New version of GFI WebMonitor 2009

GFI Software has today released a new version of GFI WebMonitor that gives small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) the tools they need to monitor Internet use in the organization, ensure a safer browsing experience and boost productivity. Now, GFI WebMonitor can run independently of any firewall/proxy server and be deployed on most Windows Server/Workstation operating systems.

GFI WebMonitor, currently in use by thousands of customers and voted #1 year after year by ISA Server.org readers, gives organizations comprehensive control of the use of the Internet by employees in the workplace, performing both Internet monitoring and web security. It gives management the ability to monitor Internet browsing, block access to sites on an individual or group level, provide protection against hidden downloads as well as blocking and identifying background processes from downloading payloads that may be malicious in nature or use up network resources.

“GFI WebMonitor is a fantastic tool for IT administrators and managers. A recent survey we conducted in the US found that nearly half of those surveyed are lagging behind their peers in actually monitoring Internet use; this indicates that they are not aware of the risks that come with uncontrolled Internet access. It is not a case of ‘big brother’ but rather one of ‘keeping alert’ and being ‘prepared’. With monitoring in place, management has a front-line view of Internet activity in the company,” Walter Scott, GFI’s CEO said.

GFI WebMonitor allows administrators to manage what sites users can browse and block access to websites in particular categories, such as adult material, online gaming, personal email, Peer-2-Peer, Facebook, MySpace, and more. Web monitoring is made easy with an extensive database that provides URL coverage and categorization for 205,000,000 domains and that is continuously updated.

GFI WebMonitor also offers web security features that allow you to monitor what files employees are downloading, to block file-types such as MP3s and movies and to scan all files for viruses, spyware and malware using multiple anti-virus engines. GFI WebMonitor lowers the risk of phishing by blocking access to phishing websites through the use of an auto-updatable database of phishing URLs. The web monitoring features also allow you to monitor and block Windows Live Messenger (MSN) chat sessions and file transfers.

“Very few organizations realize how beneficial monitoring employee activity on the internet can be. They will not only gain in terms of increased productivity, as renowned time-and-motion studies have shown, but they are also immediately aware of any browsing activity that is either inappropriate or in breach of company policy,” GFI’s CEO Walter Scott added.

To Purchase GFI Products Visit http://www.gfiguard.com

Top Distributors attend GFI Software Conference in Malta

Forty top distributors of Malta-based GFI Software met in Malta this month for GFI’s fourth annual GFI EMEA Distributor Conference 2009.

Organized by the Malta office, this annual event is an excellent opportunity for GFI’s distributors in the EMEA region, including Malta, and in Emerging Markets, to spend a full day with GFI’s top executives to discuss and learn more about GFI’s strategy, market positioning and product roadmap.

The distributors which hail from over 10 different countries in EMEA represent a considerable share of GFI’s market and they contribute extensively to the company’s growth and success.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of awards to the top performing distributors in EMEA and Emerging Markets. Awards are presented on the basis of sales volumes, best sales and marketing initiatives, best technical reseller, among others. The 10 awards were presented to the winners by Simon Azzopardi, VP of Sales EMEA.

Commenting after the conference, GFI’s CEO Walter Scott said this annual event provided GFI and the company’s distributors with a forum to discuss issues, problems and learn how GFI was moving ahead with its strategy to strengthen its commitment to the Channel, create new sales opportunities and recurring revenues, as well as outline upcoming product release.

“The feedback and insights we have received after the conference has been excellent. This year’s event has been a resounding success and the ongoing discussion throughout the day will help GFI’s executive team to focus on those areas that require some polish while pushing ahead with our plans to become the infrastructure provider for the SMB. I would like to thank all those who attended for their valuable advice and encouragement,” Mr. Scott said.

