CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Proofpoint, Inc., the leader in large-enterprise messaging security solutions, today introduced the latest versions of its software and appliance solutions for messaging security, the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway 3.1 and Proofpoint Protection Server 3.1. Designed specifically for large enterprises, universities and government organizations, these solutions combine the most effective techniques for fighting spam -- including Proofpoint MLX machine learning technology, intelligent perimeter defenses and email firewall capabilities -- with anti-virus and robust outbound content security features in a single, highly scalable platform. The 3.1 versions of these products introduce unique business-user workflow features, ease-of-administration enhancements and increased end-user control of email preferences (including multi-lingual interfaces).
In a separate announcement, Proofpoint also introduced today the new X- Series messaging security appliance, designed specifically for small- and medium-sized enterprises (see related announcement, "Proofpoint Debuts Messaging Security Appliance for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises").
"Proofpoint is well known as the leader in providing maximum control for both administrators and end-users with the market's easiest-to-use, 'zero administration' solution for messaging security," said Gary Steele, CEO of Proofpoint. "With our 3.1 releases, we're extending Proofpoint's leadership in this area by introducing the market's most sophisticated workflow for users of our content security modules and enhancing ease-of-use for administrators. Proofpoint's solutions offer the highest effectiveness, widest range of innovative features and lowest total cost of ownership of any email security solution in the market today."
"Proofpoint Protection Server 3.1 is the only messaging security solution that can meet the challenge and pace of security threats in the 21st century," said Tatsuki Sakushima, IT security manager for NRI Pacific, Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. "Proofpoint 3.1 gives us near perfect protection against messaging related threats such as spam messages and viruses with a minimum of administrative overhead. The new multilingual end-user interfaces make it easy for all of our employees in the global environment to manage their personal email protection settings."
Key new features of the Proofpoint Protection Server 3.1 software and Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway 3.1 appliance include:
Content Security Business-user Workflow
The powerful content security features of the Proofpoint Digital Asset Security and Proofpoint Regulatory Compliance modules have been enhanced with sophisticated workflow capabilities that let business users easily accomplish advanced tasks without requiring intervention from system administrators. Proofpoint allows business users -- such as compliance, security, risk management, HR and other line-of-business managers -- to administer their own content security policies, review violations, approve exceptions and monitor incidents through an easy-to-use interface and email-based notification system.
Active Notification and Approval Workflow GUI
In most enterprises, content security policies are managed by a variety of business users who own responsibility for compliance or data protection. With the new Proofpoint Compliance Incident Manager(TM), Proofpoint 3.1 makes it easy for these managers to review content security violations and take appropriate actions on non-compliant messages. The Compliance Incident Manager notifies managers of policy violations and associated severity levels, so business users can easily and effectively review non-compliant messages and release, reroute, approve or otherwise dispose of such messages using Proofpoint's graphical user interface.
Simplified Digital Asset and Policy Management
Users of the Proofpoint Digital Asset Security module -- which helps prevent leaks of confidential or private information via email -- can now easily manage tens of thousands of confidential documents. System training and ongoing asset maintenance are now easier than ever. Business users can control which documents are indexed by the system using a standard "drag and drop" interface to watched network folders.
The new Proofpoint Enterprise Data Connector(TM) allows the Proofpoint Digital Asset Security module to easily integrate with filesystems, databases, content management, version control systems and other external applications to enable automatic indexing of new or modified confidential information. In addition, access control and policy information are automatically imported by the system, greatly reducing initial setup time and ongoing maintenance.
Support for Custom Document Types and New Detection Algorithms
In addition to the thousands of built-in document types that Proofpoint's outbound email security modules natively understand, administrators can use the new File Type Profiler to easily extend support to new, custom or proprietary file types (e.g., proprietary CAD/CAM formats). The Proofpoint Regulatory Compliance(TM) module has been enhanced with additional "smart identifiers" that detect CUSIP numbers (unique identifiers for stocks and other securities) as well as international credit card numbers.
Administrator and End-user Ease-of-use Enhancements
The 3.1 versions of Proofpoint's software and appliance solutions include a variety of enhancements that simplify setup, increase ease-of-use and reduce ongoing maintenance for both system administrators and email users:
Internationalized End-user Interfaces
To support the growing number of global organizations that have deployed Proofpoint, interfaces to features such as quarantine digest emails and end- user customizable safe- and block-lists are now available in a variety of languages including Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Japanese. Language settings can be configured at the global, group and individual levels.
Enhanced Administration Interface
The Proofpoint Messaging Security Console -- which provides administrators with a centralized interface to all policy management, system administration and reporting features -- benefits from a redesigned and streamlined GUI that speeds up routine setup and maintenance tasks while simplifying access to advanced system options. Additional administration enhancements include an improved setup wizard for even easier installation, built-in video demonstrations of common administrative tasks, and simplified policy creation and management.
Enhanced Forensics and Analysis Capabilities
For customers in high-volume email environments who need to perform detailed message trend analysis or forensics, Proofpoint now makes it easy to export detailed metadata about messages to external databases or other analytic systems.
Ongoing Anti-spam, Anti-phishing and Authentication Innovations
Proofpoint's industry-leading spam detection capabilities continue to be enhanced with new techniques developed by researchers at the Proofpoint Anti-Spam Laboratory. This enables Proofpoint MLX machine learning technology to defend against increasingly sophisticated spamming techniques.
New machine learning classifiers and algorithms have been integrated into Proofpoint MLX, improving Proofpoint's ability to automatically detect and block malicious URLs and to identify image-based spam, which competing solutions cannot accurately catch. These ongoing MLX enhancements are automatically made available to all Proofpoint customers via the Proofpoint Dynamic Update Service.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) Support
The 3.1 software and appliance now support the SPF sender authentication standard to help defend against email address spoofing and phishing attacks. SPF records can be checked for all incoming email messages and policies can be configured to take action on the success or failure of SPF record checks.
Pricing and Availability
The 3.1 versions of the Proofpoint Protection Server software and Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway appliance will be generally available in July 2005. Proofpoint's anti-spam, anti-virus and content security features are sold as individual modules. Annual pricing for these modules is based on the number of email inboxes protected and range from $2 to $40 per user per module.
