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CISCO
Systems Inc. said it has beefed up the Web Reputation
Filters of its IronPort Systems business unit with
significant enhancements.
In a
statement, Cisco said “even though these filters have
already had one of the industry’s highest capture rates
of Web-based malware, the company is adding URL Outbreak
Detection and Botsite Defense—effectively making
IronPort Web Reputation Filters one of the most
comprehensive Web security offerings available. These
powerful new layers of malware defense are available on
the IronPort S-Series family of Web security appliances
and through IronPort’s SenderBase Network.”
According to the latest figures gathered by Cisco, there
are over 10 billion active webpages, with industry
estimates pegging the number of malicious web sites at
“between 2 percent and 10 percent”—representing “a
staggering amount of exposure for today’s businesses.”
“…Malware
and spyware delivered by these sites can result in a
loss of confidential information, system and network
downtime, reduced employee productivity and higher
customer support costs,” Cisco said.
Threat
analysts at IronPort and Cisco said they observed that
the Internet is increasingly becoming the preferred
method of malware distribution, adding in the press
statement that, “as a result, corporations face even
more sophisticated malware threats from a variety of
entry points and coordinated cross-protocol attacks.”
“Threat
writers are constantly looking for new ways to increase
their success rate and distributing malware through
legitimate web sites is an effective way to do [this],”
according to Cisco’s statement. “A recent example of
these dynamic attacks occurred in early March, when
hundreds of legitimate sites were being used as a
redirection hub to malware-producing bots. IronPort’s
Web Reputation Filters recognize where the redirection
is going and can stop the request before any malware
enters the network.”
Cisco
also warned that “simple URL filtering alone does not
detect threats targeted at legitimate sites.” The
company also said “IronPort Web Reputation Filters with
Botsite Defense and URL Outbreak Detection can identify
compromised sites and prevent customers from connecting
to them.” |
