E-mail and Web Security SaaS

Reference Code: TA001647SEC Publication Date: April 2009 Author: Karthik Balakrishnan, Somak Roy and Maxine Holt
TECHNOLOGY AUDIT
E-mail and Web Security SaaS Webroot, Inc.
BUTLER GROUP VIEW
ABSTRACT
Webroot is an established security provider of Software as a Service (SaaS)-delivered e-mail and Web security suites. The e-mail security suite comprises anti-spam, anti-virus, content scanning for Data Loss Prevention (DLP), image scanning, continuity management for mails, e-mail archiving, and e-mail encryption. The Web security suite comprises anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, application blocking, and URL filtering. Webroot has combined proprietary technology alongside a number of best-of-breed security point solutions into the aforementioned suites. The services are delivered through data centres across three continents (Europe, North America, and Australia), with full redundancy capabilities. The service suite is aimed at SMEs with between 100 and 5,000 users, and offers the benefit of Web and e-mail security without dedicated qualified in-house personnel and appliance and/or software installations. Overall, both services offer a good solution that Butler Group recommends as part of a more comprehensive security architecture comprising gateway and end point-based security solutions.
KEY FINDINGS
Good policy management and reporting Data centres across three continents with in- capabilities. region automatic failover and backup provide a highly redundant physical architecture. Combines best-of-breed individual security Good support for mobile users; all Web components through extensive requests can be configured to be routed partnerships. through Webroot's service. Lack of support for some niche The Web security offering is relatively new; requirements of customer organisations. launched in mid-2008. Currently has 3 million SaaS security users and over 500 channel partners.

LOOK AHEAD
The roadmap includes new features for e-mail security, including Policy-Based Encryption (June 2009), and new features for Web security, including quota-based policies for time spent surfing, bandwidth allocation, and number of sites visited (June 2009 release), among many others.
Webroot, Inc. - E-mail and Web Security SaaS Published 04/2009 © Butler Group. This Technology Audit is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied Page 1 TECHNOLOGY AUDIT
FUNCTIONALITY
Product Analysis
Webroot provides e-mail and Web security through the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery channel. The e-mail security suite comprises anti-spam, anti-virus, content scanning for Data Loss Prevention (DLP), image scanning, continuity management for mails, e-mail archiving, and e-mail encryption. The Web security suite comprises anti-virus, anti-spyware, application blocking, and URL filtering. Webroot has traditionally been a leading provider of anti-spyware and anti-malware technology, and entered the SaaS security space in late 2007 with the acquisition of SaaS security provider E-mail Systems. Webroot's services follow the standard per user per month subscription fee model (or equivalent, such as number of e-mail inboxes), and are bundled flexibly.
Webroot's approach to e-mail and Web security can be summarised as the assembly of multiple layers of in-house and third-party best-of-breed point security solutions into one platform. The multi-layered strategy utilises different approaches to combat a single threat. For example, the anti-spam engine uses a reputation-based system for source servers, collective spam reporting, content-based filtering, and Recurrent Pattern Detection. The e-mail security service utilises a messaging security platform that contains five different anti-virus engines, which also includes a heuristic filter to scan e-mails against real-time viruses, combined with seven separate layers of spam detection. The anti-spyware filters for Webroot's Web Security service are backed by Webroot's own anti-spyware engine - Webroot® Spy Sweeper - which protects over ten million desktops worldwide. The URL filtering engine has a continuously updated database of millions of URLs categorised into 12 main categorie... [download for more]