Network Inspection System: A corollary to the rise of Web-hosted attack vectors is the rise of the application-layer attack. The Network Inspection System acts as an application-layer shield for vulnerabilities. This enables you time to complete your system patching and helps close the vulnerability window.
We also plan to include URL filtering to allow or block employee access to Web sites. Administrators will be able to define categories of prohibited sites, such as known malware sites or sites with inappropriate content. (URL filtering is not in Beta 2, however.)
Another new feature that helps improve security is improved integration with Forefront Security for Exchange. For organizations that place Exchange in an Edge role (Forefront Security for Exchange, and Forefront TMG on the same server) there is now a common management interface within Forefront TMG to enable you to simplify your management chores.
Bill