The Blue Coat ProxyAV™ 2000 Series enables organisations to scan for viruses, worms, spyware and trojans entering through Web-based backdoors including:

• Personal Web email accounts where a majority of viruses and worms propagate
• Web content or email spam which unknowingly activate trojan downloads or hidden spyware
• Browser based file downloads that bypass existing virus scanning defenses

Traditional, Web anti-virus gateways often lack scalability and performance for HTTP and FTP scanning, leaving desktops to defend themselves. The ProxyAV combined with the ProxySG™ provides scalability for virus scanning, plus complete visibility and control of enterprise Web communications.

Leveraging virus scanning engines from Sophos, Panda and McAfee, the ProxyAV 2000 Series represents the next generation in high-end appliance platforms for enterprise Web AV. The 2000 series is a purpose-built appliance designed for scalable performance and simple integration with the Blue Coat ProxySG.

ProxyAV 2000 Features

The ProxyAV Series represents the next generation in high-end appliance platforms for enterprise Web virus scanning. Key Features include:

Scalability and Performance
Pairing the ProxyAV with the ProxySG provides significant advantages for high-speed Web virus scanning that standalone systems cannot match, such as:

• ProxySG processes Web objects at wire speed with integrated caching
• ProxyAV only scans Web objects forwarded from the ProxySG for improved performance
• ProxyAV focuses CPU processing on virus scanning using heuristics to maximise throughput
• ProxyAV provides load balancing and clustering of multiple ProxyAV appliances for enterprise scalability
• Granular policies and method-level controls in the ProxySG stop worm outbreaks where virus signatures fall short (i.e. spIM buddylink)
• Active/active bridging provides failover support on the ProxySG and allows the addition of multiple ProxyAV appliances for future growth

The Blue Coat solution means less hardware, high performance virus scanning, and granular control of Web communications. The ProxyAV with ProxySG provides unmatched visibility, control, and scalability in an integrated system.

Ease of Deployment & Administration
The ProxyAV is optimised for integration with the ProxySG as a complete system, through the following:

• Purpose-built appliance solutions from a single vendor; designed, tested and manufactured for compatibility
• Default communications, settings, and connection threads between the ProxySG and the ProxyAV are optimised for superior performance
• Virus updates to the ProxyAV are automated with definable time frequency settings, and cached content is automatically cleared with each update
• Administrators can define default or custom locations for signatures and virus engine updates, and configure behavior of ProxyAV upon license expiration
• Configurable options for scanning files include: set time-out duration, drop file if errors in scanning occur, and define trusted sites
• Heuristics fingerprint recurring files as infected or clean for non-cacheable content to improve efficiency
• Administrators can apply allow/deny lists with extensions along with file size and content type restrictions
• Customised alerts can notify administrators when a virus is found, AV updates are successful, AV updates fail, subscriptions expire, files are dropped, or files pass without scanning
• ProxyAV log files can be customised using standard logging formats and sent off-box via TCP or UDP for processing
• Health checks from ProxySG to ProxyAV verify status and availability of appliances
• New firmware updates and release notes are sent to ProxyAV for administrator approval and installation

Layered Security
Recent virus and worm outbreaks, spyware, and the increase in browser-based attacks show the importance of a layered security strategy provided by:

• Choice of antivirus engine with automated updates on the ProxyAV, allowing a layered virus scanning strategy with "Vendor A" for network scanning and "Vendor B" for desktops, servers and gateways
• Support for Sophos, Panda and McAfee anti-virus scanning engines
• Utilising ProxySG for control over Web communications for both outbound requests and content replies to provide added protection beyond virus signatures and patterns
• Implementing three key methods to control Web communications - the ProxySG controls "transport" and "content", while the ProxyAV provides "signatures"
• Enforcing ProxySG policies to control Web communications upon outbreaks and before virus signatures are available

Integrated System Solution
The combination of ProxySG + ProxyAV provides scalable performance with control over transport and Web content with integrated virus scanning. Virus engines and signatures are only one part of Web content control. New worms and trojans are using IM and Web spam to propagate with new techniques always on the horizon. For the first time, Web communication controls and Web virus scanning work together using Blue Coat solutions.