Symantec Hosted Instant Messaging Security

Symantec Hosted Instant Messaging Security Overview

MessageLabs Hosted Instant Messaging Security service provides security and control for businesses using public IM clients by applying anti virus, URL filtering, content control and logging services to all instant messaging traffic.

Can you harness IM’s benefits - but avoid its dangers?

More immediate than email, more versatile than telephone, IM (Instant Messaging) can significantly improve the speed, ease and efficiency of business communications. Its many benefits have helped establish IM as one of the world’s fastest-growing internet medium, with total number of users expected to exceed 1 billion in 2009. In the corporate sector, IM use – and especially uncontrolled use – is expanding rapidly, consistent with this global trend.

Whether authorised or unauthorised, uncontrolled use of public IM networks exposes you to risks that can compromise productivity, profitability, business continuity and customer trust. It’s not just a question of potential disruption from IM-borne malware. Accidental or deliberate data leakage, inappropriate use and regulatory non-compliance are also very real dangers.

MessageLabs Instant Messaging Security Service (IMSS ) can assist your employees to use public IM networks safely and securely. Its protection and control capabilities allow you to make full use of real-time internal and external communication via compatible public IM with increased confidence and reduced burden on your IT team.

Helping you avoid the cost, complexity and limitations of in-house software or appliance based solutions, IMSS harnesses proven capabilities to meet today’s urgent business need for safer, more controlled, auditable use of public IM.

IM as an asset, not a liability - Messagelabs instant messaging security solution

This fully managed, fully customisable service provides a comprehensive, cost-effective suite of leading-edge capabilities including anti-malware, URL filtering, content control, message logging and reporting. Quick and convenient to set up and use, IMSS is also easy to administer via a user-friendly web portal.

Quite simply, IMSS minimises IM-related threats and risks, whatever their source or nature. A key strength is the service’s ability to deal effectively with the rising tide of converged threats which mix and match malware propagation techniques across IM, email and web protocols.

Fundamentally flexible, versatile and adaptable, IMSS plugs the current or potential IM security hole at the heart of your business – protecting your reputation and your bottom line.

IMSS runs on our proven, enterprise-grade, global web security platform. Each one of your incoming, outgoing and internal Instant Messages (including attachments) is routed through state-of-the-art, load-balanced infrastructure that delivers the best possible security and control performance. It’s also simple to introduce firewall rules that prevent your employees bypassing the service.

Any message/attachment containing malware is blocked by our scanning towers before it even reaches the perimeter of the intended recipient’s network. A core role is played by Skeptic™, our unique predictive technology that learns from every IM, email and webpage it scans, constantly strengthening its unsurpassed detection capabilities.

Any message/attachment suspected of including a link to an infected or inappropriate website, or containing a keyword or phrase that you specify in your content control rules, is automatically blocked. This helps to protect your network from infection, shields your employees from unsuitable material originating outside your organisation, and safeguards you both from accidental or deliberate data leakage and from inappropriate IM use by your employees.

All Instant Messages are logged and can be sent to your existing archiving solution to aid the traceability of all your public IM communications, equipping you to satisfy legal discovery requirements and achieve compliance with relevant regulations.

The Messagelabs Difference

• Unique, comprehensive IM security, control and management service, harnessing proven technology and expertise.
• Deployment of proprietary Skeptic™ technology, providing benchmark levels of protection against new, emerging and converged threats.
• Maximum functionality combined with minimal maintenance requirement.
• Industry-leading customer support available globally on a 24/7 basis.
• Intuitive policy-building capability integrated into the service.
• Low total cost of ownership (TCO) compared with in-house software/ appliance-based solutions.

The Messagelabs Experience

• IM users: The Messagelabs service will cause no noticeable delay in IM delivery or erosion of IM functionality
• IT managers: IMSS provides full control over (and understanding of) IM use across your business; the service also dovetails seamlessly with our email/web security and enterprise IM services.
• Service administrators: IMSS is easily managed via a single web portal; a comprehensive range of reports can be generated

Feature and Benefits:

Key Features:

• Compatible with some of the world’s most popular public IM clients.
• Uses our proprietary Skeptic heuristics engine to protect against malware in instant messages, attachments and URL links contained within messages.
• Powerful, flexible content control engine helps to prevent data loss.
• Hosted service that is simple to install, easy to use and virtually maintenance-free.
• Logging of all IM conversations, plus detailed reporting interface with fast access to logs and usage reports.
• 24/7 support included with your subscription at no additional cost.

Key Benefits:

• Facilitates real-time business communication, aiding effective decision making and increasing responsiveness.
• Protects confidential information, promoting trust with partners and clients.
• Reduces the risks associated with IM-borne threats and cuts costs involved in remediation.
• Requires no on-premise hardware or software, reduces burden on IT resources, and delivers predictable costs.
• Helps achieve regulatory compliance by logging IM conversations for legal discovery.
• Integrated with MessageLabs hosted Email Security and Web Security services, delivering protection from converged threats spanning multiple protocols.

How it Works:

MessageLabs Hosted Instant Messaging Security service allows organizations to use public IM clients to build secure and controlled instant messaging networks. All instant messaging traffic going to and coming from your network is passed through our data centers where it is scanned for viruses, other malware and malicious URL links. Your content control policies are applied and all IM conversations are logged and stored on our infrastructure.

• A designated public IM client is installed on users’ desktops
• The service is configured via ClientNet, our web-based administration portal
• Users and groups can be synchronized with Active Directory
• All instant messages and file attachments are scanned for malware and malicious URL links
• All messages are matched against your content control policies
• Messages that are malicious, suspicious or in violation of your policies are automatically blocked
• IM traffic and service results can be monitored efficiently via a user-friendly, web-based administration and reporting tool

System Requirements:

MessageLabs Instant Messaging Security service supports:

• Windows Live – 14.0.xxx
• Yahoo! Messenger – version 8.1
• AOL Instant Messenger – version 5.9

Documentation:

Download the Symantec Hosted Instant Messaging Security Datasheet (PDF).