WatchGuard Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, has launched its WatchGuard XCS (extensible content security) platform, a comprehensive platform for business e-mail and Web 2.0 content security.

The WatchGuard XCS platform defends businesses against phishing attacks, identity theft, viruses, malware, data loss, and other forms of network, application and data threats, a statement said.

Fabrizio Croce, SEMEA area manager at WatchGuard Technologies, said the fast-expanding market segment for next generation threat prevention appliances is estimated to hit $15 billion globally by 2012.

“The ever-growing business risks related to network exposure are especially acute in the Middle East region, where security spend accounts for only 15 to 20 per cent of total IT spend. In developed markets, the number is around the 40 per cent mark,” said Croce.

With an increasingly mobile workforce and the exponential growth and evolution of Web 2.0 and social media platforms, businesses are faced with elevated network vulnerabilities and threats.

These call for integrating innovative cloud-based security, data loss prevention and advanced messaging security technologies into a single, easy to use appliance, said Croce.

“Our analysis of messaging and web-based content threats shows that such threats will triple in 2010,” Croce continued.

“WatchGuard XCS combines state-of-the-art multifunction firewall appliances with the new XCS line of messaging and content security solutions, offering businesses in the Middle East a complete, multifaceted and multi-layered defence that is highly effective, extremely efficient and easy to manage.”

Small to medium sized businesses, often facing limited options against spam and malware, can also shore up their defence with a new family of extensible content security solutions from the WatchGuard XCS platform.

The WatchGuard family of XCS appliances for SMBs consists of the WatchGuard XCS 170, the XCS 370 and the high-performance XCS 570 series.

WatchGuard has also reinforced its defence architecture for mid-tier and enterprise environments with the launch of the WatchGuard XCS 770, 970 and 1170 series of appliances, designed and optimised for networks with 1,000 to 10,000 or more users.

“Enterprise organisations face myriad security challenges due to the ever expanding threat landscape. The WatchGuard XCS 770, 970 and 1170 series effectively tackle blended threats and malware, providing zero-hour threat outbreak response as well as advanced content filtering and protection, which scans inbound as well as outbound e-mails for malicious content,” concluded Croce. – TradeArabia News Service