This year’s awards went to:

* No 1 EMEA Distributor – ADN Distribution GmbH
* No 2 EMEA Distributor – Infinigate AG
* No 3 EMEA Distributor – Portland Europe
* No 1 EMEA Emerging Markets Distributor – Computerlinks ME
* No 2 EMEA Emerging Markets Distributor – PB Com spol. s r.o.
* No 3 EMEA Emerging Markets Distributor – Control Line
* Best EMEA Distributor Marketing Campaign – Sintel Italia
* Fastest Growing EMEA Distributor – Africa SD
* Best EMEA Distributor 'Technical Manager' – Bjorn Leenen
* Best EMEA Distributor 'Product Manager' – Eugene Goncharenko

To Purchase GFI Products Visit http://www.gfiguard.com

Nine GFI products support Microsoft’s latest platforms

GFI Software, a leading infrastructure provider for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), announced today that nine of its products now support Microsoft’s latest platforms - Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 - which are being released today.

These new platforms have been designed to improve upon performance, applicability, device compatibility, reliability, security and battery life as well as important enhancements to manageability and security.

“There is a great deal of pent-up demand for Windows 7 in the SMB market and believe this will be the fastest upgrade cycle of any Windows products since Windows 3.1. This is why we have supported Windows 7 even through the beta and release candidates and are pleased to announce that we offer full support on all of our client-based products. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, GFI has always endeavored to make sure that our portfolio of products provides support for Microsoft’s latest operating systems and other Microsoft products, thereby ensuring that our customers can avail themselves of new Microsoft platforms and yet continue to use our products without interruption,” GFI’s CEO Walter Scott said.

“I am pleased to announce that 9 of our products now support, are compatible with or have achieved Frontrunner status on these new platforms. Our engineering teams have been working on this important development in order to give our customer install the best choice at all times and on the platforms they require,” Mr. Scott added.

GFI is compatible with Windows 7 on the following products: GFI LANguard; GFI EndPointSecurity, GFI EventsManager, GFI Backup and GFI MAX.

The following products support or are compatible with Windows Server 2008 R2: GFI LANguard, GFI EventsManager, GFI FAXmaker, GFI MailEssentials, GFI MailSecurity, GFI WebMonitor, GFI Backup, GFI MAX and GFI EndPointSecurity. GFI MailArchiver will support Windows Server 2008 R2 later this year.

To Purchase GFI Products Visit http://www.gfiguard.com

New version of GFI WebMonitor 2009

GFI Software has today released a new version of GFI WebMonitor that gives small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) the tools they need to monitor Internet use in the organization, ensure a safer browsing experience and boost productivity. Now, GFI WebMonitor can run independently of any firewall/proxy server and be deployed on most Windows Server/Workstation operating systems.

GFI WebMonitor, currently in use by thousands of customers and voted #1 year after year by ISA Server.org readers, gives organizations comprehensive control of the use of the Internet by employees in the workplace, performing both Internet monitoring and web security. It gives management the ability to monitor Internet browsing, block access to sites on an individual or group level, provide protection against hidden downloads as well as blocking and identifying background processes from downloading payloads that may be malicious in nature or use up network resources.

“GFI WebMonitor is a fantastic tool for IT administrators and managers. A recent survey we conducted in the US found that nearly half of those surveyed are lagging behind their peers in actually monitoring Internet use; this indicates that they are not aware of the risks that come with uncontrolled Internet access. It is not a case of ‘big brother’ but rather one of ‘keeping alert’ and being ‘prepared’. With monitoring in place, management has a front-line view of Internet activity in the company,” Walter Scott, GFI’s CEO said.

GFI WebMonitor allows administrators to manage what sites users can browse and block access to websites in particular categories, such as adult material, online gaming, personal email, Peer-2-Peer, Facebook, MySpace, and more. Web monitoring is made easy with an extensive database that provides URL coverage and categorization for 205,000,000 domains and that is continuously updated.

GFI WebMonitor also offers web security features that allow you to monitor what files employees are downloading, to block file-types such as MP3s and movies and to scan all files for viruses, spyware and malware using multiple anti-virus engines. GFI WebMonitor lowers the risk of phishing by blocking access to phishing websites through the use of an auto-updatable database of phishing URLs. The web monitoring features also allow you to monitor and block Windows Live Messenger (MSN) chat sessions and file transfers.

“Very few organizations realize how beneficial monitoring employee activity on the internet can be. They will not only gain in terms of increased productivity, as renowned time-and-motion studies have shown, but they are also immediately aware of any browsing activity that is either inappropriate or in breach of company policy,” GFI’s CEO Walter Scott added.

