
Actiance's Unified Security Gateway (USG) is the only Secure Web
Gateway to combine feature and content controls of social networks
with the monitoring, management, and security of Web 2.0
applications. Thus, applications like instant messaging can be
safely accessed via URL filtering, anti-malware, and Web anti-virus
solutions.

USG provides granular control of not only websites and
applications but also the content posted to blogs, wikis,
webmail, and social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn,
and Twitter. Content posted to these social networks can be
moderated, monitored, and logged - reducing outbound data leakage
and enabling compliance with industry regulations, legal discovery
requirements, and corporate policy standards.

Today's Internet is dominated by connectivity and collaboration.
As organizations and users alike are utilizing a combination of
enterprise and publicly available tools, applications, and
communities, the Internet and corporate networks are awash with Web
2.0 applications such as social networks, instant messaging, VoIP,
gaming, and sharing applications.
Unified Security Gateway: The Secure Web Gateway for Web
2.0
Unified Security Gateway (USG) enables security, management, and
compliance of the New Internet with the ability to set custom
policies across multiple communications modalities - including
social networks, IM, peer-to-peer networks, and Web traffic. USG
integrates with LDAP and Active Directory servers to provide
simplified policy setting at the company, group, or employee level,
by time of day or bandwidth, across all real-time communications
modalities. A highly visual reporting engine gives an innovative
birds-eye view of user behavior across Web, IM, P2P, and social
networks.
Integration of Sophos' anti-virus scanning technology, in
combination with USG's URL filtering and malware engines, reduces
the risk of Internet-borne malware and viruses. Automated updates
from Sophos' and Actiance's anti-malware and URL filtering
databases ensure up-to-the-minute protection. And USG's easy-to-use
interface provides administrators with straightforward policy
management, statistics, system information, and reports.
Deployment
USG may be deployed with a Web/FTP proxy server, (Blue
Coat,Squid or ISA); through an ICAP-based connector; in-line with
its own onboard proxy; or in simple pass-by mode as a plug-and-play
deployment which requires no change to existing network
configurations. See the feature sets available for each to
determine the deployment that best suits your environment.
Key Features
Security
- Moderate content posted to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
- Log and archive all content posted to Facebook, LinkedIn, and
Twitter
- Granular feature controls for Facebook, LinkedIn, and
Twitter
- Control content posted to blogs and sent via webmail to prevent
leakage of confidential information
- Inbound Web content controls, e.g., block elements of Web
content or media that fall outside of policy
- Scan content for viruses received over HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, and IM
channels
- Dynamically filter millions of websites and URLs using
predefined and customizable categories
- Enforce acceptable corporate Web policies through allow, block,
or "coach" access to categories or individual websites
- Gain visibility and control more than 5,000 Web applications
across a wide range of categories including social networks, IM,
P2P, IPTV, and Virtual Worlds
- Real-time protection against malware, rootkits and botnets
- Stop access to malware-infected websites
- Prevent Web-based threats propagating through social
networks
- Secures real-time content across all communications channels,
preventing data leakage and malware infection.
- ICAP-based Web proxy connector to augment existing security
infrastructures
- Custom URL filtering categories with import capabilities from
existing URL filtering solutions
Instant Messaging
- Gain visibility and control over dozens of IM applications,
including aggregators
- Apply security policy and management controls to public IM
networks
- Block day-zero worms with challenge response and message
throttling
- Prevent data leakage with granular filtering and file transfer
blocking
- Real-time alert reporting on disallowed content transfers
- Block risky, bandwidth-consuming spam over IM (SpIM)
- Scan file transfers over IM using existing antivirus
infrastructure
- Location-aware policy enforcement using endpoint IP
addresses
- Map public IM buddy names to user names in enterprise
directory
Compliance
- Monitor, control, and record content posted to social networks
and blogs or sent via webmail
- Block elements of Web content or media that fall outside of
corporate policy or compromise compliance with regulatory
requirements
- Record public IM chats conducted over unified communications
clients in federated environments
- Tamper-proof logging and archival for compliance and eDiscovery
requirements
- Archive actual files transferred over IM for comprehensive
review and audit processes
- Leverage and integrate with existing archiving solutions (e.g.,
EMC, Enterprise Vault, etc.) for comprehensive enterprise messaging
insight)
- Create ethical boundaries by setting policies at user or group
level for IM usage
- Apply IM disclaimer messages to educate users and meet legal,
audit, and regulatory requirements
- Configure rich compliance workflow to easily retrieve stored
information
Management
- Manage productivity through time and bandwidth quota setting as
well as allocation controls by group or user - across Web access,
P2P usage, social networks, and IM
- Granular control (with LDAP and AD support) at group and user
levels for location-independent policy enforcement across all
modalities
- Actiance Insight aggregates data from multiple USGs and
provides a "bird's-eye" view of user traffic across all Internet
channels - including Web, IM, P2P, & social networks
- Protects investment in unified communications platforms, such
as Microsoft Lync and IBM Sametime, by preventing access to native
public IM tools
- Unified policy management and enforcement for all real-time
Internet activities
- Simple installation and integration with existing network
infrastructure with zero latency
- Customizable, multi-format reporting by employee browsing,
application usage, time spent, data downloading, and IM/social
networks content transferred
- Secure management console for centralized configuration,
management, and reporting
- Supports use of external database for policies, logging and
archival for scalability and availability
Download the Actiance Unified Security Gateway datasheet.