Blue Coat, Proofpoint extend their technology alliance to Middle East

Proofpoint and Blue Coat are working to deliver a comprehensive security solution that protects against blended malware attacks through email and the Web.

Commenting on the alliance, Nidal Taha, Regional Director for Middle East and Turkey, Blue Coat Systems, said:

"Globally, we are seeing malware threats moving to the Web with malicious links being delivered via email. This is true for the Middle East region, as well, and the joint Blue Coat and Proofpoint solution provides enterprises with the tools they need to effectively combat threats that attempt to enter the enterprise through email and Web-based communication."

Blue Coat ProxySG and ProxyAV appliances and the Proofpoint on Demand hosted service and Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway appliance share real-time intelligence and reputation data to provide Blue Coat and Proofpoint customers with increased protection against the latest email and Web-based malware attacks. The interoperable solution protects against inbound threats such as spam, viruses, phishing and denial-of-service attacks at Internet and email gateways.

Proofpoint's email security, powered by the patent-pending Proofpoint MLX machine learning technology, inspects hundreds of thousands of attributes in incoming email messages to accurately detect and block spam, malware or phishing attempts. The Blue Coat ProxyAV appliance scans Web traffic for malware, including encrypted SSL-traffic, while ProxySG appliances act as an enforcement point at the Internet gateway for corporate IT policies.

Additionally, ProxySG appliances work in conjunction with the Blue Coat WebPulse cloud service to provide up-to-date information on the latest malware threats. With an advanced background malware detection process that utilizes multiple threat detection engines, as well as use of human raters, the WebPulse service can identify new and evolving threats and provide immediate updates to more than 54 million users.

"The email and Web security gateway markets have been converging as blended threats become more advanced and enterprises worldwide want to take a holistic approach to mitigating both message and Web-borne risks," said David Stanley, VP of EMEA for Proofpoint. "The close cooperation between Proofpoint and Blue Coat will give enterprises access to an interoperable solution for mitigating a huge range of the most pressing IT risks."

Proofpoint is a member of the Blue Coat Technology Integration Partner Program, and Blue Coat is a member of the Proofpoint Technology Partner Program. Through the participation in these partner programs, both companies provide engineering, training and support resources to build an interoperable security solution that protects email and Web-based communications from blended threats.