Security: Reviews

This week ARN looks at the latest security products.

Small businesses looking to set up ship with e-mail, file and printer sharing, and a Web presence have options such as Microsoft's Small Business Server, or even Linux distributions that come with all the software you need (although setup and configuration isn't for the faint of heart).

Check Point's new VPN-1 Edge W touts wireless access support, better performance and a new print server, a combination that makes it a solid addition to the company's line of small security gateways. In this exclusive Clear Choice test, we focused on the features most attractive to enterprise network managers: wireless, VPN, QoS, high availability and management.

Geared to the SMB market, WatchGuard Technologies's Firebox X series offers a feature set comparable to more expensive firewalls -- along with some of the accompanying setup and administration complexities of enterprise firewalls.

If you need to provide secure remote access to Web-based apps as well as other network resources, then an SSL VPN is a great choice.

As broadband connections become nearly ubiquitous, so too are paperback-sized firewalls. At first glance, SnapGear’s SME550 appears to be another, albeit smaller than most.

The first step toward dealing with a security breach is understanding that your security has been compromised. The McAfee IntruShield 2600, part of Network Associates’ family of network protection solutions, is an IDS (intrusion detection system) that uses a central management console application to collect information from sensors deployed at various locations throughout the network.

Computer Associates’ eTrust Antivirus 7.0 is similar to enterprise antivirus solutions from other leading vendors such as McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro. But CA’s solution distinguishes itself in several important ways, making it worthy of serious consideration to protect your company’s systems.

While many IT directors focus their antivirus attention on catching malicious code at the network border, complete virus protection includes regular file scanning to make sure nothing slips past the antivirus gateway.