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SEATTLE – October 18, 2011. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader of business security solutions, today announced that it is enhancing its XCS line of content security appliances by adding new Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) scanning capabilities for those having WatchGuard Web Security Subscription. This new functionality enables organizations to take quick and easy steps to enforce data security policies for web traffic on HTTP, HTTPS and FTP.

"A secure surfing session via HTTPS protects user data and privacy, but threatens corporate security. Sites visited and files downloaded over HTTPS can contain malicious content, which can enter the business network. Organizations without HTTPS scanning protection are defenseless against these types of threats," said Roula Vrsic, Product Manager for WatchGuard Technologies. "WatchGuard XCS HTTPS scanning removes this unwanted network blind spot and gives administrators full visibility into these types of threats."

Cybercriminals are increasingly using HTTP, HTTPS or FTP as an attack vector to infect WatchGuard corporate networks with various payloads, such as spyware, viruses, trojans, keystroke loggers, phishing, and other malicious threats. This trend is expected to become worse as malware writers deploy creative and sophisticated techniques to bypass traditional web security filters.

In order to detect threats that propagate through HTTPS, WatchGuard XCS appliances now have the ability to perform deep content inspection of encrypted HTTPS traffic, filtering for URL and domain reputation, and scan for malware, viruses, objectionable content, and data loss violations. By expanding web protection to include HTTPS scanning, WatchGuard XCS appliances provide defense against this rapidly growing threat vector by providing comprehensive coverage for the three most common Internet protocols used in business: HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.

WatchGuard XCS Appliances – Integrated Web, Email and Data Loss Prevention Solutions

WatchGuard Extensible Content Security (XCS) solutions deliver award-winning email and web security, as well as data loss prevention (DLP) for business networks. With seven models to choose from, WatchGuard XCS appliances meet the email and web security requirements of businesses of all sizes, including solutions to protect the world's most demanding corporate networks.