To Purchase GFI Products Visit http://www.gfiguard.com

GFI Software acquires hosted email filtering company Katharion

GFI Software has acquired Los Angeles-based hosted email filtering company Katharion, the company announced today.

Through this acquisition, GFI will be able to offer a hosted email filtering, anti-spam and anti-virus service later this quarter.

"This is the next step of our strategy to give our customers the option of having an email filtering product that is on-premise, in the cloud as well as additional services that would be of benefit to those looking to maximize the benefits of a hybrid option. Katharion offers superior technology to other hosted email filtering technologies as well as an infrastructure that will help GFI to give our customers even greater choice," Walter Scott, GFI's CEO said.
This follows the addition of HoundDog Technology's remote monitoring and management solution to GFI's portfolio in July and re-launched as GFI MAX.

With this new service GFI will be able to provide a range of additional or edge services that will benefit companies both with and without existing on-premise email security solutions. For example, companies can use the hosted service to block up to 90% of the total emails received by the company (which are spam) and therefore reduce their bandwidth costs and the volume of junk hitting their server. The GFI hosted and edge anti-spam and anti-virus filtering solutions will work with any mail structure including Microsoft, Novell, Apple, and Linux environments. Both the hosted and edge solutions will provide for email continuity - if a customer's server goes down, the GFI service will keep a copy of all inbound email messages, and allow customers to access and respond to those messages, until the server is back online.

Katharion offers highly effective, outsourced anti-spam and anti-virus email filtering solutions for corporations, small businesses, Internet service providers and technology companies. As a managed service, Katharion is compatible with any email system and can be implemented rapidly. Independently proven to be more accurate than other solutions, Katharion's industry-leading technology ensures the optimal filtering of unwanted or harmful messages. At the same time, Katharion's customizable management interface and innovative features such as one-click whitelisting assure that the solution is both simple to deploy and extremely easy to maintain.

Katharion's CEO, Eric Schwab, said: "We have worked hard to develop an effective and easy-to-use email security and continuity service. We are excited about broadening the reach of our service offering by joining an established technology leader like GFI, and we share a vision with GFI of providing customers with their choice of hosted, on-premise, or hybrid email security solutions. We look forward to being part of the GFI family."

"We are confident that Katharion's success and solid customer base will be the catalyst for GFI to further expand our product portfolio using either on-premise or an online delivery model or a mix of both. We will be launching the service later this quarter. We are looking at bringing in other companies and their technology in the coming months that will enable us to continue to provide the best possible solutions to our customers based on their infrastructure and needs at the time," Mr Scott added.

A survey commissioned by GFI Software in September found that 55% of SMBs in the US use one or more hosted/managed services. Of these 29% use a service for minor applications; 24% for security applications; 26% for network monitoring and redundancy and 21% for CRM/ERM.

The survey also found that easy internet access and scalability (56%), lower costs (46%) and faster deployment (43%) were considered to be the main benefits of using a hosted service while the main concerns were application performance, data security/privacy and systems failure/redundancy (62%) respectively.

To Purchase GFI Products Visit http://www.gfiguard.com

US SMBs Dragging Their Feet to Implement Internet monitoring

Nearly half of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the US do not have the means to monitor or filter Internet traffic and employees’ online activity, according to new research undertaken by GFI Software, indicating that they are not only lagging their peers but also underestimating the risks.

Research highlights:

* SMBs are overwhelmingly more concerned about external security threats than they are about internal threats
* Few SMBs have rules or policies governing e-mail storage or retention.
* Thirty-one percent (31%) allow employees to archive their own email or use PST files on a network share

___________

It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of all data breaches involve insider negligence*, yet the results of survey announced today by email and security software provider GFI Software revealed that nearly half of SMBs underestimate the impact uncontrolled access to the Internet can have on their organization – in terms of network security, productivity levels and HR.

The survey showed that although the majority of SMBs (61%) have security policies in place regarding Internet use, far fewer have the means to monitor and/or filter the HTTP traffic: Less than half (47%) say they have the means to do so. However, 15% of SMBs do indicate they are considering adding monitoring and/or filtering capabilities, and an additional 5% said implementation is planned.

