Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker

Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker:

Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker is a single hardware appliance that is marketed to small businesses and can support up to 250 users. The device acts as an email gateway and message transfer agent, typically deployed between the internet edge and the email server. The appliance secures email using anti-malware, anti-spam and content filtering.

Configuration of the product is done remotely via a web interface. The setup was fairly easy and straightforward. The quick-start guide provided with the appliance was useful and we were able to connect to the administrative interface and implement key features in a short amount of time.

Changing views and navigating content is not done from the left side as we often see in many web interfaces. When it came to viewing information on the system dashboard, we had to navigate back to the dropdowns provided at the top of the page and choose a different view since the dashboard views are not customizable. Given this small nuance on the dashboard, the device itself has all the features we would expect.

Reputation-based validation, anti-malware, LDAP integration, content filtering using dictionaries, as well as smart identifiers (Social Security, credit card numbers, etc.) were all part of the solution. It took us a few minutes to realize that the dictionary files need to be loaded one by one from a separate directory on the appliance. Once they are loaded, there are hundreds of industry and compliance related keywords that the device can use for content filtering. The administrative features on the device are impressive and contain features you would find on larger scale enterprise-class solutions.

The online help file seemed a bit light on the content. However, it should provide adequate direction for administrators.

No-cost 24/7 phone and email support is included. This includes a warranty on the hardware and updates to the software. The support website is top notch.

This is an impressive device as an entry point into the small business market. Smaller organizations with the budget and need for granular security options will appreciate the full featured enterprise-class nature of the product, as well as the support.

Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker: Powerful Protection Against Spam, Viruses, and Email Threats

Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker:

Powerful Protection Against Spam, Viruses, and Email Threats

Powerful Protection against Spam, Viruses, and Email Threats

The Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker immediately stops spam coming into your business email, requires minimal management, and is backed by SenderBase services, a network database of email security threats.

This dedicated antispam, antivirus, and antiphishing security appliance is an easy-to-use solution designed specifically for small businesses. Other spam security products require time-consuming manual administration to be fully effective and can't match the accuracy of the Cisco solution.

Benefits

• Protect your business against dangerous email threats

• Improve the productivity of your employees by eliminating spam

• Reduce the time spent managing spam and email threat security

• Increase the performance of your network, servers, and personal computers by getting rid of unwanted email

• Reduce your liability for a spam or virus attack that is unintentionally propagated through your network

Figure 1. Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker

Features

The Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker provides:

• Precise accuracy ensures that email threats and spam are caught, and business email is delivered.

• Continuous automatic updates

The Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker stays in constant communication with SenderBase services, a database of email security threats. SenderBase is also monitored by a dedicated team of security analysts, ensuring that your Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker has the latest updates in place to protect your business email.

• Easy installation and use

With simple, browser-based setup wizards, the Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker can be installed in nearly any network in minutes, providing protection for your business right out of the box.

• Effortless management

Other antispam products require a lot of time and effort to achieve optimal results. With these legacy systems, you may have to create "whitelists" of safe email addresses, adjust settings to account for email filters, and constantly check to make sure legitimate business messages aren't being rejected. With the Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker, you get spam protection from the moment the appliance is installed, with no additional effort required from you or your staff.

• A complete solution for complete peace of mind

The Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker includes everything you need to stop email threats immediately (hardware, software, updates, and product support) in a single package. This allows highly skilled IT staff to focus on other responsibilities and leave the email issues to Cisco.

Spam and Virus Protection in Action

The Cisco Spam & Virus Blocker can be deployed in minutes, just behind your network firewall (Figure 2). Once installed, the solution uses award-winning filtering technology to process all email traffic coming into your business, and it identifies even the latest spam and malware attacks. Only clean, valid email messages are passed on to your employees.