“The results pose an interesting question that SMBs should be asking themselves: ‘If half are monitoring Internet activity in the business, why aren’t I?’,” said Walter Scott, CEO of GFI Software. Nearly half of those surveyed are lagging their peers and this indicates that they are not aware of the risks that come with uncontrolled Internet access. It is not a case of ‘big brother’ but rather one of ‘keeping alert’ and being ‘prepared’. With monitoring in place, management has a front-line view of Internet activity in the company.”

Of those using Web filtering software, the majority (67%) said they use it for security against virus and malware downloads, 55% to prevent illegal and/or unacceptable Web browsing and only 36% to monitor employee browsing activity.

Scott continues: “Monitoring employees’ web activity goes beyond simply checking who is doing what online and how much time is spent browsing the Internet. Web monitoring and filtering is key to preventing malware from being downloaded and infecting the network. We also often forget that we are living in a society that is becoming increasingly litigious. Web monitoring and Web filtering give business owners the ammunition they need to counter any claims from clients or employees. It is also management’s fiduciary responsibility to have the data for when it is needed. The risks are too high for businesses today.”

The survey also gives an indication of how threats are perceived and their source. According to the survey, the IT security threats that most concern SMBs are accidental data corruption, malware attacks and external. Fifty-one percent (51%) said that they are concerned about Web-borne malware. However, only 9% said they are concerned about internal threats. The threat posed by employees leaving the company with confidential data was of concern to only 26%, the lowest rated.

Email compliance and eDiscovery appear to be low on the list of priorities for many of the respondents. When asked if they have rules or policies governing the storage and/or retention of emails, 63% said they did not have any rules stating where emails should be stored, however of those 18% said they were planning to do so. On the other hand, 66 per cent of respondents do not have email retention rules (20% say they are planning to do so).

Scott concludes, “Once again, we see SMBs either ignoring or unaware of the implications of their actions. Compliance is a major issue in the US and the penalties for non-compliance can be crippling for a business, however, it is surprising, even shocking that SMBs do not have procedures in place to regulate where emails are stored and for how long. Businesses are taking too long to catch up. They need to be proactive because their business could be at stake.”

To Purchase GFI Products Visit http://www.gfiguard.com

GFI Software wins five Best Channel Product 2009 Awards

GFI Software has won five awards in the Best Channel Products Awards organized by Business Solutions Magazine. GFI rated exceptionally well in the Network Security category and very high in terms of ease of upgrade and VARs' ability to service the product. The winning products are: GFI MailArchiver, GFI MailEssentials, GFI EndPointSecurity, GFI WebMonitor and GFI MAX, the latest offering from GFI specifically for VARs, MSPs and IT support companies.

Over 2,000 VAR subscribers to Business Solutions Magazines were asked to rate vendors' products according to the richness of features; product reliability/durability; ease of integration, ease of upgrade and VARs' ability to service the product. The results show that the Channel ranks GFI's products as exceptional and a favorite among resellers in the US.

"GFI certainly earned its spot on the Business Solutions Magazine Best Channel Products list," said Sue Bresee, publisher of Business Solutions magazine. "GFI rated exceptionally well overall in the Network Security Suite category, but particularly high in Ease of Upgrade and VAR's Ability to Service. Our survey results clearly show that GFI has many satisfied resellers."

"The response to our survey was astonishing," continued Ms Bresee. "We generated 19,833 votes from 2,186 BSM reseller subscribers. The 2,186 resellers represent an estimated $14.3 billion in annual sales, making this one of the largest surveys of its kind."

Commenting on the results, GFI's CEO Walter Scott said: "This is a fantastic result for GFI and clearly shows that our products are among the best out there for small and medium-sized business. I am particularly pleased that we have rated high in terms of their ease-of-use and the Channel's ability to service our products. Our efforts to make life easier for our customers, while providing them with exceptional quality products at a very competitive price, are paying off."

"That GFI MAX, formerly HoundDog, has also been acknowledged as a leading product by the Channel shows that we have made a wise move and this encourages us to continue pushing hard to give the Channel the solutions that they and their customers need. Hats off to all those who have contributed to this success and sincere thanks to the Channel for its support, confidence in GFI and encouragement," he added.

To Purchase GFI Products Visit http://www.gfiguard.com